Derek O’Riordan is to step down as Senior Men's Head Coach of Musselburgh RFC at the end of the season.
O’Riordan took over from Graeme Paterson in 2022, where he over saw “The Great Escape” in his first season and then took the club to its highest ever league finish the following year, with a sixth-place finish in the Premiership, with the club finishing this season in the relegation zone of a twelve team Premiership following the restructuring after the closure of the Super Series.
Derek has commented on his time at the club:
"The past three years have been some of the most memorable and enjoyable of my coaching career, despite some of the dark days we experienced this season. When I reflected on my time here a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of days like ‘The Great Escape’, winning the Bill McLaren Shield, our season of first's and best ever’s and seeing what it meant to several young men to take to the field for Musselburgh for the first time."
"It’s sometimes easy to forget the human side of coaching and playing, but that sentiment isn’t lost at Musselburgh. Presidents Blair Stewart and Brian Jardine showed tremendous care for me, my fellow coaches, and players over the past couple of years and the faith they put in me won’t be forgotten. A club is it’s people and there are some incredible people at Musselburgh."
"It’s also really pleasing to have developed a strong coaching team that replaces me next season - a commitment I made when I sat with Grant Talac, Brian Jardine and Danny Owenson three years ago when discussing taking the helm here."
"I’d like to give my personal thanks to Blair and the Board for sticking with us in what was an incredibly difficult year this season; but the time is definitely right for me to take a wee break for the first time since 2009 when I first started coaching (a young Danny Owenson at Loretto)."
The Board has issued the following statement:
"Derek has been a massive asset to Musselburgh RFC over the course of his tenure and he leaves the club with nothing but our best wishes and gratitude. Derek is one of the most highly qualified rugby coaches in the club game in Scotland and we feel extremely lucky to have benefitted from his experience and professionalism over the last three years."
"Musselburgh RFC has a strong belief that paying players is not the best use of our resources, which continue to be prioritised to grow the game across all ages and abilities. This gave Derek and the coaching team an incredibly difficult task this season as the premiership absorbed super six players and to some degree became a semi-professional league. Our President, Blair Stewart, has already gone on the record to say how proud he is of the players and coaching staff and their efforts this season."
"Under Derek’s leadership we have built a strong coaching team; and we are in the final stages of putting together what we believe will be an exciting set up for next season. We look forward to announcing this in the coming weeks. We have a young and exciting squad of players and a strong pipeline of talent coming through our ranks. The future continues to look bright for Musselburgh RFC."
"We wish Derek all the best in his future endeavours; he’ll always be welcome at Stoneyhill."
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