Glasgow Hawks are pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Mercer to the position of Head Coach. Gary will hold this post jointly with Peter Laverie who was Assistant Coach last season.

Gary Mercer is no stranger to the rugby scene in Glasgow having been defensive coach at Glasgow Warriors from 2006 until last season.

Jimmy Sinclair remains at the club and is concentrating on projects working with individual players and Finn Gillies remains as player-coach. Graeme Davidson has confirmed that he will continue to support the players as Team Manager.

Mercer had originally been a Rugby League player and Internationalist receiving 22 caps for the NZ Kiwis and playing in the 1988 Rugby League World Cup Final. He then had spent many years playing then coaching Rugby League in England before he moved into Rugby Union.

Club President, Chas Afuakwah welcomed the appointment saying, “We are delighted that Gary has agreed to come to Glasgow Hawks and we believe that he will bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the post. The club have a strong commitment to our players in trying to offer them the strongest possible support in helping them develop their potential. Our coaching team have always made a huge commitment to the players and Gary represents a strengthening of that team. We are also hugely grateful to the three other coaches committing to the club and are grateful for their efforts.”

Peter Laverie said of his appointment, "I am delighted to be working with Gary at Hawks. We have known each other for several years and also worked together for a couple of years as Scotland U16s and Scotland U17s coaches respectively. We have a very good group of enthusiastic players at Anniesland and our job will be to get the best out of them. We have started planning and organising for next season already."

Gary has been to several training sessions over the last few weeks familiarising himself with the players at Old Anniesland and so when training begins in the summer he will be a familiar presence at the club.