Alan Victor Tait (born 2 November 1964) is a former Scottish dual-code rugby footballer, and now

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is a Defence Coach at the Super 6 side

Southern Knights Southern Knights was a comic book created by the husband-and-wife team of Henry and Audrey Vogel.''The Crusaders'' #1 splash page. It chronicled the adventures of a superhero team based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Initially known ...

. He was previously head coach at

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

and a former

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 ...

and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer. He played

outside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

(RU), and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

. He played club rugby union for Kelso,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and the

; and club rugby league for

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. Tait changed codes twice in his life, once going from rugby union to rugby league, and then going the other way after union became professional during the mid-1990s.

Rugby Union

Unlike many other cross-code converts of the period, Tait had the benefit of growing up in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, where his father, Alan Senior, was playing for

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

. However, Tait played Union first and made his Test début for Scotland in the inaugural 1987 World Cup held in New Zealand where, he came on after seven minutes as a replacement in a 20–20 draw with France in Christchurch. Tait played for the

Reds Trial Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

side in their match against

Blues Trial Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

on 3 January 1987.

Rugby League

The following year Tait switched codes to

where he was to spend the next eight years playing club rugby for

and

, as well as representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

. During the 1989–90 season, Tait played for defending champions Widnes at fullback in their

1989 World Club Challenge The 1989 World Club Challenge (also known as the Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship by brewers, Foster's) was the third ever and first official World Club Challenge match. 1989's NSWRL season premiers, the Canberra Raiders travelle ...

victory against the visiting

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

. Tait won the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Trophy ...

in both 1989 and 1990. Alan Tait played in

' 24–18 victory over

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

in the

1990 Lancashire Cup Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

Final during the 1990–91 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

on Saturday 29 September 1990. Alan Tait played in

' 6-12 defeat by

in the 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1988–89 season at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

on Saturday 7 January 1989, and played , and scored a

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

in the 24-0 victory over

in the 1991–92 Regal Trophy Final during the 1991–92 season at

on Saturday 11 January 1992. In the 1992 World Cup Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

Tait was selected to play for Great Britain from the reserve bench in their defeat by Australia. He also made appearances in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Finals in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Return to Union

With the advent of

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 ...

turning profession Tait along with many other converts switched codes back to union in 1996 signing for the

with whom he won the Premiership in 1998, making 19 appearances that season. At first he was ignored by the Scotland selectors but eventually made his return for Scotland after a nine-year absence in 1997 and went on to represent the British & Irish Lions in South Africa also in the summer of that year. Surprising many Tait was selected to start the first two Tests on the wing, even though his favoured and more recognised position was at centre. This was due to coach

Ian McGeechan Sir Ian Robert McGeechan, OBE (born 30 October 1946) is a retired Scottish rugby union player, coach and teacher. Born in Leeds, McGeechan represented Headingley as his only club during a 15-year club career, qualifying for Scotland through hi ...

believing that Tait would add extra defensive capabilities to the backline over the other wingers, in what would be a tight test series. He famously scored a try in the first match as the Lions won 25–16 in Cape Town. He also played in the second match which saw the Lions clinch the series after a dramatic 18–15 victory in Durban. Injured before the 3rd Test he did not play as the Lions lost the last match 35–16. For Scotland Tait developed a devastating partnership with John Leslie. Many saw their pairing as instrumental in Scotland's good performances of the time and allowing stand-off

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend, (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Scotland national team having previously been an assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a player, he won ...

to exploit gaps in the opposition defence. This was no more apparent that in the

1999 Five Nations Championship The 1999 Five Nations Championship (sponsored by Lloyds TSB) was the seventieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-fifth series o ...

where Townsend would become the fifth and last player in history to score a try against each of the other countries in the five nations tournament. The championship culminated in Scotland narrowly finished ahead of England on points difference thanks to Wales' last minute victory over England at Wembley. Tait scored two tries in Scotland's last match of the tournament as they put in an historic performance to beat France 36–22. Later that year he represented Scotland for the last time at the 1999 World Cup finishing with a defeat by the All Blacks. He scored a try against South Africa in the pool stages at Murrayfield in a 46–29 reverse to the holders. In 2000 Tait retired from professional rugby finishing his last game playing for his last club

Edinburgh Reivers Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

. In all Tait played 27 times, scoring 17 tries, for Scotland, this is an exceptional record especially when considering that the bulk of these games were played after his return from League at the age of 32. Partly because of this it is why Tait is still regarded in high esteem by Scotland supporters to this day.

Coaching

Following his retirement from playing he then moved into coaching, initially working with Scotland as a defence coach. Although he was dismissed from the post by Matt Williams he was later restored to that role by Williams successor

Frank Hadden Frank Hadden (born 14 June 1954) is a Scottish rugby union coach. He is a former head coach of Scotland and Edinburgh Rugby. Hadden replaced Matt Williams and was appointed on 15 September 2005. Hadden coached the Merchiston Castle School 1st ...

. In 2004 he joined the Borders as a defensive coach. Tait then moved back to the Falcons as an assistant before assuming the top job at the Premiership club as part of a restructuring process in the wake of Steve Bates' departure from the post of director of rugby in 2009. He held the position of Head Coach of Newcastle from 2009 to 2012 until club owner, Semore Kurdi announced Tait was 'taking a break from rugby' following a series of poor results. On 7 July 2022 he was appointed the Defence Coach to the

Family

Tait has a son, Michael, who was also a professional rugby union player. Michael appeared for the

Scotland national under-20 rugby union team The Scotland national under-20 rugby union team participates in the World Rugby Under 20 Championship. Their highest placement is 5th which they achieved in the 2017 World Rugby Under 20 Championship. The U20 side also compete in the Six Nation ...

in 2010 and signed for

in 2014 before retiring later the same year due to injury.

References

* Tait, Alan & Lothian, Bill ''Rugby Rebel: The Alan Tait Story'' (1998 Mainstream, Edinburgh, )Rothmans RL Yearbook 1999 by Raymond Fletcher page 326

External links

Profile & Statistics
on ESPN Scrum *(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugbyWhen Widnes muscled in on Wigan's Rugby League trophy romp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Alan 1964 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Dual-code rugby internationals Edinburgh Rugby players Great Britain national rugby league team players Kelso RFC players Leeds Rhinos players Newcastle Falcons players Reds Trial players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Kelso Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Kelso Scotland international rugby union players Scotland national rugby league team captains Scotland national rugby league team players Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union players South of Scotland District (rugby union) players Widnes Vikings players