It is with great pleasure that we would like to announce the appointment of our new head coach Scott Smith. Scott started playing mini rugby at Hamilton aged 7, played through all the age groups and made his first XV debut aged 17 in 1998 against Strathclyde police. This was while we were in national division 6. Over the next 10 years he helped the 1XV to win 7 promotions all the way to premier 2. Scott moved to Amsterdam in 2008 and joined Hilversum rugby club where he won 3 championships as a player and then 2 as a coach from 2012.

Scott tells me that the highlight of his career was winning 5 caps for Netherlands in the Rugby Europe Championship in season 2010/11. His biggest regrets are not playing more games with @piggsy and not winning more caps for the national team.

I asked Scott his thoughts on coming back to Hamilton.

“I’ve been lucky to enjoy a varied and successful rugby career that’s allowed me to travel and meet great people, but there’s nothing quite like home. Hamilton has always been that home for me, a space with familiar faces, old friends and most importantly family. Family is the fuel of Hamilton Rugby and it has been great to come home and enjoy that again. I am excited and enthusiastic about the future, the club is more diverse than ever we have teams competing across all ages and genders which is a real testament to the Nature of what Hamilton rugby is. we have a young group in the senior men’s section with lots of potential, I hope that I am able to bring some experience, to help them realise their potential. This club is special and it deserves the very best effort from the players and in turn the players deserve the best efforts of the coaches and the club to support them, I’m hopeful that I can create that environment for team”

We are very excited to welcome Scott back to coach at the team he started out at many years ago.

Over the next few weeks we will be announcing the other members of the coaching team who will be guiding our 1xv and 2xv next season.