# Mike Forshaw

Michael Forshaw (born 5 January 1970) is an English rugby union coach, and former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is currently the defence coach for the Wales national rugby union team.
Forshaw began his playing career with Wigan in 1987 and went on to play for Wakefield Trinity, Bradford Bulls and Warrington Wolves. He played 14 times for Great Britain and 3 for England.

## Background

Forshaw was born on 5 January 1970 in Wigan, Lancashire.
He had a brief stint at Saracens F.C. (RU), and was briefly the Player Performance Lifestyle Advisor for the Rugby Football League.

## Playing career
### Rugby league

During the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season, Forshaw played for defending champions Wigan from the interchange bench in their 1991 World Club Challenge victory against the visiting Penrith Panthers.
In 1997, he was named in the Super League Dream Team. In the 1997 post-season, Forshaw was selected to play for Great Britain in two matches of the Super League Test series against Australia. Forshaw won caps for Great Britain while at Bradford Bulls in 1997 against Australia (ASL) (2 matches) (interchange/substitute), in 1998 against New Zealand (interchange/substitute), in 1999 against New Zealand (interchange/substitute), in 2001 against France (interchange/substitute), and Australia (3 matches), in 2002 against New Zealand (3 matches), and in 2003 against Australia (2 matches), and Australia (interchange/substitute).
Forshaw played for the Bradford Bulls from the interchange bench in the 1999 Super League Grand Final which was lost to St. Helens. Forshaw won caps for England while at the Bradford Bulls in 2000 against Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Forshaw played for the Bradford Bulls as a loose forward in their 2001 Super League Grand Final victory against the Wigan Warriors. As Super League VI champions, the Bradford Bulls played against the 2001 NRL Premiers, the Newcastle Knights in the 2002 World Club Challenge. Forshaw played as a loose forward in Bradford's victory. Forshaw played for the Bradford Bulls as a loose forward in their 2002 Super League Grand Final loss against St. Helens. Forshaw played for the Bradford Bulls as a loose forward in their 2003 Super League Grand Final victory against the Wigan Warriors. He signed a one-year contract with the Warrington Wolves for the 2004 season.

## Coaching career
### Rugby league

After retiring from playing in 2004, he rejoined Warrington to look after Strength & Conditioning of the players until November 2006. He returned to his boyhood club and teamed up with his old coach Brian Noble in December 2006 when he took over as strength & conditioning coach for the Wigan Warriors.
He studied a BSc part-time at UCLAN following Wigan's sponsorship by UCLAN.

### Rugby union

In 2010, Forshaw joined Connacht in the Celtic League as defence coach.
In 2013, he joined the Sale Sharks in the same role. Forshaw follows a '3D' approach to the contact area of defence: discipline, detail and decision-making, with a particular focus when within 50m of his team's own try line. In July 2020 Forshaw extended his contract with Sale until the end of the 2022 season.
In 2023, after a decade at Sale, Forshaw was appointed as defence coach for the Wales national team for the 2023 Six Nations Championship.