{"id":485748,"date":"2026-03-20T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485748\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:45:10","slug":"hes-the-kind-of-guy-you-want-on-the-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485748\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He’s the kind of guy you want on the bus’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sale<\/a> Sharks\u2019 Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson has paid tribute to defence coach Byron McGuigan<\/a>, who has left the club by mutual consent.<\/p>\n

Former Scotland<\/a> winger McGuigan has spent the last 10 years at the Salford-based club, as a player and coach, but has now moved on to \u2018pursue other opportunities.\u2019<\/p>\n

McGuigan, 36, was part of England\u2019s coaching team during the summer tour to Argentina, the Quilter Nations Series and the recent Six Nations, combining the role with his position at Sale, where he has been a member of Sanderson\u2019s staff for the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

Arguably his most notable achievement as Sale\u2019s defence coach was the 38-0 win over Bristol<\/a> at Ashton Gate in December 2024, when McGuigan\u2019s defensive strategy successfully \u2018caged the bear\u2019.<\/p>\n

It was the first time since 2016 Bristol had failed to score a point in a Premiership match as their trademark attacking game was stopped in its tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cByron\u2019s contribution to the club as a player and then as a coach has been huge. He\u2019s been a massive part of what we\u2019ve achieved, and who we are as a club, and his influence will be felt in whatever we achieve in the future,\u201d said Sanderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s grown with the team as a player and then grown as a coach in the last couple of years to achieve what most coaches want, and that\u2019s international honours, and we\u2019re so proud of him for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great player and he\u2019s a brilliant coach, but most importantly, he\u2019s a great bloke and he\u2019s the kind of guy you want on the bus. That\u2019s felt squad-wide and you can see it in his rapport with the players. He\u2019ll be missed by everyone at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, we didn\u2019t achieve everything we wanted to do together because we wanted to win cups, but I know our paths will cross again. I look forward to seeing him achieve great things in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuigan, who won 10 caps for Scotland, said: \u201cAfter 10 incredible years with Sale Sharks, I\u2019m hugely grateful for the memories, the people, and the opportunity to represent and later coach this club. It\u2019s been a privilege every step of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial thanks to the owners \u2013 Michelle, Simon and Ged \u2013 who are incredible people who make this all happen. I can\u2019t thank them enough for everything they do for Northern Rugby and Sale Sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to the fans, who have always supported me and to the players \u2013 you\u2019ve been incredible to play with and coach. I\u2019ve made memories and friendships that I\u2019ll keep forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his Scottish connections, the vacant Edinburgh<\/a> defence coach job could have tempted McGuigan away, although Chinnor Director of Rugby Nick Easter<\/a> has been heavily linked with that role.<\/p>\n

As for the Sharks, a solution to their search for a new defence coach could be on the doorstep in the form of Mike Forshaw, who filled in for McGuigan, on an interim basis, whilst he was away on international duty for the two PREM Rugby Cup blocks.<\/p>\n

Forshaw returned to the North West earlier this season due to family reasons, after a short stint at Leicester<\/a> Tigers, having previously coached defence at the Sharks<\/a> for 10 years before joining the Wales<\/a> national setup in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sale Sharks\u2019 Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson has paid tribute to defence coach Byron McGuigan, who has left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}