Allen Clarke (born 29 July 1967) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Seattle Seawolves of

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

(MLR). He is the former head coach of Welsh professional side the Ospreys in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, having previously been the team's forwards coach.

Playing career

During his playing career, Clarke was a hooker. He was capped at international level by , playing for the senior team eight times from 1995 to 1998. Clarke spent the much of his professional playing career with his native province of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

and played in the

1999 Heineken Cup Final The 1999 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, the fourth season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 30 January 1999 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. The match was contested by Ulster of ...

victory against

Colomiers Colomiers (; oc, Colomèrs; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southwester ...

, the first ever European title for an Irish side. He also spent several seasons with

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

in England across two spells, having studied at the university in the town and later worked as a teacher there. Clarke was forced to retire due to injury in 2001.

Coaching

After his retirement from playing Clarke became a part of the Ulster coaching system, helping to establish the province's academy system. He was promoted to assistant coach under his former teammate

Mark McCall Mark McCall (born 29 November 1967 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland) is an Irish former rugby union player and current Director of Rugby (DoR) at Saracens. While DoR for Saracens the team has won the English Premiership Rugby competition ...

, and served in this role during Ulster's 2005–06 Celtic League title-winning season. Following this success Clarke was hired by the

IRFU The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

as an Elite Player Development Manager, a newly created role with the directive of developing young Irish players. He also served as head coach of the Irish under-20 team and the Irish 'A' side during his time with the union. Following five years in his role with the IRFU, Clarke returned to Ulster in 2012 as an assistant under

Mark Anscombe Mark Anscombe (born 1957) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, having played rugby spanning across 15 years. Anscombe (father of Welsh international Gareth Anscombe) has been a rugby union coach since 1994, coaching various ages and styles in both ...

. Clarke continued in this role under Anscombe's successors,

Neil Doak Neil George Doak (born 21 June 1972) is a Northern Irish former cricketer and rugby union player. He currently works as a rugby union coach, and has served as attack and backs coach with English club side Worcester Warriors, and Georgia during t ...

and

Les Kiss Les Kiss (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian professional rugby union coach who is the head coach of London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the Brisbane Rugby League and ...

. During his second stint with Ulster Doak continued to be involved with the Irish set up on occasion, serving as head coach of

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish rugby union team that represents Ireland in the World Rugby Nations Cup. History 2013 Tbilisi Cup The team was created to offer Tier 1 level opposition for Tier 2 sides in the IRB Tbilisi Cup, held in Tbilisi, Georgia ...

during their successful 2015 Tbilisi Cup campaign. Clarke left Ulster in 2017, joining the Ospreys as forwards coach under Steve Tandy. In January 2018, Tandy was sacked with Clarke named as his successor on an interim basis. Following a successful stint in the role, Clarke was offered the head coach position on a permanent basis, signing a three-year deal with the region in April 2018, but was terminated in November 2019 after a dire start to their 2019–20 season.

References

External links

1967 births Living people Dungannon RFC players Ulster Rugby non-playing staff Ulster Rugby players Northampton Saints players Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Irish rugby union coaches Ospreys (rugby union) coaches Rugby union hookers {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub