Kevin Bowring: 1954 - 2024
The Rugby Football Union has paid tribute to Kevin Bowring who has died at the age of 70 having coached rugby at every age group and every level of the game.
Kevin was the first full-time professional coach of Wales between 1995 and 98, before becoming the Head of Elite Coach Development for the RFU for 15 years and responsible for the continuing development of England, Premiership and elite academies coaches.
With decades of experience as a teacher, coach and coach developer, much of his life was spent in high-performance sport offering a vast amount to both elite athletes and coaches.
He attended Neath Grammar School for Boys before studying to become a PE teacher at Borough Road College, in West London, and captaining the college team, while returning to play for Neath during his holidays.
A widely respected flanker, he played for London Welsh for nine years in 268 games, captaining the club for three seasons. He also represented the Barbarians and Middlesex.
He progressed into coaching with Wales U20, U21 and coached Wales before joining the RFU’s Professional Rugby Department. Since retiring from that post in 2016, he worked as a coach development consultant.
Much respected as a coach developer working across different sporting environments, he was a board member of UK Coaching (formerly Sports Coach UK) and a member of the Coaching Committee setting the overall strategy for sports coaching in the UK.
Kevin also founded Teaching Learning Coaching Ltd, a coaching consultancy helping coaches, leaders and people to become the best versions of themselves.
Said Nigel Redman, England Rugby Director of Performance Team Development, “Kevin was a lovely person with a passion for supporting people. He was the father of coach development and will be greatly missed by so many coaches who he helped from across the UK. All of our thoughts are with his wife Wendy and the family.”
Stuart Lancaster, now coaching French club Racing 92 and England Head Coach from 2011 to 2015, worked closely with Kevin and said: “Kevin was without doubt the biggest influence on my and so many other young coaches’ careers. Words cannot express how influential he was. His appointment in 2001 was a masterstroke by the RFU and coincided with the Academy structure being formed and developed. I was one of the very lucky ones that was nurtured and supported by Kevin and I owe everything to him. His influence grew across many sports and leadership domains it is impossible to know how many people he touched but the number will be huge. Each one of those people I am sure are feeling the same profound sadness at his passing because he was one of the true greats, as a person, a mentor and as a friend. His legacy is huge and we will all do our best to live our lives to the best of our ability with the spirit that Kevin instilled in us all."
