Tonkin gets the call to join Ealing
EALING Trailfinders have moved quickly to find a new forwards coach following the news that Cornel van Zyl has agreed to join Cardiff Rugby for the 2024/25 season.
Level 4 coach Louie Tonkin, below, has agreed to become part of Ben Ward’s coaching team at Vallis Way and will leave his current position as assistant to Alan Paver and Gavin Cattle at Cornish Pirates at the end of the season.
Like van Zyl, Cornish-born, Welsh-raised Tonkin is a former lock forward. He played for UWIC RFC, Swansea, Coventry, and Llandovery and has been coaching at Pirates since September 2021.
He will become Trailfinders’ fourth forwards coach in two years following in the footsteps of van Zyl and Neil Fowkes and Jonathan Thomas before him.
Van Zyl has been at the Championship high-flyers since July 2023 but is to leave Vallis Way after less than a year in the job.
The 45-year-old South African, who won eight caps for Italy at lock, is an addition to the current Arms Park coaching team led by Matt Sherratt.
Prior to joining Championship leaders Ealing, van Zyl gained vast coaching experience with the Free State Cheetahs and London Irish.
During his playing days, van Zyl spent the majority of his career in Italy, for Treviso, where he amassed over 150 appearances in an eight-year spell.
Dragons RFC, meanwhile, have promoted former Wales U20 forwards coach Sam Hobbs to first-team forwards coach after Luke Narraway decided to leave due to a reduced contract offer.
Hobbs, a former Cardiff and Dragons player, is currently the Dragons’ academy head coach.