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The 31-year-old English coach behind Gloucester’s unstoppable attack

Related Topics: Gloucester Rugby, Trevor Woodman

When he arrived to begin work as Gloucester attack coach in the summer of 2023, James Lightfoot Brown delivered a short presentation featuring an amusing photograph.

It depicted him a week or so before his ninth birthday, lining up for the national anthem at Twickenham while acting as a mascot for England prior to a fixture against the Barbarians. The senior player looming large behind Lightfoot Brown was Trevor Woodman, Gloucester’s scrum coach and a new colleague.

What an ice-breaker; better for the surprised reaction of an unknowing Woodman in the room. And somewhat serendipitous, too. England had won 53-29 that afternoon in 2002, with Kingsholm darling James Simpson-Daniel selling a famous dummy scissors before arcing around Jonah Lomu for a dazzling try.