David Irwin: Belfast Harlequins ‘rebuild’ is about culture and an environment where players don’t want to leave

A lot of work has already gone on off the pitch at Deramore during the summer in preparation for the Championship 1 opener at home to Portadown.

A former second row with the Belfast club, Irwin will also double up as head coach and former Ulster full back Scott Young will assist.

Irwin believes it is important for Quins to start enjoying rugby again, keeping their existing players, while attracting new talent to the club.

“Definitely last year was a very difficult year," he said.

"A few years ago Quins were in promotion playoffs in 2A, missed it, then got relegated.

"The year after...they were at the top of 2B, got relegated out of 2B, sat at the top of 2C for a year, then straight to the bottom of it.

"The club were hemorrhaging players year on year, and that was really the alarming point that we're trying to stop.

“It's where we are now, there's nothing we can do about it, except rebuild, so we're trying to build a culture and an environment where players don't want to leave.

"That's primarily it...and get more of a club environment around it rather than a first team and then everybody else.

“Player engagement, player lead, player development, teamwork, culture, all those things, we’re just trying to turn those around bit by bit, and it's going to be a difficult year for sure, we're a very young squad.

“We lost a lot of players this year because they don't really want to stay and play junior rugby, or they've got offers to do something else somewhere else.

"I think we need to build that identity around the club, it's too easy to walk away. So, there's work to be done off the pitch as well as on it, and we've got a good number of players.

"We've actually got more players this year registered than we did last year, despite losing that amount of players.

“A huge amount of work has gone into the recruitment off the pitch. We're hoping that then we'll have a better club atmosphere, team bonding on and off the pitch, and build with that group.

“We've really worked hard on the Methody link, you see, successful clubs like Ballynahinch, Ballyclare, Clogher Valley...they've all got access to schools and a relationship with the schools, so we're trying to rebuild that with Methody. There's a lot of work still to be done, it's very much either non-existent or broken.

“We've done quite well...we've got four 1st XV Methody players starting this weekend, a lot of Methody players looking to come back from university next year, recruited some Methody players who finished university this year, so there's I think maybe six of that last Methody Schools’ Cup winning team are now part of the squad, so those are all the green shoots of the future.

“We just need to not start putting pressure on ourselves to win each week, which sounds a little bit defeatist at times, but just to get better each week, and then it'll all come. There's enough quality there to hopefully get a few wins and get the confidence up, but we're very realistic about where the club's at. We just need to rebuild a club environment, not just a first team that's training and playing separate from everybody else.”

Irwin is under no illusions that it is a long-term project to get Quins back to the glory days of contesting All Ireland League finals.

He explained: “If you get the bottom bit right, it'll take time, but then it should just shoot, so be patient, and look, if it has to be that we've improved enough as a group, but yet we still go into qualifying two, well then that's where we'll shoot back up from.

"We don't want it to happen, obviously, because that has a big impact on us, you want to be playing at the highest level that you can, but you've got to play at the right level.

“We have to be patient, and that will be maybe the frustration for people on the sideline, or in the club committees, just as long as I think if we see the effort and the heart being put in and little aspects of, okay, we can see what they're trying to do there, and as long as we get better each week, then we're going in the right direction.

"It's definitely a longer-term project, and when it was brought in, they did talk about it being a bunch of five-year plans, and how can we get there, and how can we help you.

“There's a new gym that's opening this week, so that gives us now the facilities to do the S&C away from rugby, we’ve got new kit sorted, again, little pieces of putting an environment where the players can play better.

“It’s really pleasing early on, that they're all buying into it, and that just gives us a little bit of hope, the drive, we've got the right type of people now.”

On the field, Quins will face a difficult opening month starting with Portadown.

“There's no doubt we have, on paper anyway, a very tough start to the season," Irwin stated.

"I wouldn't expect it to be different...Portadown at home, Lurgan away, Ballynahinch 2's first round of the Junior Cup, and then Dromore, then quickly after that, you’re playing Ballymoney, that's September complete, so it's a difficult start for us.

“There's not much time in Championship 1...it is experimental to a degree, we've got a plan of what we want to try to do, it's brand new, so there's going to be mistakes and errors in it, but ultimately, we want players to play what's in front of them and smiles on their faces.

“They won't be criticised for mistakes as that's how you're going to learn from them, and just create that environment where they feel comfortable enough to express themselves.

“Saturday is very much a marker of where are we at in relation to realistically, a team we'd imagine we'd be pushing towards, trying to be top two or three at least if not trying to go beyond it.

“Saturday gives us a marker of how close are we or how far away are we, what do we need to prioritise, and we'll just then take that into the Lurgan game.”