We are delighted to announce the appointment of Derek O’Riordan as our new 1XV Head Coach.
A Level 4 coach, Derek joins us from Murrayfield Wanderers in National Three. Before his time at Roseburn Park he was head coach at Edinburgh Accies in the Premiership.
He succeeds Graeme Paterson who spent four years in the role and stepped down at the end of last season.
We are also delighted to announce current 2XV Coach and former club captain Andrew Clark will join Derek on his coaching team.
Commenting on his appointment, Derek said "I’m quite excited to be coaching Musselburgh, it’s a club I know well having played and coached against us in the past. I’m looking forward to working with and learning from Andrew Clark too as we plan to build toward what we hope will be a successful future with and for the club."
"I was attracted to the ambitious nature of the club and its desire to stay true to its amateur ethos. The club has a rich history, knows who they are, and are well connected to its people and it’s community. We hope to deepen this connection so on & off the field we embody what it means to represent ‘The Honest Toun’. Off field the physical aspects of the club like the state of the art conditioning suite and the changing rooms are coming into line with its on field aspirations; so the infrastructure needed to build and sustain success are being put in place. Finally I guess the opportunity to coach again in the premiership is also a big draw and I am grateful to Grant, Brian and Danny for the opportunity to lead the rugby programme for the senior club. "
"There is no hiding the clubs ambitions in terms on wanting to feature regularly in the play-offs but the pragmatist in me recognises to do this sustainably takes time. Therefore, my overarching and long term aspiration is to support the greatest period of success in Musselburgh’s history. In the short-term that will require Andrew and I to understand that it takes to win and keep winning in the Premiership and incrementally moving our senior programme toward that over time."
Director of Rugby Grant Talac commented "I am delighted to welcome Derek to the club and looking forward to working with him over the coming season. I’m sure he shall build on the foundations Graeme has built previously and help us further establish ourselves in the Premiership whilst helping to further develop our players on an individual basis."
"It is also great news that Andrew Clark shall be also stepping up from 2nd XV duties to assist Derek and I think they shall form a great team together."
"We are also currently looking for new 2nd XV coaches and work continues to identify suitable candidates to build on the great work that Andrew and Dave Flynn did with the team last season.”
Derek will join the team after Murrayfield Wanderers last game away to Berwick on the 30th April.