Geoff Townsend (born 1964) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

professional

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 ...

football coach. He is currently head coach of Sydney club

Gordon RFC Gordon Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based on the North Shore of Sydney. The club, known as the Gordon Highlanders, plays out of Chatswood Oval and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union grade competition. Club information ...

, and he was appointed as head coach of the

North Harbour Rays Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles. T ...

for the inaugural season of Australia's

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

in 2014. Townsend began his professional rugby coaching career in 1997 with three undefeated seasons as co-head coach of the New South Wales Under 19 team. He was the co-head coach of the Manly first grade team in the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

in 1999 and 2000. Townsend spent several seasons in Japan – as a coaching consultant to

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

team

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

in 2001, and as coach and technical advisor to Tokyo University from 2002 to 2004. Returning home to Australia, he was head coach of the Southern Districts first grade team in the Shute Shield from 2004 to 2006. He joined the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

as head coach of the club's academy in 2007, and was assistant coach to the Force's

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

team under head coach John Mitchell in 2009 and 2010. Following a stint as coaching consultant to Sydney University, he joined Gordon in 2014 on a three-year deal as head coach of their Shute Shield team. After the launch of the National Rugby Championship, he was appointed as head coach of the North Harbour Rays team to play in the new competition.

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