Nederlandse Rugby League Bond has announced their first-ever womens head coach appointment, following the start up of their womens section earlier this year. They have appointed co-Head Coaches, Matt Rigby & Brett Davidson to the role on a three year contract, which will include the next stage of qualification for the 2026 RL World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere.

Davidson has been in charge of the Womens & Girls start up and development this year, opening Rugby League to more upto 100 new participants. He is also head coach Amsterdam Cobras Men and has previously had coaching roles with the Turkey & Serbia national teams.

Rigby returns to coaching following successful spells as assistant coach at Hollingworth College and Netherlands Men national side, and will remain in his role as Team Manager for the Netherlands Mens & U19’s teams. He has also played for the Den Haag Knights, winning three minor premierships and one national championship in a four-year spell.

Brett Davidson also said on accepting the role: “I’m honoured and humbled to get this opportunity with the Dutch Dames. The chance to be a part of history & firsts doesn’t come along to often in life so I’m extremely excited at what the future holds. We have done a decent amount of work in recruitment, coaching and developing the squad and I look forward to building on this, working alongside Matt. The time & effort Matt has put in over the years has been a major factor to even get to this point and looking forward to working with him in this capacity. I’m excited to see the full potential from the players and maybe cause a few upsets along the way. We’ll plan to have a couple of good hit outs in the next few months in preparation for potential World Cup Qualifiers next year, it will be a massive challenge but one I’m sure everyone is up for and confident that we can be competitive and give a good account of ourselves. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Matt Rigby, commented: “It is a moment of immense pride for myself to return to coaching in this capacity, working alongside Brett in the unique hybrid role, which will give huge opportunity to the national & domestic women in the long-term future. Brett has done a massive job for Dutch rugby league this year and I know the board are grateful to him for all of his hard work and efforts to bring us to this point, I’m excited to work with him to create a successful Rugby League culture to the Womens team, and to unlock their full potential on the field. It will be a new environment for all of us and there is huge excitement as to what the future holds for the sport here.”