FORMER Glasgow and Scotland hooker Pat MacArthur has been reappointed head coach of the Ayrshire Bulls, and will be assisted in the coming Super6 season by Frazier Climo and Elias Cavan.
Now 35, MacArthur played for Ayr, the Bulls’ parent club, before turning professional with the Warriors in 2007. After bringing his playing days to an end 11 years later, he began his coaching career back at Millbrae as an assistant.
When his old Glasgow team-mate Pete Murchie left his job as the Bulls’ head coach in order to join the coaching set-up at Scotstoun, MacArthur stepped into the void and immediately achieved success, leading the team to the Super6 Championship title late last year with a victory over the Southern Knights in the final.
His tenure was originally meant to be temporary because of his commitment to his full-time day job as a project manager with Cala Homes, and earlier this year he stepped down to become assistant coach again when Pete Horne - another former Warriors team-mate - was appointed head coach. But last month, after taking charge of the Bulls for the Super6 Sprint Series in the spring, Horne joined Murchie as a member of the Glasgow coaching team.
Climo, one of the most influential members of the Ayr side that became a dominant force in the club game from the late 2000s, is being promoted to the position of MacArthur’s assistant after spending last season as player/coach with the club XV in the National League Division 1. Cavan, a winger, will continue playing in addition to fulfilling the role of the Bulls’ strength and conditioning coach.
The Bulls were third in the Super6 Sprint, finishing behind Stirling County and champions Watsonians. The new Super6 Championship gets under way next month, when the Bulls are at home to Heriot’s in the opening fixture of the tournament on Friday 5th.
