England Universities go into camp for the first time this weekend with a new face on the coaching staff. Following recent recruitment, Adam Houston joins as Assistant Coach bringing with him several years of experience in the student game.
Houston is currently coaching with BUCS Champions Northumbria, being part of their title wins in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 and has been an integral part of the Universities Representative Programme, coaching the North East team for since 2017 and leading the North team since 2018. In the professional game, he is also coaching with Newcastle Thunder’s U18s Academy and has previous experience of the international game, most recently having been team liaison officer for the Cook Islands at the Rugby League World Cup and in 2015 was part of a coach development tour organised by the European Rugby League and the Rugby Football League to Rostov-On-Don in Russia.
“I’m very excited to be joining the staff and to working with the national team” said Houston. “I have been part of the pathway for several years and am thrilled to have been given the nod to move up to the England level and to work with Kevin Deighton and the rest of the team to maintain the high standards that have been set across the programme in previous years.”
Houston will assist Head Coach Kevin Deighton, who takes charge of the team for the first time this year having been in the assistant role since 2018.
“We had a very comprehensive set of applications for the assistant coach role it was great to see such high quality interest in the role” added Deighton. “I am very pleased that Adam will be joining us. He’s supported the pathway for many years and I am very pleased that we can offer his next level of development within the same pathway and I look forward to working with him to evolve the programme. He’s already got good relationships with the rest of the staff and he’ll fit in very well, whilst challenging us to make improvements from a fresh perspective.”
James Logan (Strength & Conditioning), Keith Burnett (Therapist) and David Butler (Team Manager) complete the staff line up.
