Whitten Hoping To Follow In Footsteps Of Instonians’ 1927 Bateman Cup Heroes

For the first time in 98 years, Instonians will line out in a Bateman Cup final this weekend. Saturday’s eagerly-awaited decider pits them against Division 1A heavyweights Lansdowne on the Aviva Stadium’s back pitch (kick-off 2.30pm – live on irishrugby+).

It is a repeat of the 1927 final which went the way of Instonians, and despite being very much the underdogs going into this weekend’s clash at the headquarters venue, the Belfast club are hoping to continue their impressive silverware-winning run.

The Whitten family has been at the heart of Instonians’ superb rise up the Energia All-Ireland League ranks, with the four brothers proudly lining out for the club their dad John played for previously.

The club captain this season, David is the youngest of the Whitten brothers. The 26-year-old took over the role from his 33-year-old sibling Robert, who lifted the Energia All Ireland League Division 2B crown last season.

His second eldest brother Alan, now aged 35, had a short two-month retirement in the off season, and was captain the year Instonians gained promotion back to the All-Ireland League.

Only their oldest brother, twice-capped Ireland international Ian (37), is yet to captain Instonians, which has become a running joke within the Whitten family circle.

“We’ll just hold it over him!”, chuckled David, while chatting to IrishRugby.ie ahead of the Bateman Cup final. “It’s nice like, I probably don’t think of it like that, the nature to be that sort of sentimental yet.

“But I know it’ll be a nice feeling when you’re retired maybe and you get to look at the board at Shaw’s Bridge and you can see my dad’s name, me, Alan and Robert’s names on it as well. It’ll be a nice feeling.

“Instonians is a great club. Being around it for most of my life, I know it’s a great club and full of great people. And yeah, it’s just a nice feeling to be captain.

“You know it’s nice to be given (that) sort of the job and to be respected like you are by the coaches and the boys, (director of rugby) Clem (Boyd) behind that, to be given a job and to be trusted to sort of fulfill that.”

The Whittens are understandably held in high esteem in Shaw’s Bridge but up until last year, two pieces of the family jigsaw were missing.

After a stellar club career in England with Exeter Chiefs, Ian returned after he was talked out of retirement and made the move back to his home club. David duly completed the quartet, having captained Queen’s University to Division 2A success.

That same season, Alan and Robert helped Inst to go on that remarkable run of 18 straight bonus point victories as they dominated Division 2C in their first year back at senior level.

David said that playing with his brothers was obviously a big draw, along with the desire to have the club regularly competing for promotion and both provincial and national trophies.

“There was probably an accumulation of factors that made me make the decision in the end. I knew I was always going to go back to Instonians at some stage,” he explained.

I know we never said it to each other, but I would say all the brothers had it in their heads that it would be great to play together, and obviously, Ian being so successful, sort of a lynchpin to that whole idea.

“So when he came home and said that he’s going to go and play for Instonians, I mean it’s pretty hard to turn down. I knew their squad, I had a load of mates that were playing at Instonians that I used to play with at Queen’s and at the school. My brothers were there. It was my dad’s club.

“So that sort of made me decide to go back to Instonians and play with them all again. It’s like memories where you go and win the Senior Cup with that run, for then Alan, my second oldest brother, to retire at the end of that season.

“So sending them out with a Senior Cup win to have missed that, it would have been gutting like. So I think overall, it was a good decision. But I alway knew Instonians had the potential to be a club to do like a Senior Cup win or to get up the leagues like we’re doing.

“Robert was the captain last year, and I said, ‘well I’m coming back on the grounds that we give the Senior Cup a really good go’. It worked, I suppose.”

Aside from family get-togethers, with the four brothers all on duty for Instonians on match weekends, David admits that it is the most he has seen his siblings in the last number of years.

He gave an insight into what it is like to play with them week in and week out, and what they each add on the pitch, and mentioned deep-rooted their bonds with the club are, particularly a thankfully fully-recovered Alan who was supported closely by Inst when he was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2011.

Standing together at Kingspan Stadium last May with the Ulster Senior Cup in hand, they are making memories to last a lifetime and are looking to replicate that in Saturday afternoon’s Bateman Cup final.

“It’s brilliant, it’s probably the most I’ve seen them in about five years,” acknowledged David, the athletic number 8. “You train with them twice a week and see them on Saturdays, which is nice.

“I’ve said this before, but, like, all their personalities come out tenfold on the pitch! It’s quite funny. Ian’s the loudest by a country mile, and then Robert and Alan, it just all comes out. But it’s been funny, it’s been good craic.

“It’s interesting. They’re all so good at their own sort of things. Like, Robert’s a fantastic defender. Ian’s obviously probably the best all-round player out of all of us. You only have to look at the career to see that.

“Alan’s scrummaging and his way and his affiliation to Instonians. It’s all sort of you see it all, and you appreciate all the sort of skills that they have within that. And you can sort of all see why they’re all very good rugby players.

