FORMER top flight rugby union star Ryan Burrows is looking forward to his first season as player/coach of his hometown club Wath RUFC who he is hoping to take far further up the league system than they have ever been.
Burrows, 37, played for Leeds then Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership and Coventry before retiring from professional rugby and spending three seasons at Sheffield RUFC until this year.
He has returned to Wath who currently play in Yorkshire Division One which is the highest level they have ever reached and the seventh tier in England.
They are hoping to compete in the Regional Leagues which are the levels above in the near future.
Burrows said: “Breaking into the top two and getting promoted is a realistic target for this season.
“We’ve never been above this level before and it would be nice to do it before the club turns 100 years old in a couple of years.
“Off the field, the club is really thriving as a business and a community hub so now we have to deliver on the field and give some success back to the community.
“We have a young talented team which, with a few additions as we go up the levels, is capable of doing something special.
“If we go up, we will be one of the highest clubs in South Yorkshire so we would attract more players. There are ex-Wath players at higher levels who we think would come back.
“With that in mind, we could quite easily get back-to-back promotions.
“But we just need to focus on what is in front of us.”
Burrows believes the fifth tier is realistic but anything else may require a change in approach.
“Having been at the top, the big thing I’ve noticed is your success depends upon how much money clubs put in.
“If we get promotions into higher leagues, we will be competing against teams who pay their players.
“We will try to get there first and then see what the club wants to do.
“In an ideal world we won’t pay players and we would be sustainable but, once you get to a certain level, it would be very hard to compete.”
Burrows learned the sport at Wath and played there until he was 15.
He said: “It’s special to be back.
“I always said I wouldn’t drop to this standard for any club other than Wath. They approached me just after Christmas and it didn’t take me long to agree.
“It’s where I started, where I live and I have massive family ties to the club.
“My dad used to play for Wath and I was in the dressing room aged four, running water on for the players at five or six.
“Wath is such a great place, it just needs the sporting side to catch up and I don’t see why rugby can’t be the flagship for that.”
Having come out of the professional game, he is getting used to working with amateurs who have other commitments.
“I’m trying to make it a little bit more professional but a lot of the lads work nine to five, some in physical jobs, and they don’t get paid by us. So I have to respect that sometimes they can’t make training and cut them a bit of slack.
“It’s a massive learning curve for me.
“But, with the competition for places we’ve got and the enjoyment around the club, we’ve had really good numbers for training and games.”
Burrows’ remit stretches across all the men’s, boys’ and girls’ teams while he is also rugby development officer at Wath Academy school.
He said: “Coaching is a massive passion of mine and something I can see myself doing long-term. I am not sure what level that will be at. I know I am still doing my apprenticeship in coaching.
“But I have always attacked everything I have ever done head on.”
Wath start at home to Old Rishworthian on Saturday.
