Simon Middleton (born 2 February 1966) is an English former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s and was the head coach of the England Women's rugby union team from 2015 to 2023.

Playing career

Middleton is a former cross-code wing/full back having played rugby league for

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

as well as rugby union for a number of clubs including

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when ...

, where he took up a coaching role following his retirement from playing.

Coaching career

He spent 11 years at Leeds holding various coaching roles including defence, skills and eventually assistant coach, and helped them to the Premiership twice as well as achieve Heineken Cup qualification for the first time in their history. He joined the RFU in 2014 and led the England Women Sevens on the World Series, as well as taking a role as assistant coach for the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France where England were crowned champions. In 2015, he became Red Roses head coach initially in a joint role with sevens. He was appointed head coach of Team GB Women Sevens where the team finished fourth at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, the sport’s Olympic debut, before focusing fully on XVs on his return. Since taking the role, Middleton has guided England to three Six Nations Grand Slams in 2017, 2019 and 2020, the 2021 Six Nations title and helped the team reach a fifth straight World Cup final in 2017 when they lost 41-32. Middleton was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to rugby football.

Personal life

Middleton is married to Janet. They have two children, Joel and Cara.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Simon 1966 births Living people Olympic coaches for Great Britain Castleford Tigers players Coaches of international rugby sevens teams English rugby league players English rugby union players English rugby union coaches Members of the Order of the British Empire Rugby league wingers England women's national rugby union team Coaches at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Knottingley Rugby union players from West Yorkshire Rugby league players from West Yorkshire Coaches of international rugby union teams Leeds Tykes coaches Leeds Tykes players 20th-century English sportsmen