HADDINGTON RFC will begin their new season with a new head coach.

Kieran Cooney had led the Scarlets to the top of the East League Division One table when the season was halted last month.

It is not yet known when a new season will get under way but Cooney has confirmed it will not be him at the helm after a change of job away from the club.

He said: “It has been fantastic with Haddington.

“It has been a difficult job trying to play and coach at the same time. #“There are fantastic people around me – Scott Brownlee and Andy Douglas, who came back to his home club and has been fantastic.

“Scott is Mr Haddington and having those two has been absolutely fantastic and made my job relatively easy.

“Hopefully, the club will keep moving in the right direction.”

Cooney is getting ready to become regional manager for the east region at Scottish Rugby and felt the workload meant he could no longer dedicate the necessary time to the coaching role with Haddington.

But he has not ruled out pulling on his boots again to help out a side.

The Neilson Park outfit suffered relegation from the national leagues in 2018/19, having won just one of their 22 games. 

However, they were a different team this season and looked on course for an immediate return to the national set-up before the global pandemic took over.

Cooney’s men had won 13 of their 16 contests and sat top of the East 1 table by two points from Royal High and Hawick Harlequins.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak halted the campaign before Scottish Rugby took the decision to declare the season null and void.

Cooney, who currently works as projects and partnership officer for the east region of Scottish Rugby, was delighted to see the club back on a steady footing and was confident they could push on again whenever the new season got under way in a bid to win promotion.

Keith Wallace, president of Haddington RFC, thanked Cooney for his hard work throughout the season.

He said discussions were currently under way in terms of how the club moved forward for the new campaign.