Will McCarthy has moved ‘upstairs’ at Cirencester Rugby Club.

And no, the Gloucester Premier club have not built a second tier on their clubhouse at The Whiteway.

It’s just that McCarthy has taken on the role of non-playing club captain after being 1st XV captain for the previous two years.

“I injured myself pretty badly at the end of last season,” explained the 30-year-old. “I ruptured ankle ligaments reaching for the try-line.”

So did he score?

“No,” he laughed. “Alex Buchalik did in the next phase. It was a game against Wells and we needed to win if we were to stay up in Western Counties North but we lost by three points.”

McCarthy will need to have an operation on his damaged ankle but had already been considering his playing future before the injury.

“I’d been playing senior rugby for 14 years,” said the former back row. “I knew the recovery was going to take a long time and that wouldn’t have been fair on the rest of the team, so I decided to stop playing.

“I will still be very involved with the club. I like the club, I like Deacs [Cirencester director of rugby Andy Deacon] and I wish the 1st team all the best.”

McCarthy will still watch his old team-mates play of course – the new 1st XV captain is second row James Renowden – but his new role means he can also watch the 2nd XV when they are at home.

The Whiteway is very much home for Cirencester born and bred McCarthy who started playing for the club at the age of “five or six”.

He’s been with them pretty much ever since although he did have a spell away.

“When I was 19 I went to live in Ireland,” he said. “My girlfriend Nicola, who is now my wife, is Irish and I lived in Ireland for three or four years.”

And of course, having been brought up in such a big rugby stronghold, one of the first things the young McCarthy did when he was over there was to find himself a rugby club.

“I played for Naas, the club where Jamie Heaslip started,” said McCarthy. “The club were about 20 minutes outside Dublin in Kildare.”

So how did club rugby in Ireland compare with club rugby in this country?

“It wasn’t so physical,” he said. “There was more emphasis on the skills side of the game.

“The players weren’t quite as big as the ones you tend to come up against over here.

“In Ireland there were a few big guys but there was a lot more emphasis on avoiding contact rather than knocking people over.”

So which style of rugby did he prefer?

“I enjoyed trying to knock people over,” he chuckled. “I loved playing rugby in this country.”

And while he thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent playing rugby there is one game in particular that stands out in the memory.

“It was the promotion play-off final at Winscombe a couple of years ago,” said McCarthy.

“We won by a couple of points with a late Jack Lister penalty. There was a big crowd and we’d worked hard all season to get into Western Counties North.”

Sadly Cirencester were unable to hold onto their hard-earned place in the division last time out and now they are back where they started in Gloucester Premier.

“Last season was disappointing,” admitted McCarthy. “We had quite a few changes – injuries, people going to university – so it was always going to be tough.

“We brought in quite a few new players and hopefully they will develop this season.

“It is easier to bring players through in Gloucester Premier because there is quite a big jump to Western Counties North. I’m looking forward to seeing the Colts come through – the likes of Iwan Thomas and Tom Woodward who are two very exciting players.”

Western Counties North or one division above is the level that McCarthy believes a club of Cirencester’s stature should be playing, and he says the club retain plenty of ambition.

McCarthy of course has more of a back seat role now and that probably pleases his dad Brendan, who he says was the biggest influence on his rugby career.

“He was a reasonably successful prop,” said McCarthy. “He played for Salisbury and the Royal Agricultural College. He got me into rugby but then the poor bugger had to stand on the touchline in all weathers supporting me while I played rugby!”