Allan Lewis favourite for Pertemps Bees job
By Sunday Mercury
January 29 2008
Former Moseley director of rugby Allan Lewis has emerged as the favourite to take charge of National One strugglers Pertemps Bees. Lewis, who is currently director of rugby at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, is the man that the Bees' board want to turn round the fortunes of the Sharmans Cross Road outfit.
Chairman Brian Marshall had wanted Phil Maynard to be reappointed as director of rugby just 13 months after being axed by the club but was outvoted.
Lewis was approached before Maynard decided to withdraw as a candidate and it is believed that discussions with the Welshman took place last week.
Lewis joined Moseley in 1997 and was soon installed as director of rugby after New Zealander Mark Anscombe was sacked.
He left a year later when the club went into administration, returning to Wales where he worked as head coach of Newport, Bridgend and the Celtic Warriors.
Ian Smith, now Moseley's head coach, worked as assistant to Lewis at Newport.
Lewis, who was Wales backs coach under Kevin Bowring, also had a spell as a Welsh selector in the late 1990s -having previously coached Wales A.
After a spell as team manager of Cardiff Blues he took the Hartpury job and has turned the small college into one of the leading students' sides in the country.
But Lewis is now believed to be keen to make a return to club coaching and is considering Bees' offer.
During his short time at Moseley he helped to turn them into potential promotion candidates but he was prevented from completing the job by financial restraints.
Lewis, a former Llanelli centre, gave up a career in teaching - he was Jonathan Davies' games teacher - to take charge of Moseley.
Bees also interviewed former Rotherham head coach Andre Bester for the post but the South African was reluctant to commit himself to the club until next season.
The Bees are hoping to make a quicker appointment and Lewis' expertise as a backs coach has given him the edge. The National One strugglers have not had a backs coach since Ben Harvey, who had been acting as head coach, was sacked just before Christmas.