Dan Clements has been named as the new Head of Performance for Wales Rugby League.

His appointment fills the role that Anthony Seibold vacated when he left to return to Australia last month.

As Head of Performance, he will be delivering strategic plans for the development of Welsh Rugby League players, managing the whole process from under 12 level all the way up to senior international.

Clements was introduced to Rugby League ten years ago where he started playing for the successful UWIC university side. He then turned out for Cardiff Demons before founding Rumney Rhinos Rugby League Club that eventually evolved into Newport Titans.

A Wales “A” and Student international, he then coached the Titans before being signed up by Celtic Crusaders to take charge of their Colts side. He led them to Conference National Grand Final glory in 2008 giving him the League’s Coach of the Year and then coached Crusaders reserves in Super League reserves throughout 2009. He has also coached Wales at under 16 and under 18 level.

He is the one of the assistant coaches of South Wales Scorpions working with Aled James and will continue this role alongside his new Wales Rugby League position.

Clements said: “This is a good opportunity for me as this kind of role is something that I really enjoy. Here in Wales we have an extremely large pool of talented players and it’s very satisfying to see a player progress from all the development programmes that we have running to see them reach their full potential. Young Welsh players are naturally gifted and they want to play rugby at the highest level, the programmes we are putting in place gives them a chance to achieve that goal.”

Having worked with and recruited current Super League players like Lloyd White, Gil Dudson and Elliot Kear, Clements can see the potential of the sport in Wales.

“Seeing players that have come through our programmes and make their Super League debuts is something that we’re all quite proud of,” he adds. “It proves that what we are doing is along the right lines and this can only improve as we continue to grow. There are players currently in our system that are the most talented that I have ever seen while working with Wales Rugby League, and helping them to improve is what drives you.

“I learned a lot from Anthony Seibold when I worked alongside him in my previous role as player development manager throughout this year. Together we’ve laid down a lot of structures and now is a great chance to help them develop. There are plenty of players out there in our academies, high performance unit and regional performance centres that will progress as Rugby League players over the next few years and keep Rugby League in Wales on the up.”

General Manager for Wales Rugby League, Sash Stosic said: “It is a natural progression for Dan to take this role. He was part of our performance structure alongside Anthony Seibold and has been committed to Rugby League in Wales for the best part of a decade. What impressed me was his vision for what performance looks like for Rugby League in Wales and his understanding of our current structure. His approach to engaging people into our development programmes has been outstanding.”