CORNWALL coach Graham Dawe has revealed he turned down an international job after leaving Plymouth Albion in April.
Dawe did not want to be drawn on which country it was but said it was one of a number of offers he has had since his surprise exit from Brickfields.
“I was offered a position with an international side,” he admitted. “I did consider it but I didn’t think it was the right fit for me at this moment in time.”
The former England international hooker says he does not want to rush straight into another job just for the sake of it. He insists any new role has to be the right one for him and his family.
“I’ve had various suggestions,” said Dawe. “But I have not really given too much thought to them because I’m in the middle of Cornwall’s County Championship campaign.
“I would like to get my teeth into something sooner rather than later, but it is about trying to find the right environment you are comfortable with.
“If you are involved with a team or a club it is a passionate and testing environment. It is about trying to get as much out of the players as you can and them wanting to progress week-by-week.
“There is nothing worse than treading water. You want to be in an environment where you are pushing players and they are pushing themselves.
“I put a huge amount of time and effort into Albion and I just have to see what develops next.”
Meanwhile, Dawe has hit back at suggestions that Albion had a playing budget of £500,000 for the 2015/16 season.
In an article in the Rugby Paper, new Albion owner Bruce Priday said: “They (Albion) spent £500,000 last season on a third tier side – completely and utterly unsustainable – and they were spending money they didn’t have. But next season’s playing budget will be £250,000 – the same as Richmond spent to get promoted.”
Former director of rugby Dawe, who was persuaded to return to Albion in 2015 to try and turn the club around after a disastrous and costly 2014/15 campaign which ended in relegation from the Championship, described those comments as ‘misleading and unnecessary’.
Dawe insists the club spent considerably less than that figure last season and that the budget was not a playing one but a rugby one – meaning it included everything from running the club’s schools and community programmes to all travel, kit and medical expenses.
“Reports over the weekend about Plymouth Albion’s 2015/16 playing budget are misleading and, in my view, unnecessary,” said Dawe.
“The actual budget spent was less than the figure mentioned and it was also not put into context.
“In 2015/16 the club operated a rugby budget and not a playing budget. As well as players it also included running the club’s extensive community and schools coaching programmes, travel to all away games, hotel stays for the trips that could not possibly be done in a day from Plymouth, conditioning coaches, team manager, physios, medical equipment, playing and training kit and equipment etc, etc. But the figure for all this came was lower than the figure reported in an interview on Sunday.”
Dawe insisted the club were working to a three-year plan, which is why they invested so much time developing players, in their community work and launching an academy, and that the budget allocated was deemed necessary by a four-man board to keep Albion in National One after losing 32 players that summer and improve their community programme.
Dawe’s main focus though now is Cornwall and trying to help them claim back-to-back County Championship title for the first time in their history.
They will play Cheshire in the final at Twickenham on Sunday.
Nine Albion players have been named in their 24-man squad for the trip to London – Matt Shepherd, Robin Wedlake, Jake Murphy, Billy Searle, Rupert Freestone, Sam Matavesi, Herbie Stupple, Jon Dawe and Christian Judge.
The match will kick-off at 12noon before England play Wales at 3pm.