Cardiff Rugby are delighted to secure the services of Gethin Jenkins as the club’s new defence coach on a consultancy basis.
The 42-year-old returns to the Arms Park as the first appointment of Matt Sherratt’s coaching staff ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Jenkins will assist his home club on a part-time basis, bringing his defensive expertise in a significant boost to the Blue and Blacks.
The former Cardiff, Wales and British & Irish Lions prop said: “It’s great to return to Cardiff and I am very grateful to Matt Sherratt and the club for giving me the opportunity to get back into coaching.
“Cardiff are a club that has played a big part in my life both as a player and starting out in my coaching career.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and the chance to work with a playing group that has a mix of quality and exciting potential, many of whom I have already coached within the pathway or with Wales.
“I am still learning and developing in my coaching career and this is another opportunity to further that experience, while helping Matt drive forward a club that has done a lot for me.
“It’s a big challenge but an exciting one and I’m looking forward to linking up with the club.”
Jenkins returns to the Blue and Blacks five years after he retired from the game, having amassed 195 first team appearances, in which he won two European Challenge Cup titles.
Since hanging up his boots, Jenkins has made a successful transition into coaching, first with Cardiff RFC and the club’s academy. In 2020, he joined Wales Under-20 as defence coach, before assisting the senior squad as a technical breakdown coach.
He then joined the senior squad as the full-time defence coach ahead of the 2021 Six Nations, where Wales won the title and Triple Crown.
Sherratt is delighted to enlist that vast experience of Jenkins, who was renowned as one of the game’s finest defence leaders during his playing days and has now forged a reputation as an exciting young defensive coach.
The Cardiff Rugby head coach said: “Bringing Gethin back to the Arms Park is a fantastic appointment for the club. After meeting him it was abundantly clear he is very passionate about improving players and is also extremely passionate about Cardiff Rugby.
“I coached him as a player and it is clear to see that the drive and standards he set himself as a player have transferred to his coaching.
“With the experience he has already gained with the National team and now the opportunity to work at his club, I genuinely believe that he can become a world class coach.
“There are still challenges in the formation of the squad and staff ahead but with the announcement of some new playing recruits and Gethin things are beginning to take shape.”