His switch to the north-east will see him join forces with a coaching team that already includes ex-Wales hooker Scott Baldwin, who is the defence coach, and will see him step up from the Championship to the Premiership.
A member of the Wales sevens squad at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 32-year-old headed to Jerey as a player after playing for both Cardiff Blues and Scarlets. He transitioned into coaching in the summer of 2021 and as backs coach at the Reds helped them to win the Championship last season.
Now he will be in charge of helping the best young players at the Falcons make the step from age-grade rugby into a potential full-time professional career as the Premiership side’s first transition coach.
Newcastle Falcons’ best young players will enjoy much greater support following the appointment of Tom Williams as the club’s first transition coach.
“It’s a really exciting challenge to help Newcastle’s best youngsters make that transition into being full-time professional athletes,” said Williams, younger brother of former Cardiff Rugby and Wales scrum hlaf Lloyd..
“Part of the job will be helping their self-awareness and game understanding on and off the field, and there’ll also be an element of working with Mark Laycock to help him with the team’s attack.
“I really enjoyed my time in Jersey, firstly as a player and then starting my coaching journey with them two and a half years ago. They have always been an ambitious club and they’ve always had impressive people and players involved.
“It was no coincidence they won the Championship last year, and that reflects the quality of the personnel at the club. It took some time to see how we wanted to attack to best use the players we had, and I’d like to think it was effective.
“We had a lot of young players around that senior academy age, and I think that will help me a lot coming into a role like this at Newcastle. I’m excited about the prospect of learning from new players and new coaches.”
