Given the age profile of the current senior squad it was felt that it was vital to have some younger members of the SMT, as such Simon Hamilton and David Chivers have agreed to come on board as coaches for the 2nds.

Both will bring a lot to 2nds, both are young, full of enthusiasm and they’ll both invigorate our 2nds players.

Simon returns to his hometown club after a number of years coaching at Malone; he has his coaching qualifications and hopes to progress further in the coaching side of things.

Club stalwart David Chivers was at a stage we’re it was getting harder and harder for him to recover from playing and was considering either stopping playing or only playing social rugby. He’ll come on board as forwards coach for the 2nds and will also be available when required to play/bench for the 2nds If needed.

This was a crucial part in the jigsaw for the senior side of the club to have these younger coaches in place with the 2nds and to continue to ‘close the gap’ between our 1sts & 2nds squads.

As such the coaching and management for the seniors will be as follows:

1sts:
Head Coach - John West
Assistant Head Coach - John Anderson
Assistant coach - Adam Faloon
Team manager - Alan McHugh
2nds:
Coach - Simon Hamilton
Assistant coach - David Chivers
Team manager - Ricky Sadler
3rds:
Coach - John Dowey
Team manager - Stu Stevenson

Club sports injury therapist - John McKeag

Finally, Director of Rugby Stevie Nutt would like to thank Roy Lawton who at the age of 65 has stepped down from senior rugby duties - he will continue as a mini rugby coach.