THE Rugby League World Cup might be over — but Bolton is already looking to future glories in the sport.

England were narrowly beaten in the semi-final of the competition and now sports development and coaching course leader at the University of Bolton, Mark Moran, has been tasked with spotting and developing the next generation of players and coaches.

Mr Moran will lead Embed the Pathway, which aims to improve the quality of performance of players in the sport between the ages of 11 and 14, and coaches.

He was asked by Rugby League’s governing body, The Rugby Football League, to become involved in the programme after his PhD research into developing more effective players and coaches at junior level, and Mr Moran said: “I am very excited to be part of this innovative programme.

"The initiative is something that the sport has needed for a while and, if successful, it should improve the number of people playing the sport and also the quality of players representing the full England sides of the future.

"The plans going forward are to develop the programme over the next four years.

“This will include students from Bolton becoming involved in aspects of the programme such as performance analysis, coach and player observation and other areas of support work.”

As part of the programme, professional Super League clubs will work much more closely with the amateur clubs to look at coaching, as well as coach and player profiling.

The programme was launched at the home of Super League club Widnes Vikings. At the event more than 60 youth coaches were treated to coaching workshops and presentations by Mr Moran and others.

He also headed up training with Wigan St Judes youngsters to help demonstrate to other coaches how to lead a session.

Bolton Mets RLFC play at Mortfield Pavilion in Avenue Street, while Leigh Centurions play in the Championship.