We’re aiming for Prem, Ealing warn ring-fencers
In his first interview since being unveiled as Yorkshire Carnegie’s new DoR, Chris Stirling tells Jon Newcombe of his first impressions of the club
BEN WARD, rugby director of ambitious Ealing, has hailed the achievement of Cornish Pirates.
And he has maintained his own club’s ambition to upset Premiership rugby’s old order by mounting a concerted promotion push.
Ealing are set to open talks with local football clubs about potential ground-shares from 2019 and, with a huge revamp of their squad nearing completion, Ward has warned Premiership relegation certainties London Irish to expect a challenge next season. Ward told The Rugby
Paper: “To have that stadium in Cornwall will be great for the Championship and ourselves, Yorkshire Carnegie, Coventry and Doncaster also have ambition to go up.
“Within three years I expect Coventry to have a Premiership-standard stadium and that’s our aim as well. We’re looking at opportunities to expand our training facilities, we’re developing a very good academy and we’re also looking at opportunities locally to potentially play at other stadia.
“Our ambition over the next couple of years is to become a Premiership side and with what’s happening at Pirates and elsewhere, it will definitely pose some questions to the RFU and Premiership Rugby over the structure of the game.”
Ward added: “Personally, I think it would be totally wrong to start shutting out possibilities and ring-fencing the Premiership.
“Ealing won’t be a London Welsh that throws a load of money at it and goes bust, we’ll do it the right way by growing our crowds and revenue.
With 20 new signings already made, eight of whom are from the Premiership, including ex-Northampton back rower Sam Dickinson and centre Harry Sloan from Harlequins, Ward has still to complete his business ahead of next season.
He said: “I’ll have one more from the Premiership to announce this week and a couple from abroad as well.”
PETE LYDON has predicted a bright future for Reon Joseph after the teenage winger rescued a 23-23 draw for Ealing Trailfinders against Yorkshire Carnegie in Tuesday night’s rearranged Championship fixture.
Joseph, who’d scored with his first touch of the ball in the third minute, rounded off a dream debut when he beat several defenders from 25 metres out to cross with a couple of minutes to go, Lydon coolly slotting the conversion to level the scores.
“He has got absolutely wheels; the kid is amazing, there are going to be big things coming from him,” said Lydon, who contributed 13 points with the boot.
“I am delighted that he got two tries because he holds himself back a bit and lacks a bit of confidence. He is still only 18 and feels like he is up against men, but we keep explaining to him that he is an absolutely specimen and can more than hold his own.”
Ealing had threatened to blow an early 13-0 lead as Carnegie came back to score through Tom Bullough and Mike Mayhew – the hooker’s fourth try in three games.
Stevie McColl converted both efforts and landed three of his four penalty attempts as Carnegie looked set to register only their second win in the last six games.
“It was a bit of a see-saw game really, we came out of the blocks quick and then they managed to claw themselves back into it. In the middle third it looked as though they’d done enough to grind out a win, but we came back and got that late try. It was kind of a strange game to play in,” Lydon said.
Former London Scottish points machine Lydon is almost halfway through a two-year deal at Vallis Way and is excited about what the future holds.
Having secured second spot in the League and done well in the B&I Cup, Ealing have strengthened their squad significantly for a serious promotion push next year including the signature of Munster’s David Johnston to rival fellow Irishman Lydon at full-back.
“He’s a good player but competition is good, it brings the best out in you,” Lydon stated. “This year me and Luke Daniels were going neck-and-neck for the 15 shirt. You don’t want to be starting every week with no-one putting pressure on you.
“Judging by the signings we have brought in, we should be a pretty good force next year. Hopefully us and London Irish are the two that people are talking about as promotion candidates. We will be embrace that.”
“We must create an environment that means we can attract and then retain the players we want”
AS Chris Boyd stands by to has already been like a breath of fresh air 140 miles up the M1 in Leeds.usher in the winds of change at Northampton, another Hurricane New Yorkshire Carnegie DoR and former Hurricanes high-performance manager Chris Stirling is three weeks into an exhaustive fact-finding mission and has seen enough during his stopover in the UK to be convinced the club can still become a major player in the English game despite years of inertia.
His first impressions have been wholly favourable, and others feel the same way about him, even Worcester who came very close to appointing the Aucklander only to opt for Alan Solomons instead.
“From my perspective, everything I hoped I’d see here, I’ve seen. Right the way through the club, everyone is clear about what they want to achieve,” Stirling said.
“I’m asking a lot of questions and I have to say that the information coming back, and the honesty from players and staff, absolutely underlines the fact they care passionately about this club.”
Stirling’s task is very different to the one confronting Super Rugby title-winning chief and good mate Boyd, who has been in the UK on a flying visit, after taking advantage of a bye week in the Hurricanes’ Super Rugby schedule.
Carnegie don’t have the financial muscle, support or history of the Saints but they have a stadium, albeit leased from Leeds Rugby, that’s going to be better than anything else in the Premiership once the £40m renovation of Headingley is complete, and an academy that continues to produce players with top-flight potential.
The age-old problem for Carnegie is preventing that talent from moving on to bigger and better things, and Stirling is acutely aware that delivering Premiership rugby is key to keeping the Danny Cares and Tom Palmers of this world.
“The feeling is that if we can finish the squad the way we are hoping to for next season we are definitely a club that can be in contention. How long it will take (to get promotion) is the million-dollar question,” he admitted.
Stirling did a wonderful job during his last stint in English rugby at Cornish Pirates, assembling a squad that reached two Championship finals and won the inaugural B&I Cup. Given more financial resources, and a Premiershipready stadium, they could have gone all the way.
Money is equally tight in Yorkshire, but Stirling insists he wouldn’t have swapped one of the best ‘club’ environments in world rugby if he was in any way doubtful of Carnegie’s ability to back up their vision with hard cash.
“The financial side of things is taking care of itself in the background and I am confident everything is in place, it is just going to take a little bit of time,” he said.
“If we neglect to get the foundations right, and we get the opportunity to go up, then the whole thing will just come tumbling down. It is better to spend time building the base, because the broader the base the higher the peak will be.”
While the re-signings of captain Richard Mayhew and influential back-row colleague, Richard Beck, have added to the more positive mood at Headingley, the squad for next season is still very much a work in progress.
In Boyd, Stirling knows he’ll have a useful ally just down the road and the two met at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday. That relationship and those he has back in New Zealand could potentially benefit Carnegie in terms of players coming in on loan, but the 55-year-old says organic growth remains top priority.
“The responsibility lies with us to create an environment that means we can attract and then retain the players we want to retain. If we can do that, and we get the succession planning right, we will be pretty much self-sufficient which would be great. If our top priority in recruitment is to go outside the region or outside the country, we’re not doing our job right.”
While Stirling’s knowledge of Rugby League is so limited he probably thinks a 40:20 is a kind of cheap-end alcoholic drink, the 55-year-old is keen to work closely with Leeds Rhinos moving forward.
“What is gold for me is that we have another professional organisation who are extremely successful in their code working in the same building.
“Not many clubs in England would have the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other like that and have that availability of resource. They are successful for a reason, and I want to tap into that.”
The relationship between League and Union has always been fractious, and at times Leeds has been no different despite its past existence as a dual-code club.
But Stirling works well with people and may just be the man who can fix what others have failed to do.
Worcester’s loss could be Yorkshire’s gain – if, and it is a big if given three Premiership clubs are trying to do the same – significant financial backers can be found.