Lachlan hoping to bow out on a high

Editorial Department • Published 14 Jan 2010 09:54 0 Comments

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Portora rugby coach Lachlan Ferguson with players (from left) Michael Trimble, Jonathan Foster, Scott Burrell, Richard Ogle and Charlie Sargaison.<

Neill Allen and Rodney Blair, taking part in a line-out drill.<

Five years after swapping balmy Brisbane for freezing Fermanagh, Lachlan Ferguson is preparing Portora for what will be his last campaign as their coach. The easy going Australian, who guided Portora to their first Schools' Cup semi-finals in over 60 years, is taking up a coaching post with professional American side Austin Blacks in Austin, Texas and will also be the Technical Director of Youth Rugby in Texas.

Some change then and plenty to look forward not least the weather I would imagine, but for now it is the quest for Schools' Cup glory and a first round encounter against Carrickfergus that is preoccupying the big man.

It has been that way since Ferguson came to Enniskillen in 2005, promising to make Portora competitive again within the paradigm of Schools' rugby and delivering with successive semi-finals in 2006 and 2007 as the Royals swapped first round defeats for two Ravenhill semis that mobilised the entire local rugby community.

While it is a significant campaign for Lachlan and the culmination of five years' work, he is steadfastly resolute that it is about the players and how they perform.

"Listen, in 20 years when the players' careers are over, they will look back and not remember who the coach was but how the campaign went and I hope for their sake that they produce and show what they are capable of. It will take our best performance of the year to defeat Carrickfergus and knock-out rugby is about one thing and one thing only, winning," explained Lachlan who is hoping to turn the recent poor weather into a positive.

"The boys are jumping out of their skins at the moment and we will try to channel that into a positive energy to produce a good performance. It has been difficult of late but everybody is in the same boat. I must thank St. Michael's and Dom Corrigan for the use of their facilities and it is a juggling act of keeping the boys fitness and skills levels up. "Normally at this time of the campaign we would be out on the pitch a lot but that has just been impossible. In saying that, myself and fellow coaches Damian Dempster and John McClaughry are quietly confident ahead of the campaign. We have set goals and winning three games to make the quarter-finals would be one but if you don't win your first game then you achieve nothing, so we are keeping the boys focused on the matter in hand."

The game was orginally scheduled to be played on Saturday last and was quickly refixed for this Saturday, January 16 and with temperatures rising, prospects are looking up but it could even be pushed back to Wednesday, January 20 if the frost persists.

Lachlan can't wait for the campaign to get underway.

"I think we are going into the competition with the best pack of forwards in my five years at the school and that will be the foundation upon which I hope we will build our campaign. Its horses for courses and in 6'7" James Brady we have a player who one day could play for Ireland, he simply has tremendous potential. We have had some good individual forwards in other years but this is the best collective, they are big lads and we will be basing our onslaught on that front. In the backs, we have James Gormley who missed most of last season and it is a great bonus to have him back and he is a great kicker. All in all, we have a great squad, we will not be taking Carrickfergus lightly and and I just hope the players can deliver what I know they are capable of," said Ferguson.

Lachlan is proud of what he has achieved not only with Portora but also with Enniskillen, guiding them to a Towns' Cup final against Clogher Valley. He feels that it is geography that stops Fermanagh rugby from competing at the very highest level.

"I think geography is the biggest issue. Development comes from competing against the best and if they can improve the roads and motorway and make Belfast more accessible then there is a chance. I have no doubt that the players are being produced but it is keeping them all in the county. All the players I have seen at Portora and Enniskillen, if you had them altogether you could produce a 15 that could compete with any junior team in Ireland. However, it is impossible as they are working or living all over the country, that is the biggest problem that I see."

Enniskillen is far removed from Brisbane and even more so from Austin, Texas but Lachlan would not swap any of it.

"I really enjoyed my time in Fermanagh and Enniskillen. What I will remember will not be the wins and losses but the genuine friednships that I have developed over the years. That will become more acute as my time to leave comes nearer," rued Lachlan but you do feel that he will be extra keen to go out with at least a couple more wins in the Schools' Cup under the belt to take with him to the Lone Star state of Texas.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 14 Jan 10

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