Ulster’s Nathan Doak determined to be his ‘own man’

The 20-year-old has already notched up 54 points including three tries and it seems the bigger the occasion, the bigger the performance from the former Wallace High School pupil.

However, the comparisons with his dad Neil are inevitable, as both play the same position, but Nathan wants to be known in his own right.

“My dad kind of jokes about it sometimes to be fair, ‘when am I going to stop getting called my dad’s son’,” said Doak.

“That’s not something I focus on, it’s a bit of banter me and my dad would have between us but I know he looks at me as my own person, and I suppose it is something that I probably do want to do, is be looked at as my own person.

“I know I do and that’s the main thing for me. I’ve always looked at myself as Nathan Doak and I haven’t got where I am because of my dad. I’ve worked hard and I hope everyone else can see that, I am who I am.”

Neil recently returned to the Ulster set-up as part of the academy coaching ticket.

Nathan continued: “He’s always there to give me a hand if I need it, it’s great to have him back. I suppose it’s a bit different now that I’ve moved up from the Academy, I wouldn’t have much interaction with him.

“It’s definitely great to have him back involved and he’s definitely happy to be back as well.”

Out-half Billy Burns has helped Doak settle into the ranks of professional rugby.

“Billy has been awesome for me, I couldn’t speak highly enough of him,” he said.

“He fills me with unbelievable confidence, even before I was playing, in training - when I came in I was 17 - I had just met him, and he knows my ability and I feel a lot of trust from him.

“When I go out on the pitch, I have a lot of trust in him and I love working with him.

“If I do make a mistake, he’s the first one to come over to me. At the weekend, I missed two kicks from the touchline in a row and got the third one, and after the third one when we went in at half-time, he was the first one to come over to me and he made a wee joke,” he added.

“He’s been awesome for me, he’s filled me with a lot of confidence and I love playing with him.”

Ulster return to United Rugby Championship duty tonight (7.35pm kick-off) as the Scarlets visit Kingspan Stadium and Doak will be hoping to mastermind the downfall of another of his mentors Dwayne Peel, who now coaches the Welsh region.

“My first time coming in when I was 17, it was his first year as attack coach - maybe his second - and I worked loads with him in the summer and had one of my best seasons.

“I was involved with the ‘A’ team in school and I worked with him during the summer and I loved working with him, he was really good.”

“Obviously last year I didn’t play too much so I didn’t have much interaction with him, but he would have taken me for a couple of sessions as scrum-half and I’ve definitely learned things from him, he’s been great for me.”

“I’ll hopefully get to see him after the game, see how he’s doing, it’s been great to see him over at the Scarlets taking on the head coach role.”

Ulster: (15-9) Ethan McIlroy, Craig Gilroy, Ben Moxham, Angus Curtis, Rob Lyttle, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak, (1-8) Eric O’Sullivan, John Andrew, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Sam Carter, Greg Jones, Marcus Rea, Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: Brad Roberts, Jack McGrath, Gareth Milasinovich, Mick Kearney, David McCann, David Shanahan, Ian Madigan, Aaron Sexton.

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