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NEW HEAD COACH ADAM REFLECTS ON FIRST TERM AT LSH

New LSH Head Coach Adam Jackson has now had time to reflect on his first few months in charge down the Lane.

Currently Head of Sport at Scarisbrick Hall School, having previously enjoyed a lengthy and varied career in the professional game, the widely experienced second row forward found the prospect of returning to the game at club level too much to resist when Liverpool St Helens came calling. His first and only regret is that looking back, he did not really have enough time to settle in and prepare, before his charges were off and running in the Lancashire Cup at the Vale of Lune in August.

But Adam, a former player, local to the area and whose Rugby Biography reads like a roadmap of Domestic and International Rugby Development from the early nineties onwards, has no regrets.

Originally starting at Newton Le Willows as a Junior, a move to Orrell gave him a first real taste of Senior Club rugby. Whilst there he played for the Lancashire U19s and Senior County sides and was capped by England U19s. When studies took him to Brunel University, Adam joined Harlequins, just as the age of professionalism (also well experienced by LSH at that time) was beginning to take root in the game of Rugby Union. Adam signed professional terms with London Scottish in 1995 where for some of that time he was to play alongside former LSH Scrum half Steve Cook.

After impressing Officials at Neath, Adam made the move into Wales where he considered “ those three years there as perhaps the happiest and best time of my career” , including playing in the European Cup. Adam then took the opportunity to play in France signing for FC Grenoble where he played for two years before returning back to the North West of England to take up a post as Head of Rugby at Scarisbrick Hall College. A two-year stint in Orrell seconds was followed by a short spell coaching at Fylde as well as lending a hand with the then LSH U17s for a brief period of time.

The Schoolmaster’s report card up to the Christmas break read: Played 12 Won 6 Lost 6 5th out of 12 in ADM Cheshire and Lancashire Counties Division 1. Jackson readily admits that the traditional phrase “ Could do better” is appropriate but adds the word  “satisfactory”  and believes that aiming for a top four finish is realistic. Either way, and well aware of the long and proud history of Liverpool St Helens, he believes that there is huge potential in a team built on a mixture of highly experienced and loyal players together with a growing group of youngsters from the Colts and Juniors as well as Edge Hill, in a structure supported by a well-run 2nd XV and a newly formed and successful  3rd X1.