Zac’s ready to take The Mariners to a successful season

 

Zac France-Miller will  start the new rugby season in his second year as head coach at Milford Haven Rugby Club, where The Mariners ultimately did well to come a creditable fifth in the Division Three (West) table and also won the Knock Out Cup Plate Final, when they beat near neighbours Neyland at Bierspool, the home of Pembroke Dock Harlequins.
 
Originally, he had planned not to play but he and assistant coach Jonathan Thomas, whom he had played alongside at Whitland RFC for a number of years, stepped in when the occasion demanded, although Jonathan sadly got injured against Trimsaran and missed out on the Plate Final, but was there on his crutches to support the team.
 
And the new campaign will see Jonathan unavailable because of other commitments but Zac has built a strong coaching staff that includes Neil Machin, a terrific tactician and reader of games, Jimmy Buirds (who was there  with him last season), Gareth Davies (Whitland) and Dean Hadley, who played for The Mariners and Tenby United when they were a tower of strength in the league set-up and is held in the highest esteem by the players, committee and supporters.
 

Worked well through a difficult patch

 
It would be fair to say that Zac and Co went through a tough time at one period last season after a decent start in September, but then suffered a massive interruption to their league efforts as games were postponed and the result was that they found themselves in the relegation zone, but with five games in hand.
 
But Zac worked hard at The Mariners’ self-belief and a cracking run of late results saw them start to enjoy their games and eventually finish comfortably in mid table.
 
Zac’s family hails from Milford Haven but he set out in the oval-ball game at Pembroke Dock because his father, Andy Cotter, knew Stuart Lewis, who was a brilliant organiser of junior rugby with the Quins.






 

Early start with The Quins

 
He was just six then but was soon playing under-eight tag rugby as his father and Paul Rogers were the coaches of talented players like Paul’s son Jonathan (now with Narberth), Jack Price and Damo Miller.
 
Then he moved up to Narberth at under 13 level and his dad joined Clive James as coaches of a really strong team that included the likes of Will Boyd, Lloyd Phillips, Sion Bennett and Connor Lloyd, which reached the junior play-offs every season and won the majority of them.

 

Zac played rugby league – for Wales!

 
The same squad played well together at youth level as they reached the cup final in both seasons but lost to very strong teams from Haverfordwest and Aberystwyth - and in the same period of time, when he was playing rugby at Tasker Millard School, he attended two trials in Cardiff for the Welsh Schools Rugby League team and found himself selected to play against their counterparts in England at Plymouth.
 
“To be honest, I wasn’t really aware of all of the rules and I was used as a bit of a battering ram - but it was a great experience in the front row alongside Osian Phillips (Crymych),”admitted Zac, “and I’ve still got my Welsh jersey and cap at home!”





 

Playing for Whitland Firsts at 19

 

At youth level Zac was in Pembrokeshire College, where the team was coached by Kevin Hopkins, and he was selected to play for the Scarlets at under 20 level, and played a few games for Carmarthen Quins - and came on as a replacement when the Quins played Dundee High in the British and Irish Cup.
 
“Arwyn Thomas, who is Jonathan’s father and heavily involved at Whitland, then invited me to join The Borderers and at 19 I was a regular in their team which was playing as a flanker in the Welsh Championship against former top clubs like Ebbw Vale and Pontypool, plus the likes of Bargoed and Aberavon, with Robin Davies, Randal Evans and Neil Machin as coaches.
 

Seasons spent at Narberth and Crymych

 
“It was a very sharp learning curve and we got relegated after a couple of seasons and Narberth came along to invite me to play for them.  so I gave it some this thought but they tried to convert me to hooker - which wasn’t the brightest of ideas because  although my work in the scrums was fine, I couldn’t throw the ball in straight line outs, and the harder I tried the worst it got!
 
“I also had a season at Crymych My old playing pals Ryan Rees and Laurence Headlam were there and recommended the club when Randal Williams, Robin Davies, Neil Machin and I enjoyed that before I decided to return to Parc Llwyn Ty Gwyn because to be honest, I was missing the boys there, plus the great supporters who were there for us.






 

Back to The Borderers – and now at The Obs!

 
 “I had bought a property in Milford Haven and then ‘Gully’ Williams caught wind of it and asked me if I fancied playing at The Observatory as and it came at the right time as I couldn’t commit to the travelling to Whitland. I was with Milford for a few seasons when Whitland asked me to go back there Whitland was going through a period of transition, though, and dropped into Division Two (West) by then so it wasn’t the easiest time to keep plugging on - but we managed to do so until the end of the campaign and I was able to play 100 games for Whitland and selected as captain although I took a nasty injury and seen most the season on the sidelines.





 

Warm welcome as Mariners’ coach

 

Milford Haven asked me back as head coach, the sort of challenge I needed, so Italked to Johnnie Thomas and we agreed to take our first step into new rugby roles.
 
“We both were warmly welcomed by the players and supporters and it was nice that players of the calibre of Dan Jenkins, James Williams, Zak Davies, Dan McClelland, James Trueman and especially Robbie Jones as a fairly new recruit.
 
“So now we are looking forward to the 2026/27 season with optimism and a real boost is the fact that we haven’t lost any players to other clubs and we have the real boost of recruiting ex-youth players looking to break into senior rugby - and we will give them every chance of doing that.
 
 “We are also hoping to build our second team into a viable unit because that is another vital component in our plans.”
 
A special mention to my wife, Katie, who has been an absolute gem. Archie was born in April last year when I took on the coaching role, and our second son, Wilfred, arrived this July. I couldn’t have done it without her support.
 

 And finally . . .

 
Chat to Zac France-Miller, as we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk did, and it is easy to see that he has firm plans about where Milford Haven RFC need to go next, using his depth of experience as a quality player who has worked with some very good coaches.
 
We have seen his pre-match warm-up sessions and half-time work - which are both impressive.
 
Club vice-chairman Alan McClelland, who doubles up as team manager, told us:
“Zac came into the club last season and made an impact with the players, showing his commitment and leadership by playing in a number of important games. He is a young coach with fresh Ideas and we are looking forward to another season with him at the helm in our quest for excellence””
 
We could pay Zac France-Miller no higher compliment and wish him a cracking season with Milford Haven RFC!