Ealing aim to spoil PRL party with unbeaten promotion run
STEVEN Shingler wants to take Ealing Trailfinders to the Premiership before moving into coaching.
Shingler, who also coaches at London Welsh, has played for London Irish, Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and Stade Montois and he believes Ealing have the potential to be as big as any of them.
Backed by the mulit-millionaire owner Mike Gooley, Ealing have their sights set on the big time ahead of the new season whichs kicks off next weekend.
Premiership Rugby want a ring-fenced 13-team league with fallen Saracens strong favourites to be promoted from the Championship this season.
Ealing are determined to rip up that script. They have already beaten Saracens twice in the Trailfinders Challenge Cup and Shingler says his side have the potential to push Mark McCall’s men all the way for promotion.
“The facilities at Ealing are absolutely out of this world for a Championship club – they are better than a lot of Premiership clubs,” said Shingler.
“I’ve been to big clubs and Ealing’s training facilities are as good as any of them. The gym is getting redone and we’ve got an indoor arena. There is a growth mindset at Ealing.
“We want to be in the conversation with the big teams and push for the Premiership.
“We are playing the three-times European champions Saracens but we want to go unbeaten this season.
“Usually in the Championship you could lose two or three games and still win, but this season with Saracens if you lose one game, you’re probably gone. That’s how high the stakes are.”
On ring-fencing Shingler says: “It’s difficult when you hear conversations like ‘Get Saracens back up there and close it off’. You kind of think that’s not really fair.
“We’ve got a club here who have great potential to grow.”
Shingler, 29, an intelligent outside-half with an accurate kicking game, is also studying to become an independent financial advisor alongside his coaching role at London Welsh.
“I want to be a professional coach in the future 100 per cent,” he added. “The benefit of me having had a couple of clubs and experiencing a few different cultures is you tend to pick up what they do well.
“I’ve enjoyed studying different coaches’ philosophies, their traits, what they do well, what they need to change, and what I would do differently.
“I’ve always been like that. I’m an outside-half who thinks deeply about the game.
“The beauty of coaches is how they make you feel. When I moved to London Irish, Mike Catt was brilliant for me. He was a coach who wanted to drive you to the point where you were desperate to improve and perform for him.
“Ben Ward at Ealing is another outstanding coach with high standards. I’ve never trained as hard as I have at Ealing and hopefully you can see that in our game.”