Former Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity man Francis Cummins lands new role at Hull FC

Cummins has been out of rugby league since Trinity decided to part company with him and coach Willie Poching 14 months ago.

The move reunites Cummins with Hull team boss Tony Smith. Cummins played under Smith at Leeds in 2004 and later had a spell as his assistant.

The 47-year-old, who will work alongside Hull’s head of youth Pete Riding, scored 188 tries in 356 games for Leeds and has head-coach experience with Bradford Bulls and Widnes Vikings.

He said: “I’m really pleased to be taking up this role. To get the opportunity to work with the club’s next generation of talent is really exciting.

“The club have invested heavily in the junior setup and pathways over the last few years and some fantastic groundwork has been put in place to build on. The club has a clear vision from the top down for making their youth programme the backbone of the club for many successful years to come, and that really grabbed me.

“It’s now for me and the rest of the staff to make sure that we push more players through to the first-team and nurture some of the region’s most talented young players.”

Hull’s previous head of emerging talent, Michael Shenton, left the club last month to become an assistant-coach at Wakefield Trinity.