Tony Yapp

Head Coach

Tony Joined Taunton firstly as a Player Coach in 2010 before taking over the reins as Head Coach during the 2011/12 season. He brought with him a wealth of experience having played for teams such as Worcester, Bedford, Randwick (Australia), Exeter Chiefs and Launceston before joining Taunton. During his playing career he represented England U21s & England A as well as the Barbarians. Over his 12 year professional career he scored over 3,000 points including 1,800 for Exeter Chiefs in 173 appearances. Once Tony had taken over as Head Coach he quickly moved to bring in former Chiefs team mate Keith Brooking as Forwards Coach. Within 12 months, Keith moved into the role of Team Manager and this paved the way for Chris Brown who was brought in as the new Forwards Coach. Over the last few seasons the off field staff has changed slightly but Tony feels in Keith, Chris, Julian Salvi (Defence Coach), Adam Rutter (Physio), Sandra Williams (Sports Masseuse) and Lyndon Lane (Strength and Conditioning) he has the right blend to drive the team forward. During his time in charge of the Titans we have seen the club evolve from a team struggling in National League Two to a team consistently in the top four and leading to promotion to National League One. During that time we have also seen the club become a breeding ground for ambitious young players with a number of them moving on to play at a higher level and crediting Taunton as the launch pad they needed to get there. These include the likes of Sam Skinner, Jack Owlet, Paul Davis (all Exeter Chiefs), Jake Woolmore (Bristol Bears), Dan Frost and Dan Lee (both Cornish Pirates) to name just a few, with a number of other Chiefs academy players benefiting from time at Taunton. These include Joe Simmonds, Stuart Townsend, Tom Lawday, Pete Laverick and Sean Lonsdale. Tony has said that "the aim of the coaches at Taunton is to improve any player that decides they want to join us, we try to create a learning environment for our players to help make them the best that they can be and to create a positive team culture that they can really get behind and feel part of”. We feel at Taunton we are lucky to have such an ambitious coaching team who, with the right support off the field, can keep pushing this great club forward.