Former North Yorkshire rugby league development officer Tony Gargan has been named as the new manager of the England Students team.

Gargan, who now coaches York Schools Under-11s, has already taken up his post ahead of the home internationals series in June.

He will work alongside coaches Mark Wright of Widnes and Simon Tuffs of Featherstone Lions in preparing the highly-rated students.

"As the team manager I'll be involved with the running of the team, picking the teams and coaching sessions once a month," explained Gargan, who will join the squad for testing in Wales later this month.

Two of the players he may find himself working with are York Wasps backs Andy Preston and Matt Woodcock who both have England Student honours.

They will not be eligible for the June matches because of their club commitments but could come into contention for the Great Britain team which will tour later in the year.

Gargan, one-time coach of York Wasps Academy, beat a number of impressive candidates for the post which was advertised in the rugby league trade press.

One down side of his appointment is that he has been forced to drop his involvement in York's proposed new Rugby League Conference club.

He was a key figure in plans to form the new club but he is now hoping somebody else will come forward to take over that responsibility.

"I'm going to be too busy now. I've got the York Schools Under-11s as well and we're hoping to put a 12 to 16 team junior rally on at Easter," said Gargan, who has to juggle his rugby commitments with his job as a printing firm manager.

The England Students appointment is Gargan's second national honour. The former New Earswick All Blacks amateur player was liaison officer to the American national team which was based in York for the Emerging Nations World Cup in 1995 and coached the American side in the Halifax Students World Cup the following year.

Fellow York coaches, Acorn duo Alfie Hill and Paul Higgins, get their first test in charge of the BARLA Yorkshire open age side this Sunday.

They kick off the County Championship against last season's winners Lancashire at the Boulevard, Hull.

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