It’s coming up close to four-years since Nathan Doak made his senior debut in an Ulster shirt. After a few cameo appearances in the 2020/21 season, Doak has generally had to settle to be playing second fiddle to John Cooney.
But this season Doak has manged to get a few more starts and the Lisburn born scrum-half has more than repaid the coaching staff with a string of excellent displays.
Doak arrived in senior rugby with a big reputation and this season already looks like shaping up to be his best in an Ulster shirt.
“Yeah, definitely. I’m sure if you ask any player, a string of starts and if you can get them together can give anyone a lot of confidence,” said the former Wallace High School pupil.
“Knowing how I feel confident in myself and being given confidence from the coaches to be given them starts and try and put my best foot forward for the team so I’ve been really enjoying it.”
Now 23 years old, Doak is ready to take his game to the next level. And there is no better place to go and prove yourself than a Champions Cup tie at the home of the Kingpins of club rugby. The Stade Ernest Wallon, the home of Toulouse.
Doak, like most professionals is rugby obsessed and the he obviously keeps a close eye on other scrum-halves
“Definitely I would watch a bit of rugby for sure. You know there’s quite a few good nines out there. I would watch all of the Irish nines, like Craig (Casey), Jamo (Jamison Gibson Park) and (Conor) Murray and stuff.
“Like they’re obviously playing pretty well at the moment so they are. So just watching them and Roigard of New Zealand is someone that I watched. He’s doing alright as well. Probably just Cam Roigard, Antoine Dupont and the Irish guys.”
On Sunday afternoon Doak will start against Dupont for the first time in his career. Eyeing up head-to-head battles is something that Doak admits to something that he never does, but when this year’s Champions cup draw was announced, Doak admitted to circling the December 8 in his calendar.
“When the fixtures came out it was definitely something I earmarked.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to start against him and obviously as a guy you watch when you play in the same position you see the stuff that he does, he’s setting the benchmark for the rest of us.
“It’s definitely something I earmarked out at the start of the season and really want to get a go against him. I’m really looking forward to it now and seeing how I get on.”
Ulster go into this weekends Champions cup opener as massive underdogs, but Doak believes that the squad only have to take look to recent visits to Toulouse for inspiration.
“We’ve beat Toulouse out there before, albeit with a different squad. So, there’s experience right throughout the squad about what’s coming so I think it’s something to definitely to look forward to.”
