Rugby boss eyes double:
Steel in confident mood as side prepare for new term
Allan Steel insists East Kilbride Rugby Club have a strong enough squad to claim a league and cup double this season.
The Torrance House gaffer has been hard at work with his youthful side for the past eight weeks now, bringing them in early for pre-season ahead of their first competitive match on August 31.
East Kilbride narrowly lost out on the West Division One title to Greenock Wanderers last season and Steel’s troops are determined to make amends.
He said: “The boys got a taste for it last season, so they know what they can achieve and they are determined to do it this season.
“We are targeting league and cup glory and I said that as soon as last season finished because I know what we have. “Ideally, we will win both, but if not, one. “The league is our main goal, but I believe we have a strong enough team to go for it on all fronts.
“We’ve got the belief among the squad that we can do it, the commitment from the players is there and so is the desire.
“The boys took on a summer programme and came back to training earlier than normal in great shape. Their fitness is really good now and we at the stage now where we will be working on getting game ready.”
East Kilbride face Garnock, one of their title rivals from last season, in their league opener and Steel is looking forward to such a big test so early on in the campaign.
He added: “It’s a great game to start with, a home game against a team who will be competing with us for the title.
“If we can get the right attitude and show the same kind of performances we did for much of last season, then I’m sure we’ll find ourselves in a good position by the end of the season.”
While the big kick-off remains a few weeks away, EK will take on National League Two side Whitecraigs and East Region Division One outfit Linlithgow on August 10 and 17, respectively, in friendlies.
“Whitecraigs will be a good test for us,” said Steel. “They play a really open and expansive brand of rugby and that will challenge us.
“Linlithgow are more of a stuffy team and that will be good practice for some of the games we’ll face in the league as well.
“That’s why we choose to play these two games as they will stand us in good stead for the league.”