Danny Wilson is a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

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 lineout and contact coach at Harlequins. He was previously a head coach at

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

. He was born in the West Country in Somerset, near

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. As a player he turned out at

Hooker Hooker may refer to: People * Hooker (surname) Places Antarctica * Mount Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (Antarctica) * Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands) New Zealand * Hooker River * Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps * Hoo ...

Playing career

Amateur career

Wilson began playing

for a couple of

sides;

Hornets Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the Eusociality, eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other Vespina ...

and

. He moved to Cardiff to study and then played for

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

. He also played a year with

Treorchy Treorchy ( cy, Treorci; ) is a town and community (and electoral ward) in Wales. Once a mining town, it retains such characteristics. Situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of the 1 ...

Professional career

Wilson played for

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1 ...

under 21 side.

Coaching career

Club

A degenerative disc problem in his back ended Wilson's playing career at the age of 25; and Wilson moved into coaching. He secured a job coaching at

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff ...

academy before being named as

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons ...

head coach in 2008. Wilson has coached three of the four Welsh regions being forwards coach at

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in t ...

and the

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

before taking over as head coach at the

in 2015, replacing

Mark Hammett Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett (born 13 July 1972) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders 81 times and the All Blacks 30 times – including 29 Test matches, Hammet ...

in the role. Wilson from 2014 to 2015 was

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

's forwards coach, working under former

coach

Andy Robinson Richard Andrew Robinson OBE (born 3 April 1964) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at Bristol until November 2016. He is the former head coach of Scotland and England. From September 2019 to Decembe ...

. However, in 2015 he left the club after they failed to gain promotion from the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, whe ...

, to join the

as head coach. After three seasons in Cardiff, it was announced that he would be leaving at the end of the 2017/18 season to join

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

as Forwards coach. He subsequently pulled out of that deal with Wasps, when the Forwards coach role with the Scotland team became available.

Glasgow Warriors

In 20 November 2019, Wilson was announced as the new head coach of

for the 2020-21 season, succeeding

Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player who is the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team, having previously coached New Zealand sides the Chiefs, , ...

. Wilson stated: “I’ve been extremely impressed with the Scottish system in recent years and I’m looking forward to working with an exciting and talented squad of players at the Warriors. I want to build on the high-tempo style of play that I know the fans love and pay to see week in, week out." He officially took over as head coach of Glasgow Warriors on 1 June 2020. Glasgow Warriors finished 8th in the league in the 2021-22 season, and following a huge 76-14 loss against Leinster in the quarter-finals - the second worse loss in the team's history - on 6 June 2022, Wilson was relieved of his position as head coach.

Harlequins

Wilson joined Harlequins as a lineout and contact coach on 12 January 2023, ahead of the 2023-24 season.

International

Wilson also coached the Wales U20s team in the 2012 Junior World Championship where the Welsh side defeated the Baby Blacks 9-6 in the group stage. Wales were knocked out in the semi-finals by the Baby Blacks but claimed the Bronze medal defeating Argentina in the third place playoff. It was announced in 2018 that he would be joining the Scottish National side coaching team as forwards coach.

Personal life

While playing in Wales, Wilson married

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966 ...

player Rachel Poolman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Danny 1976 births Living people English rugby union coaches Cardiff Rugby coaches Treorchy RFC players Bristol Bears players Cardiff Metropolitan University RFC players Scotland national rugby union team coaches Glasgow Warriors coaches