ARDROSSAN Accies head coach Andrew Duncan has said completing their league season unbeaten has been "surreal".
The Memorial Field rugby club made it a perfect 18 wins from 18 matches on Saturday, May 4, when they won 59-10 at home to Annan RFC in their final league match in the West Region Division One.
Having already secured league title glory, and promotion to the National League Division Four, there was still plenty of incentive for the Accies to round off a remarkable season in the perfect way.
"It feels a little surreal really," Duncan said.
"You go into the season with a plan to try win every game, but there’s an obvious reason why it’s so hard to achieve which makes it all the more impressive on reflection.
"It’s been a real testament to the boys on the park that put in the effort at training, and of course the games, but also to those all involved behind the scenes.
"I’d like to the opportunity to thank the coaching team, players, club officials, all the club volunteers and supporters that have helped make this historic season what it is.
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"All the small one per cents have helped make it a real team and club effort."
What has made the Accies success all the more impressive is the position the club have come from.
At the midway point of last season they could not have been any further from where they are now.
The club were in a seemingly perilous position, staring relegation in the face before a remarkable end-of-season turnaround.
There has been no looking back since then and this good feeling has been carried on since Duncan became head coach at the beginning of this season.
He continued: "Momentum in sport is important and we tried to stay on the right side of it.
"The foundations were laid before I came back, and we had a good chat about that in our first session, about taking the feeling of the last year and not letting go of it.
"With a culture focus, to allow guys to enjoy themselves, while training or playing the game, it then makes it easier to work hard for each other, and the results follow.
"It’s been impressive way to stop the rot as such, and now being in the position of getting back into the national leagues, with a lot of momentum behind us, it makes it exciting looking forward to the new challenges."
Duncan was keen to emphasise the wholesale change in club culture which paved the way for their success - something which goes well beyond the starting 15 every week.
He continued: "Some individual performances and some real dig deep team performances in some games really got us over the line.
"A number of the guys have either changed positions this year or played out of position and really stepped up.
"The return of a second XV to the club has really helped, particularly at the start of the season when we had regular numbers of 30-plus at training allowing us to train at game-like intensity.
"But I think getting a good balance of coaches and support staff has been a true asset this year, which has hopefully allowed guys to express themselves or find support in different ways."
Now, the focus is on continuing the good feeling at the memorial field into next season in the national leagues.
"Ultimately, we want to win every game again," Duncan added.
"It’s obviously going to be tougher than it as was this season, but it all starts with belief and a willingness to work hard which starts now already even with the season just finishing.
"The guys will have some time to themselves, take a break from rugby and focus on their own goals before pre season begins."
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