“It’s been great for Alan. Instonians were great to Alan through that hard time (through illness). I think he went to a Christmas party or something just after he got into remission the first time.

“He tells the story pretty fondly because it’s like he’d never been away the way they got on. It’s something I’ll never forget, that Senior Cup win when you’re standing in Ravenhill with a cup, and you can look at that photograph again and again.

“Even though in that photograph, I look absolutely wrecked, it’s one of those, like the Bateman Cup. I know it’s going to be difficult, but you sort of look forward to the chance of being able to win something.

“It’s a final, so I suppose anything can happen. Winning silverware with them and the photographs, (it’s) something you can hold on to, so we will give it a go.

“I’m the youngest by quite a mile. When they all decide to retire, I’d say I will probably miss playing with them. It’s probably closer than we wanted it to be. Better make the most of it while it lasts.”

For the third Christmas in a row Instonians are top of their respective All-Ireland League division. Ominously for their rivals in the third tier, the Paul Pritchard-coached side went on to win the Division 2C and Division 2B titles having led the charge at the halfway stage.

Along with being impressed by the coaching ticket at Instonians, Whitten kept an eye on their squad during his time with Queen’s. He has really enjoyed playing with a highly-talented group of players at Shaw’s Bridge, noting some of those who have stood out for their consistent form.

“They’ve been brilliant, the whole squad. We got Hugo Ellerby coming back from Exeter University. He finished up and then decided to come back because he went to the school and Instonians is his home club.

“Some guys like Bradley McNamara, he came back last year from university. He’s been brilliant. You’ve got Bevan (Prinsloo) in the centre. It’s pretty hard to keep him off the scoresheet a lot of the time!

Then in the pack, I think Robert, my brother, he’s been brilliant this year. He got injured last season and sort of missed the cup run. And he’s come in this year, and his work-rate, he’s putting all the other forwards to shame.

“I think some of the young lads have really stepped up. Liam (Kaprigiannis), he’s our tighthead, and then Oli Clark’s been playing loosehead for us, and the last time he propped was at school, so for him to be doing it in club rugby at this level – and he’s going pretty well – is a credit to him.

“I think that’s really what the whole team is. It’s just a group of lads. It’s a proper club team, we train Tuesday, Thursday, play Saturday every week.

“So you sort of get a real good bond with that team. Everybody wants to be there. Everybody wants to be doing well, and you can just sort of see that we’re all willing to play for each other.

“We’re all sort of willing to leave it out there. I think that’s what really counts when we get into the big games. Like that cup run last year and Garryowen there away from home (in the Bateman Cup semi-final).

“Even last Saturday, it didn’t go our way (losing to City of Armagh in the Ulster Senior Cup), and we probably didn’t play as well as we could have. But some of the defensive sets we’re putting in, you could just see the boys were desperate to put up a fight.

“I think that’s a real credit to the team that they’re just willing to keep going for each other. Then you’ve got that sprinkling of class within that to then take us on. I think our back-line is seriously dangerous when they get going. Hopefully they get going this weekend in Dublin.”

In December 2023 Instonians began that Ulster Senior Cup run with one point win away to Ballynahinch, but twelve months later they were on the other end of the result, as they lost 20-10 to Armagh in preparation for the Bateman Cup final.

2024 was a year to remember for Whitten both on and off the pitch, including his engagement to partner Jenny. Starting 2025 with a splash is the obvious goal, but he is mindful of Lansdowne’s top-flight status and home advantage heading into Saturday’s intriguing match-up.

“It’s a final, anything can happen. You may as well go out and give it your best shot, and I think the lads will be prepared to do that. After the game against Armagh, you know we were pretty gutted across the board.

But to then think about it, look, you’ve got a chance to get straight back up again, and the next game is that final. I think you could see in the boys’ faces that they’re willing to give it a good hard go, and whatever happens happens.

“It’s weird when you play 1A teams because when you play 1A teams in Ulster, when you play Armagh and ‘Hinch you know everybody you’re playing against. So it doesn’t really feel like you’re playing a 1A team because you’re just trying to ‘one up’ your mates.

“I know you’re always the underdogs in those situations. I think it was interesting playing Garryowen (in November’s semi-final) because that was a 1A team that we really knew nothing about. So it was good to get a win there and to show that we’re capable of doing something like that.

“We’re just willing to give the Bateman a go and see what happens. I think that’s sort of the nature of it being a semi-final/final competition.

“I suppose games you sort of go and just say, ‘oh. let’s see what happens and put our best foot forward and see where we can get to’. I think we realise that we’re pretty heavy underdogs going to play Lansdowne at Lansdowne.

“January the 4th, let’s give it a go. Let’s see what happens, and hopefully it’s a good game to watch, and that the bad weather and storms can go away for the year, and we can get a good run out of it. It would be nice,” he added.