Steve Diamond is 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 ...

player and coach. He is particularly known for his role as Director of Rugby at

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

club

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

from 2011 to 2020.

Early life

Diamond is one of six children, brought up by his mother after his father died when he was 15. He often worked at weekends.

Rugby career

Playing career

Diamond played for his local club Trafford MV before joining

as a player in 1989. He played over 350 top class games for Sale. He was also called up to the senior England squad as cover for the

1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia The 1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia was a series of matches played in 1997 in Argentina and Australia by the England national rugby union team.Jim Mallinder David James Mallinder is a rugby union coach and former player currently working with Scottish Rugby as performance director. He is a former head coach of Sale Sharks, England Under 21s, England Saxons and Northampton Saints. Playing career ...

. Diamond then left Sale and began coaching

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

for the 2002 and 2003

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

s again alongside Jim Mallinder. Diamond joined Saracens in 2004 as a coach and was praised with bringing many successful players to the club, but was sacked after two and half years after failing to qualify for the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

. In 2007 he teamed up again with Jim Mallinder to head up Northampton Saints recruitment process. He then accepted the Director of Rugby role for the Russian national team, and in 2010, under Diamond's leadership, Russia qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Diamond returned to

in January 2011 as Director of Sport before taking over as Director of Rugby in 2012. On 8 December 2020 Sale announced that Diamond had left the club with immediate effect for personal reasons. It was later revealed that several family issues were the reason for his departure. He was appointed Lead Rugby Consultant 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 ...

in November 2021. On 25 January 2022 it was confirmed he would take charge of the first team with immediate effect following the departure of

Jonathan Thomas Jonathan Thomas (born 27 December 1982, in Pembroke) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player, he played mainly at flanker having also played at number eight and lock. He was previously head coach of Worcester Warriors. On January 17t ...

. It was also confirmed he would take on the role of Director of Rugby from 2022 to 2023 due to the retirement of

Alan Solomons Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950 in Uitenhage, South Africa) is a former rugby union coach. Law career After studying law at the University of Cape Town, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galomb ...

. His contract at Warriors was terminated along with every other employee on 5 October 2022.

Personal life

Diamond's mother died on 19 November 2020. It was later confirmed his brother had died 12 months previously and his sister had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Diamond has had an occasionally direct personal approach.

References

External links

* https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/news-comment/steve-diamond-is-forever-telling-it-straight-8219020.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Steve Living people Rugby union coaches Sale Sharks coaches Sale Sharks players Saracens F.C. coaches 1968 births