Jamie Langley believes he has returned to rugby league as a better coach following an eventful three-and-a-half years at Premiership side Sale Sharks.
The former Bradford Bulls, Hull Kingston Rovers and Sheffield Eagles forward enjoyed a distinguished playing career in the 13-a-side code, winning England and Great Britain honours.
He has since built an impressive reputation in the coaching ranks, helping London Broncos to reach Super League in 2018 before switching codes to join Sale in May 2021.
That move saw Langley reunited with his former Bradford team-mates Paul Deacon and Mike Forshaw and join the long list of ex-league men in the rival code.
Replaced Mike Forshaw
Langley was initially recruited by Alex Sanderson in a newly-created peak performance coach role before becoming defence coach when Forshaw left to join Warren Gatland’s Wales coaching staff last year.
Langley’s recent departure from Sale was by mutual consent – he felt it was “probably the right time to get back into rugby league” and recently joined Leeds Rhinos as their new defence coach.
“During my time at Sale, we played in some big European games, in two Premiership semi-finals and also a Premiership final,” the 40-year-old told Planet Rugby.
“Alex had taken over as director of rugby five months before I joined and it was a really exciting time for the club.
“The owners – Ged Mason and Simon and Michelle Orange – had invested a lot of money and started to build a very strong squad.
“There was a great core group of Academy players coming through at the time in Raffi Quirke, Bevan Rodd and Ewan Ashman, who has since joined Edinburgh.
“Then you had the likes of Arron Reed, Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter who are now featuring on the international stage.
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“So alongside the big-name internationals – the Curry twins, Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager and Manu Tuilagi – there were all these younger lads who were finding their way and are now well established.
“I had got to know Alex from when he was Saracens and I was at London Broncos and we shared similar philosophies around the game.
“Al’s very psychologically-minded and I enjoy that side of coaching as well, so when he brought me to Sale it was predominantly in an off-field role looking after the more holistic aspects of the performance programme.
“It was about how we helped the players to understand their mindsets and become more self-aware and resilient through educating them in different aspects of the game.
“I was working very closely with Alex about how the programme was structured and how we could get the best out of the squad over a long period of time.
“I was also working very closely with the CEO at the time – Sid Sutton – who had a very clear vision of what he wanted the Sale Sharks club to be in terms of values, identities and behaviours but essentially optimising player performance.
“It’s something I really enjoyed but at the time, I quite missed coaching so I did some consulting back in rugby league for my old club London Broncos, helping out Mike Eccles who had just taken over.
“I did that for about 12 months, working remotely with Mike, and helping him with the preview and review of games, training methodology and putting systems in place.
“That was really cool, so I was sort of scratching my coaching itch but also be able to do my day-to-day job at Sale at the same time.”
When Forshaw jumped ship for Wales in January 2023, Langley made the step up to become the Sharks’ defence coach.
It was a big challenge for a dyed-in-the-wool league man with zero experience of coaching in the 15-a-side game.
“When Forsh went to Wales, the club needed to fill the defence coach role, so I took it,” recalled Langley.
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“The decision was made that I would be best placed to step into that role with a longer-term strategy to get up to speed of rugby union coaching and deliver what was needed for the rest of the season and beyond.
“At the end of that campaign, we made the Premiership final, losing narrowly to Saracens, but I had to essentially learn a lot of detail and finer points of the game from scratch.
“I had watched minimal rugby union before going to Sale and in those first 18 months my role was primarily off-field, so although I was learning the game, I wasn’t studying it in great detail with a coach’s eye.”
As a young lad, Langley had played in the all-conquering Bradford side of two decades ago with Deacon and Forshaw, so naturally turned to them for advice.
The Yorkshireman explained: “I spoke to various different coaches who crossed from league to union, including Deacs and Forsh, plus Kev Sinfield who had done a year at Leicester and won the Premiership title.
“Forsh was a bit of a mentor and Kev and I conversed quite a lot.
“They all said the same ‘it can take you at least three years to get that base understanding of union because it is very different to league’ in terms of where people need to be within specific shapes and systems.
“I was learning on the job, but I really enjoyed throwing myself into a challenge midway through a season.
“The club and the team is in a really strong position now, so it was a great time to be at Sale.”
Byron McGuigan takes over
The Sharks made the play-off semi-final last season, losing at Bath, but Langley recently decided it was time to return to his native code with former Sale winger Byron McGuigan having succeeded him as defence coach.
Langley, who remains based in the Manchester area, added: “I just felt the time was probably right to get back into rugby league.
“I heard Leeds Rhinos were looking for an assistant coach to work under Brad Arthur.
“I put myself forward for the job and it transpired from there – Leeds are a great club with a rich history and my dad John played there for many years so he’s really happy I’m here.
“But my time at Sale Sharks has definitely improved and developed me as a coach.
“I made so many great friends and will always be grateful for my time there.”
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The post Premiership Jamie Langley reflects on ‘great time’ at Sale Sharks : Planet Rugby first appeared on Rugby 247.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2024-11-25 12:07:02
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