Yorkshire Carnegie appoint Gary Mercer as head coach

The 48-year-old, who played 21 times for the Kiwis, succeeds James Lowes, who quit the club nine weeks ago to take over at Bradford Bulls.

Mercer has signed a two-year contract at Headingley and has just two weeks to prepare the team for their first Greene King IPA Championship appointment of the season at Cornish Pirates.

Mercer, who will meet Yorkshire Carnegie fans for the first time next Wednesday night at a special pre-season fans event at Headingley Carnegie, said: “I am very excited about the future for Yorkshire Carnegie and what we can achieve over the next few years.

“The structure that has been put in place by Sir Ian McGeechan and Chris Gibson is something that I believe will create a sustainable and, importantly, a successful future for the club.

“I spoke to James Lowes about the squad and the environment at the club and he encouraged me to consider the job.

“From my time in Yorkshire as a player and a coach, I am aware of the raw pool of talent that is available and I think we are in a great position to capitalise on that now.

“The squad and the coaching team last season did a fantastic job and came so close to reaching their goal, our challenge now is to go even further next season.”

Mercer has worked for the last decade with the Scottish Rugby Union as well as being part of the coaching staff at professional club Glasgow Warriors.

During his playing career he played rugby league for Bradford, Warrington, Leeds and Halifax and began his coaching career in league with Halifax, Castleford and Oldham.

He switched to union in 2004 with Glasgow Warriors in an assistant coach’s role with responsibility for defence, attack and skills.