Scottish rugby union player & coach
Rugby player
Ross Doneghan (born 8 October 1988) is a Scottish rugby union coach now with Harlequins and Ealing Trailfinders. He previously played for Glasgow Warriors, London Scottish, Ayr, Stewart's Melville and Border Bulldogs.[1]
Rugby Union career
Amateur career
Doneghan started playing mini rugby in Linlithgow with the wee reds. He continued his rugby at Stewart's Melville College.[2]
He was part of the Stewart's Melville team that won the Bell Lawrie Scottish Schools Cup of 2006.[2]
From Stewart's Melville he moved to the Rugby Legends Academy in South Africa, run by former Scotland and South Africa international player John Allan.[2]
While with Glasgow Warriors, he played with Ayr from 2011.[2] During this time at Ayr he converted from a Flanker to a Hooker.[3]
He played for Darlington Mowden Park from 2013–14, who at the time played in National League 2 North. That season the Darlington side won promotion to National League 1 for the 2014-15 season.[4] Doneghan played at Hooker for the Darlington side.[5]
Professional career
In South Africa, Doneghan played for the Border Bulldogs in season 2009-10.[2][4] He switched between Lock and Flanker for the South African side.[6]
He moved to England to play with the Rotherham Titans in the RFU Championship in the 2010-11 season.[2][4]
He became part of Glasgow Warriors set-up as a back-up player in the 2011-12 season.[2] He played one match for the Warriors in that season; turning out for the Glasgow club in a pre-season friendly against Newcastle Falcons.[7] The Warriors won the match 17 - 7.[8]
After a successful season with Darlington, Doneghan was signed by London Scottish for 2014-15.[4] His brother Mike Doneghan was playing with Scottish at the time.[3]
Coaching career
During his time with London Scottish Doneghan migrated to a coaching role. He remained a coach there until 2017.[4]
Doneghan also began coaching with Serge Betsen Rugby for the 2015-16 season.[4]
He became a Community rugby coach for Harlequins in 2015, and was their Schools co-ordinator from 2017 to 2018.[4]
From 2018 to 2019, he was Head of Community coaching for Ealing Trailfinders.[4][1]
Since 2019, he has been Head of Rugby at Latymer Upper School.[9]
He was also the Head coach at Haringey Rhino Ladies, where they finished the 2019/2020 season undefeated and top of the league, moving up for the coming season. Ross coined the phrase on the team #teamtobeat.
He joined Richmond FC in 2021 as the women’s forwards coach.
References
