Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950 in

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port El ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

) is a former rugby union coach.

Law career

After studying law at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik.

Professional rugby coaching career

In 1997 Solomons left law to pursue a professional rugby coaching career as the assistant coach for Western Province (winners of Currie Cup), the Stormers & the Springboks. In 1998 he was appointed head coach of Western Province (Currie Cup finalists) and in 1999 head coach of the Stormers (home semi finalists in 1999), a position he held until 2001. He remained as assistant Springbok coach working with the head coach, Nick Mallett until 2001 (Tri Nations winners 1998, world record 17 unbeaten Test run & 3rd placed at RWC 1999). In 2001, he joined Irish rugby team

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 ...

, where he coached them for 3 seasons during which time they won the Celtic Cup (2004), were runners up in the Celtic League( 2004), lost only 1 home match in 3 seasons & moved from 37th ranking in Europe to 10th. In 2004 he was voted Northern Ireland Sports Manager of the year and Rugby Personality of the year. After an unproductive short spell as head coach of Northampton, he joined the IRB as the High Performance consultant, a position he held until 2010. During this time, he was seconded for a year (2006) to USA Rugby as Director of Rugby. He was also the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

coach in 2003 when they defeated England, Scotland & Wales and assistant coach to Nick Mallett when the Springboks & All Blacks were defeated in 2010 & 2011. In June 2009 he coached the Southern Kings in their debut match against The British & Irish Lions and in 2010 he was appointed Director of Rugby & head coach of both the Southern & EP Kings. He remained with the Kings until 2013 and led them to 2 Currie Cup Div1 titles (unbeaten in 2012) and as the SA Kings won the IRB Nations Cup in 2011. As Director of Rugby (Matt Sexton worked under him as head coach) he led the Kings in their debut Super Rugby season in 2013 (best ever debut season) In 2013, he was appointed as the head coach of

Edinburgh Rugby 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 the 2014–2015 season, Edinburgh won the 1872 Cup derby against Glasgow Warriors for the 1st time in 6 years and became the first Scottish team to play in a European Rugby final. On 28 September 2016, Solomons stepped down from is position at Edinburgh four weeks into the 2016–2017 season. In February 2017, Solomons became a Coaching Consultant for Bristol Rugby. In October 2017 Solomons became assistant coach at

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

, and in December 2017 signed a 2.5-year contract as director of rugby. Following the 2021–22 season he will retire and is to be replaced by

Steve Diamond Steve Diamond (born 7 July 1953) is an English-born former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played club level rugby union for Newport RFC, as a fly-half, and rugby league for Wales, and ...

Coaching philosophy

Solomons approach has been described as "His philosophy on rugby is to get the simple things done well, work hard and everything else falls into place." Solomons normally focuses on the group rather than picking out individuals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomons, Alan 1950 births Living people People from Uitenhage South African rugby union coaches Ulster Rugby non-playing staff White South African people Sportspeople from the Eastern Cape University of Cape Town alumni South African expatriate sportspeople in Scotland South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African lawyers South African expatriate sportspeople in Northern Ireland