VIDEO: Tom Doughty proud to be new Team Bath BUCS Super Rugby captain for 2018-19

New Team Bath BUCS Super Rugby captain Tom Doughty says it will be “a massive honour” to wear the armband during the 2018-19 season.

The all-action hooker, a Sports Performance student at the University of Bath, takes over in the role from Sports & Social Sciences graduate Will Britton – both have signed Academy forms with Bath Rugby this summer.

“It’s a massive honour to be made captain, it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” said Doughty. “I love leading the boys out and it helps my performance individually as well.

“I worked with Will Britton in the leadership group last year and learnt a lot from him. Hopefully I can fill his boots and lead the boys out well.”

Doughty is one of 60 student rugby players who are now two weeks into pre-season training ahead of the new BUCS Super Rugby campaign, which starts with a home match at the University’s Sports Training Village on Wednesday, September 26 (6.30pm, free entry) – click here to see the full fixture list.

Team Bath were inconsistent in the league during 2017-18 but improved as the year went on and reached the semi-finals of the end-of-season BUCS Championship knock-out competition – something Doughty is aiming to improve on.

“We have a really strong squad this year,” he said. “There are a lot of boys who have been in and around the first team over the past couple of years and we have had a good intake of new players. There is the strong link to Bath Rugby Academy as well.

“We have reached the knockout semi-finals in the last two years but we believe we can go better this time round.

“We pride ourselves on being a tight-knit group and the boys who have come in this summer have bought into that culture straight away.”

Click here for more information about the thriving rugby programme at the University of Bath.