Why the ecosystem at Manchester Met is making it an attractive destination in the university rugby landscape
An array of nationalities and talents combined with a professional outlook have created the foundations for Manchester Met to progress
©MMU Rugby
Five minutes was all I needed to realise that a recent trip to Manchester Met University was going to be slightly different to any of my previous visits.
A stereotypical autumn downpour and a warm welcome from Head of Rugby Rob Jones were expected but after beginning my interviews at the university’s Platt Lane Sports Complex, something quickly became apparent.
In the past, the ever-growing relationship between Manchester Met and Sale Sharks has always caught the eye - and continues to be an exciting partnership - but on this occasion, the ‘culture’ being shaped within the rugby programme was the theme of the day.
Manchester Met are still operating at tier three of the student game [Men's Premier (North/South 2)] and have been knocking on the door of promotion in recent years.
However, despite not climbing the BUCS ladder, their rugby programme is becoming an attractive proposition for aspiring athletes from not just England, but from across the globe.
“We have got players from all four corners of the world,” Jones explains. “We’ve got lads from Zimbabwe, South Africa, New Zealand, Holland, Italy, Argentina…a real mixture and they come and meet the lads from the North-West!
“We are one big melting pot. It is about that mutual respect and an understanding of everyone's different personality traits, different cultures.
“It might be something like not beginning to eat your food straight away when it arrives at your table because five or six of the lads will be praying before they eat. It is learnings like that.
“A big part of my motivation is developing people and how do you develop? Well, it is about learning about everyone and that helps create the culture we want.”
Jones’ knowledge of the university rugby landscape means he isn’t blind to the bigger picture. If ambitious players from abroad want to combine rugby with an education, the allure of BUCS Super Rugby - and the shop window it has become - means the likes of Loughborough, Exeter and Hartpury might be more favourable destinations.
But the ecosystem at Manchester Met and what they have to offer is making them a desirable choice even though they might not be seen as an ‘elite’ university rugby outfit.
“Sure, the main ones [universities] you can look at are your Loughborough’s, Hartpury’s, your big BUCS Super Rugby teams, but one of my mates back home told me about Man Met because he’d been here in the past,” says first team co-captain Dirk Bruil, who is entering his fourth and final year in the North-West after relocating from Holland.
“I looked at what it brought. Education is good, rugby is good, facilities are excellent and it seemed like a good place to grow not only as a player but as a student, and as a person as well. Our uni has been one of the biggest growing rugby unis in the last few years.”
Bruil, who has represented the Netherlands at Under-20 level during his time at MMU, is just one of the examples of the eclectic mix of cultures at Manchester Met, which also includes some promising homegrown talent.
Archie Kellett is joint 1st XV skipper with Bruil and has seen a ‘severe’ change in the steps MMU have taken - both from a cultural and professional perspective - over the last couple of years.
“Like Dirk, I am heading into my final year,” Kellett, who was on the books at Sale Sharks when he was younger, explains. “The progression during my time here has been pretty severe. The new gym, the coaching, the facilities at Platt Lane.
“When I speak to other lads who are at universities in higher leagues to us, what you do get here is better than quite a lot of the universities who are above us.
“The drag we also get through our live streams and the games being broadcast on YouTube [through MMU’s Matchday Live initiative], we are getting to a more international audience.
“We have had more international lads year on year which has helped with the culture. Even here, we have had a drag of players from regions of the country which we wouldn’t normally have like a couple of lads who have come from the BUCS Super Rugby unis.”
And one of those players is Theo Bishop.
The forward - who has represented Ireland at Under-18 Clubs and Schools level - was brought up in Lancashire but moved to Hartpury to begin his higher education. However this summer, the young prop headed back to the North-West but being closer to home wasn’t his sole reason for joining MMU.
“Of course, being nearer to home was a thing but also being in an environment where you have got all of these facilities which are comparable to BUCS Super Rugby teams, the amazing coaching, connections with Sale Sharks, everything surrounding that, that really attracted me to here,” Bishop says.
Bishop aptly touches on the ‘Sale Sharks connection’. The 20-year-old was part of the club’s senior academy before he moved to Hartpury, and some of the names in his age group are still linked to Sale but are also studying at MMU.
Tristan Woodman, Tye Raymont, Huw Davies and Will Wooton all played with Bishop while further Sharks Alfie Longstaff, Seb Kelly, Tom Burrow, Toby Wilson, Dom Hanson and Ollie Davies are combining their development at Sale with an education.
Conversely, current student Gabe Maguire supported Alex Sanderson’s side in training last year which ties together the opportunities - both on and off the field - that Sale’s partnership with Manchester Met provides.
“When you sort of step back and look at that satellite view of the North-West, what are we trying to achieve collaboratively, what do we want from the North-West, what do we want from Manchester? Well, we want rugby to thrive,” adds Jones.
“To do that, you’ve got to have your Prem club, your Championship club, your National One, National Two clubs, all levels, in a way, to create that community. We need a top rugby university in the North-West to help with that. We are the only one with a performance programme.
“It is really important that we support and all work together and what is really important as well is that for the professionals we have here [including the likes of Sale Sharks Women’s players Polly Bowman, Alice Iwanejko and Lucie Sams] we have a flexibility in our offer to support those athletes.
“That interest is growing all the time. We are really good at offering that ‘academic flex’ so you can be a full-time athlete and a student as well.”
From a coaching point of view, the crossovers between Sale and MMU are also evident with current Shark James Harper offering his expertise around the set-piece while Academy Manager Fergus Mulchorne is heavily involved in the partnership.
So let’s review.
An eclectic mix of nationalities and talents, a strong emphasis on culture, top-quality facilities and an ever-growing partnership with a Premiership club.
Those familiar with the university game will know these elements aren’t uncommon - especially within BUCS Super Rugby - but for an institution hoping to reach that level, everything seems to be in place for MMU.
But for the last couple of seasons, the foundations haven’t been backed up by tangible success on the pitch.
Promotion has long been a target of Jones’ and successive second-placed finishes have only intensified that aim.
Add in an agonising 36-34 defeat against Exeter University’s 3rd XV in the BUCS Trophy final (cup competition) last year and the desire for silverware burns bright at Platt Lane.
“Obviously going into a new season, you are always trying to get the best out of it,” Bruil adds. “We say it every year ‘trying to get promotion, trying to get promotion’, but this year, I have got a great feeling about the squad. We have got some good depth.
“It would be like the cherry on the top [to achieve promotion]. I’ve loved how this journey has been in the last few years. People I have met along the way, the good friends that I’ve made. It might sound a bit corny but I love the bond I have created with these boys so getting those championships, it would be that final thing to settle my time here.”
“This is my last crack at it and for quite a few of the other lads, it is their last crack at it too,” Kellett emphasises. “We’ve got all the right people in the right places. It is just about producing it and doing it on the pitch, really.”
“We underperformed twice last year and that cost us promotion,” Jones continues. “We beat the league leaders [evenutal champions Northumbria University] here by a lot [42-17].
“It shows we were there but we weren’t consistent enough so our challenge as coaches is to sort that, and the players need to do the same. We are doing everything we possibly can to ensure that we are number one this year.”
Manchester Met begin their Premier North 2 campaign away at St Andrews on Wednesday.
