Ex-Scotland wing McGuigan becomes Sale defence coach

Byron McGuigan grew up in South Africa before joining Glasgow Warriors in 2012

Sale Sharks have appointed Byron McGuigan as their new defence coach following Jamie Langley's departure to rugby league side Leeds Rhinos.

McGuigan has served on Alex Sanderson's coaching staff for the past season since retiring as a player in 2023.

The 35-year-old spent seven years playing for Sale as wing or centre over more than 100 games and he also won 10 caps for Scotland in which he scored three tries.

He has been in charge of the Sharks for their recent games in the Premiership Rugby Cup, winning both.

McGuigan spent time coaching amateur clubs in the north west while he was a player at Sale and he says that he has found a real calling.

He will now take up his new defence role ahead of the Premiership return against Leicester Tigers on 1 December.

"My passion is defence," McGuigan told the club's website.

"There's a few things that we have brought in over the last couple of weeks and we look forward to challenging these systems going into the next block of games.

“The challenge for me is to make our defence effective and bring back our Sharks DNA, physicality, hard work and togetherness, it’s massive for us, that’s non-negotiable."