SOARINGTO NEWHEIGHTS
Unilads are paving way for success
Stirling University’s men’s rugby side are attempting to become history makers - just a year on from the disappointment of a crushing relegation.
The university’s 1s and 2s sides have enjoyed stellar campaigns, having lost only one of their combined 20 matches so far this season - and the 1s are on the cusp of going through their entire season unbeaten.
That achievement has seen the 1s secure promotion back into the BUCS Scottish Men’s Tier One division after dropping into the league last season following a poor campaign.
They also scooped the Scottish Conference Cup title with a victory last week, while the 2s have enjoyed success of their own by winning their own division and securing the Scottish Conference 2s Trophy.
It has been a remarkable turnaround, with the impact of new captain Dan Tomanek clear to see in his first season as skipper.
The 27-year-old fly-half, who has also turned out for Heriot’s and the Polish national rugby team, admitted big changes were needed after the frustration of last season - and praised the impact of the players’ buy-in on guiding success.
Dan told the Observer: “It was an up and down season last year and it just didn’t really click; we had coaches who were Super 6 players and they couldn’t really commit because they would understandably get pulled away for their own training.
“We just basically parked last year and made some choices over coaching, we ended up bringing in Doug Smith who is a former coach at Stirling County and who has been a bit of a mentor in my own career.
“He’s a great guy and rugby coach who wants to see players develop and you can see that in the way we have performed.
“I’m looking after about 6070 lads as the captain, so that’s planning training sessions and chatting with the other captains while balancing my own studies.
“I knew early on to have a successful season that the boys had to enjoy themselves, to simplify the game plan and training sessions and when you start getting the buy-in from players, the success follows from that.
“We’ve had 40 boys in for training sessions during the week; we didn’t have those numbers last season but you can’t push both teams’ standards up without that.”
The first XV are two matches away from securing their unblemished campaign, with a match against Glasgow University in the league before a varsity clash against St Andrews to complete the season.
The Stirling squad features some names with experience in the Scottish rugby system, Tomanek being joined by the likes of Sam Rockley, who has turned out for Stirling Wolves and Liam Carroll, who captains the Luxembourg national side.
But this season is just the tip of the iceberg, Tomanek insists, as they aim to reach into the Ukwide top tier.
The captain added: “I don’t like to be arrogant about things but we knew we were building and we asked ourselves why we couldn’t win the league and cup.
“An undefeated season is just an amazing achievement for the boys and I’m over the moon to lead the boys to that. We’ve only scratched the surface with the players we have and there are some talented guys in first year coming through so the future looks pretty bright as well.”