My Story: Simon Middleton
Red Roses head coach Simon Middleton talks about his dual-code playing days, facing Jason Robinson and his coaching journey.
From a rugby career that began at Knottingley RUFC, to coming up against Super League legends at Castleford Tigers, training some of England’s future stars while at Leeds Tykes and leading Team GB at the Olympics, Middleton talks about his journey to becoming head coach of the Red Roses.
The 57-year-old has been head coach of England Women since 2015 an has led the side to five Six Nations titles, with Grand Slams in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022. He guided the team to Rugby World Cup finals in 2017 and 2022 and oversaw their record-breaking run of 30 victories between 9 November 2019 and 5 November 2022.
England Rugby spoke to the Yorkshireman about his unexpected journey into professional rugby as a player and coach.
Early life
Born in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, a town to the south east of Leeds, Middleton has fond memories of playing out “from the crack of dawn to getting back at dusk” but rugby was not on the agenda yet, preferring football and cricket.
“I got forced to play rugby at secondary school. I was this very skinny, ginger-haired kid who made the numbers up most of the time and they put me on the wing, out of the way,” he said.
“I didn’t have a great love for rugby then. I liked the team aspect but I played a lot of football at school and felt out of my depth in rugby.”
Asked about what he was like at school, a smile breaks out: “I wasn’t an academic but could hold my own. I had to work hard and was very disciplined – the fear of failure was innate in me.
“I was told by my teacher ‘to pass your O Levels you have to study three hours a night from three months before your exams’ and I did that, three hours every night. I got the exams, not with flying colours, but I got them.”
Middleton says he never had a post-school career in mind thinking about the possibility of being a vet or a police officer, but he would head to Rockware Glass, a local glass bottle-making factory where his parents and brother already worked - “I took my last O Level on a Thursday morning and I started on a Thursday afternoon.”
He would spend 20 years with the company, continuing his work alongside his rugby career, working his way up from the shop floor to the design office as the business specialised in high-volume manufacturing for bottles of spirits, beers and wine.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be good enough to make a career in sport be it as a player or coach, it never really crossed my mind.”
Playing
After failing to catch the rugby bug at school, a trip to watch his older brother play for Knottingley RUFC saw him roped into playing for their Colts team at 18.
Although West Yorkshire is an area largely associated as a hotbed of rugby league, union was still thriving at club level and Middleton worked his way up through to the first XV playing at fly half, full back and centre for six years. His breakthrough came at 24, albeit in alternative circumstances.
Yorkshire had qualified for the County Championship at Twickenham and wanted a warm-up game to prepare, and chose Castleford RUFC who had just put some new floodlights in so they wanted to commemorate.
Middleton’s try-scoring exploits at Knottingley saw him called up for the game where he played full back. In the stands the rugby league side Castleford Tigers had their coaching staff watching Yorkshire’s David Scully, a scrum half who won the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens with England, a player who they had been courting for a while, but they were drawn to the man playing full back.
“It was right time, right place. I had a blinder of a game,” said Middleton.
A few days later the Castleford head coach Darryl van der Velde called Middleton asking if he wanted a trial, something he thought was a practical joke at first, but he took up the offer and switched codes.
“In a couple of weeks I went from watching these league superstars on telly on a Saturday afternoon on Grandstand, to sitting in a changing room with them. Starstruck didn’t come close, it was just incredible.”
Combined with his job at the factory, he would train on a Tuesday and Thursday night, Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and then play on Sunday. The time off work needed to train was eased by the fact his boss was a huge Castleford fan and his participation provided local press for the company.
From playing in front of crowds of 20 or 30 at Knottingley, Middleton made his debut in front of over 2,500 fans against local rivals Featherstone Rovers which caused a dilemma for his parents who were huge Featherstone fans, but they eventually switched allegiance to Castleford to support their son.
Now playing as a winger, Middleton was part of a Cas side that won the 1994 Regal Trophy final against an all-conquering Wigan in their pomp, beating them 33-2 at Headingley in a match where he lined up against future 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Jason Robinson.
Asked what it was like to face a young Robinson, Middleton replied: “It was alright because he was never on his wing! He was everywhere, always somewhere else. My nightmare was playing against really big players. I was 11-and-a-half stone when I joined Cas and I used to get absolutely battered.
“So with Robinson I thought I was alright as if he gets by me I can chase him down. But you try to close his space down, don’t give him any space.”
He highlights facing players such as Andy Farrell, Martin Offiah and Shaun Edwards during his six years at Cas where he scored 82 tries and played in the inaugural Super League season in 1996.
“If you ask any fan about Simon Middleton, if they could remember me, they’d say I was a really fast winger - if I didn’t have pace I wouldn’t have made it, not a chance. And where that pace came from I have absolutely no idea as it all happened when I left school.”
