Billy Millard: Harlequins appoint Australian as general manager of rugby

Billy Millard will start his role at Harlequins on 2 July

Harlequins have appointed Billy Millard as general manager of rugby.

The 48-year-old will work closely with new head of rugby Paul Gustard and will be responsible for all aspects of off-field rugby operations.

Australian Millard has previously been general manager of USA Rugby and Cardiff Blues.

He has also held coaching posts with the Welsh side, Australian Sevens, The University of Sydney, Melbourne Rebels and Connacht.

"Billy arrives at Harlequins with a wealth of knowledge," Quins chief executive David Ellis told the club website.

"We believe our new management team will take a big step to helping us achieve our mission of taking Harlequins back to the top of English and European rugby."

Quins restructure coaching set-up

Millard's appointment comes after Harlequins divided the role of director of rugby, which previous occupant John Kingston left at the end of last season, into two separate posts.

The head of rugby will focus on the senior squad, with the general manager taking responsibility for enabling high-performance across the entire rugby department at The Stoop.

Millard's role will include overseeing strength and conditioning, medical, data analysis, psychology and sports science, recruitment, the academy set-up and the women's team, player welfare, budgeting and operations.

Gustard and Millard will take up their respective jobs on 2 July.