Background
Steven Michael Bates was born on 4 March 1963 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Steven Michael Bates was born on 4 March 1963 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
He played at scrum-half for London Wasps and was capped once for the England national rugby union team He twice worked as a coach at Newcastle Falcons, 1995–2003 and 2007–2010. During his days as a player, in the amateur era, Bates was a schoolteacher at Radley College and Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire.
He was capped once for England, against Romania in Bucharest in 1989, and was on England"s tour of South Africa in 1994.
In 1995, when Andrew left Wasps to become Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, Bates followed him, becoming the Falcons" head coach. Bates was instrumental in attracting the fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to Newcastle in the summer of 1997, with Wilkinson having previously been a pupil at Lord Wandsworth College where Bates taught.
Bates left Newcastle in March 2003
In 2004 Bates was appointed as head coach of Border Reivers, taking over from New Zealander Tony Gilbert, who was returning home. When the Scottish Rugby Football Union announced that Border Reivers was to be disbanded at the end of the 2006-2007 season, Bates was headhunted by Newcastle Falcons to become their Coaching and Technical Director and rejoined the club in June 2007.
Bates was sacked by the Falcons in May 2010.
In January 2008, the Rugby Football Union announced the appointment of Bates as head coach of England Saxons on a part-time basis. In 2011 Bates was appointed the director of sport at Fettes College in Edinburgh.