After a serious shoulder injury in 1997, Middleton asked to go play rugby union just to get some game time and he moved to National Three side Otley for three months where he “fell in love with union again.”
Following another season with Castleford, Middleton was released aged 32 but received an approach from Leeds Tykes director of rugby Phil Davies with an offer.
“Everybody hates Leeds but everybody wants to play for Leeds, in rugby union or league, and no one turns down playing for them – they’re the big boys of both codes in Yorkshire.”
Playing on the wing at Leeds, now named Yorkshire Carnegie, he helped the club reach the second tier, and still holds a club record for most tries in one game for the five he scored in a memorable match against Morley.
“The first half I didn’t touch the ball at all and I came off at half time thinking ‘this was the worst game I’ve ever played in,’” Middleton recalls.
“Colin Stephens was stand off for Leeds at the time and we were really good mates, and he was like ‘I’ll get you in the game in the second half’ and I scored five tries in the first 17 minutes - he was just picking me out as he was such a good player.”
Coaching
On retirement, Phil Davies offered Middleton a position in the Leeds Tykes backroom staff initially starting out as a skills coach. He continued to combine this with working at the glass factory, regularly working 16-hour days to fit in both roles.
Leeds eventually won promotion to the Premiership for the first time in their history, and in 2002 were given a reprieve from relegation because Rotherham’s stadium did not fit Premiership criteria, and Middleton, despite recommending Mike Ford for the position, took up a role as the club’s defence coach.
This coincided with the most successful period in their history as they won the Powergen Cup at Twickenham in 2005, qualified for the Heineken Cup and when future England internationals such as Danny Care, Tom Palmer and Rob Webber came through the academy, alongside Yorkshire-born eventual Ireland and British & Irish Lion Simon Easterby.
It was on an RFU Level Four coaching course where his career path changed as he struck up a friendship with England Women head coach Gary Street, who asked Middleton to come and take part in some sessions.
“He was quite chuffed that he could get a Premiership coach down to work with the girls and I was pretty chuffed that I was being asked to go and coach England,” Middleton remembers.
“I was hugely surprised at the standard of rugby I have to admit, and the enthusiasm was great as was the thirst for knowledge and just how they engaged with everything. I just fell in love with coaching in the women’s game if I’m honest.”
His part-time work with the Red Roses saw him in a defence coach role ahead of 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, but he then left Leeds Tykes to work at Bishops Burton College near Hull as their director of rugby, disappointed he did not get the head coach role at Headingley.
It was at this point he thought his coaching career at the professional level was over having moved into schools rugby. However, after taking up an assistant coach role with England Women for a European Championship tour in 2012 where England won, he was offered a position of leading England Women Sevens combined with role ahead of the 2014 World Cup, which England would go onto win.
In 2015 Middleton became England’s sevens and XVs head coach, and this in turn led him to be appointed head coach of Team GB women’s sevens ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, something he describes as “the most surreal experience you could ever imagine.”
He added: “We walked out the Olympic village and there was Novak Djokovic knocking up with his coach, then we got in the lift and the doors open and Mark Cavendish gets in with his bike asking ‘can I jump in?’
“So everybody moves over so Mark Cavendish gets in and then the doors open at the bottom and there is Princess Anne greeting people!
“I remember one night coming back through security and me and Nicky [Ponsford] had been out doing some grocery shopping or something and Usain Bolt had arrived with his entourage all going through and we were just like ‘oh my God this is just insane.’ Bizarrely after a few days it gets quite normal and you get used to seeing these superstar athletes.”
Middleton’s Olympics experience, though, was not all positive as he snapped his ACL on the eve of the games and Team GB were beaten by Canada in the bronze final.
He switched his focus solely to the Red Roses after the Olympics to focus on the 2017 Rugby World Cup where England would reach the final but were beaten 32-41 by New Zealand. Six Nations titles came in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, with the team also reaching the world cup final in New Zealand.
DEPARTURE
In February 2023, Middleton announced his departure as the Red Roses' head coach after eight years at the helm. He bows out with attack coach Scott Bemand following the team's Grand Slam-deciding fixture against France at Twickenham, in what will be a record-breaking crowd for a women's rugby match.
"Scott and I both recognise that we're both coming to the end of a chapter in our lives, but we're both in agreement that our mindset of going game-to-game, week-to-week and being totally focused on performances is what has contributed to the team being so successful over the years."
He describes his time as head coach as "an absolute honour".
"I've been hugely lucky to have been able to do what I have with the players and staff that I work with. I love the Six Nations and I love the team, so when I was asked if I would stay on for the tournament I didn't have to think twice about it.
This story was first published in May 2020.
