Jim Mallinder
| Birth name | David James Mallinder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 16 March 1966 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Halifax, Yorkshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Rugby Coach | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jim Mallinder is the coach of Northampton Saints and the former head coach of Sale Sharks, England Under 21s and England Saxons.
Biography
In his playing days, Mallinder was a fullback at Sale Sharks, where he stayed for 15 years as a player and a coach. He was formally a P.E and Mathematics teacher at William Hulme's Grammar School in Manchester before the game turned professional.
When he retired from playing in 2001, after nearly 400 games for Sale and two England caps, he was appointed as the Sharks' head coach. In his first season he took the Sharks from 11th to 2nd in the Premiership and their first Heineken Cup qualification. In 2002 he led Sale to the Parker Pen Shield, now the European Challenge Cup, and their first silverware.
In 2004 Mallinder left Sale to take up a post in the RFU's National Academy. There he worked with Brian Ashton and Dorian West, as he masterminded the England Under 21s into winning the Under 21s' version of the Six Nations in 2006 with a clean sweep of six wins out of six. He was also named by UK Sport in their prestigious Elite Coach scheme.[1]
He was subsequently handed the reins of the England Saxons, where he had an impressive record of 15 wins from 16 matches. His last match in charge saw the Saxons defeat the New Zealand Maori at Twickenham to win the Churchill Cup.
In June 2007, Mallinder took up the post of head coach at the recently relegated Northampton Saints. In his first year there, he led the Saints straight back to the Guinness Premiership with an undefeated "perfect" season.[2] On 25/06/2008, he signed a new 3 year contract to remain at Franklin's Gardens until at least the end of the 2010/11 season.[3]
In preparation for the 2008-09 season, Mallinder raided his former club Sale Sharks, signing Ben Foden, Chris Mayor, Christian Day and Ignacio Fernández Lobbe where they joined other former Sale colleagues, Barry Stewart and Nick Johnson. This exodus led some Sale wags to rename Northampton Saints as Northampton Sale.
In their first season back in the Premiership he consolidated their position finishing 8th. However his outstanding achievement was to win the European Challenge Cup ending the competition undefeated to qualify for the 2009-10 Heineken Cup. He has turned Franklins Gardens into a "Fortress" losing only one game at home in the last three years.
References
- ^ "I'm a believer says Mallinder". RFU.com. 2005-09-21.
- ^ "Saints march to league and cup double at Twickenham". RFU.com. 2008-04-12.
- ^ "Mallinder commits to the Saints for three more years". Northampton Saints. 2008-06-25.