New era beckons as Ballymoney introduce new coaching team

Despite relegation from Qualifying One at the end of last season, the club have been proactive in making changes that will see a positive future at Kilraughts Road.

New Club Captain Chris Beverland spoke about the new coaching gteam and plans to bounce back from last season.

“Sean Boyd is the new chairman,” said Chris. “He is incredibly enthusiastic and wants to take the club forward. He suggested the new position of Club Captain and asked me to do it and I agreed. I’ve decided that the time has come to step back from playing. I need a second ACL reconstruction and you have to assess things so I will contribute to the club in other ways.

“As a club we were looking to bring in other coaching staff and this is the right time to put resources into that aspect.

Jason (Taggart) had been at the club for over 10 years and what he did was incredible and he has been central to taking Ballymoney Rugby Club to where it is now and we are indebted to him for that.

“Until this year we were considered a top half Q1 side and obviously this year we got a real shock when we came straight down, most other clubs get a warning season and flirt with it. we knew it was going to be difficult but it came as a big shock.

“Now is the time for change so we looked at a number of people that we were interested in. As a club Ballymoney has a certain ethos, we are a real family club and it was always going to be important that whoever we found bought in to our ‘brand’. We were delighted to secure the services of three top coaches who will take us forward and develop our players.”