Leinster vs Vodacom Bulls
Leinster | Official Matchday Programme of Leinster Rugby | Issue 01 Leinster vs Vodacom Bulls | United Rugby Championship Saturday 25th September, 2021 | KO 17:15 | Aviva Stadium
Leinster | Official Matchday Programme of Leinster Rugby | Issue 01
Leinster vs Vodacom Bulls | United Rugby Championship
Saturday 25th September, 2021 | KO 17:15 | Aviva Stadium
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ISSUE 1 | LEINSTER RUGBY OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME<br />
LEINSTER<br />
VS<br />
bulls<br />
SAT 25 TH SEPT<br />
AVIVA STADIUM<br />
KO 5.15PM
1938 - 2019<br />
Newstead Building A,<br />
UCD,<br />
Belfield,<br />
Dublin 4<br />
#LEIVBUL<br />
The Line up<br />
Telephone:<br />
012693224<br />
Fax:<br />
012693142<br />
E-mail:<br />
information@leinsterrugby.ie<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie<br />
7<br />
30<br />
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT<br />
President: John Walsh<br />
Chief Executive: Michael Dawson<br />
Honorary Secretary: Stuart Bayley<br />
Honorary Treasurer: Michael McGrail<br />
RUGBY MANAGEMENT<br />
Head Coach: Leo Cullen<br />
Senior Coach: Stuart Lancaster<br />
Head of Rugby Operations:<br />
Guy Easterby<br />
Assistant Coach: Robin McBryde<br />
Backs Coach: Felipe Contepomi<br />
Kicking Coach: Emmet Farrell<br />
14<br />
PROGRAMME CREDITS<br />
Editorial Team: Marcus Ó Buachalla<br />
& Ryan Corry<br />
Advertising: Gary Nolan<br />
Design: Julian Tredinnick,<br />
Ignition Sports Media<br />
Photography: Sportsfile<br />
Chief Steward: Sword Security<br />
Ambulance: St. John’s Ambulance<br />
Medilink<br />
Event Control & Safety Services:<br />
Eamonn O’Boyle & Associates<br />
62<br />
86<br />
STAY<br />
CONNECTED<br />
& KEEP<br />
UP-TO-DATE<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 3
PRESIDENT, LEINSTER RUGBY 2020/22<br />
john walsh welcome<br />
Welcome back all rugby fans to<br />
a season of new beginnings and<br />
renewals in what we hope will be<br />
an exciting season of celebrating<br />
our sport.<br />
The United Rugby Championship<br />
promises to be an exciting and<br />
competitive tournament that embraces<br />
both northern and southern hemisphere<br />
rugby philosophies.<br />
The United Rugby Championship adds a<br />
new dimension and challenge for the 16<br />
participating teams hailing from Ireland<br />
(Connacht, <strong>Leinster</strong>, Munster and Ulster),<br />
Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow<br />
Warriors), Wales (Cardiff, Dragons,<br />
Ospreys and Scarlets), Italy (Benetton<br />
and Zebre) and South Africa (<strong>Bulls</strong>, Lions,<br />
Sharks and Stormers) and will feature<br />
some of world rugby’s finest and most<br />
talented players.<br />
With qualification for eight teams from the<br />
United Rugby Championship to play in<br />
the Heineken Champions Cup and eight<br />
teams qualifying to participate in the<br />
European Challenge Cup we will have<br />
South African rugby playing in European<br />
competitions for the first time.<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby wishes to express our<br />
sincere thanks to our committed fans,<br />
season ticket holders and loyal sponsors<br />
for their ongoing support for <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
during this long pandemic period.<br />
All businesses have suffered major<br />
financial impacts from the restrictions<br />
imposed by Covid-19and those<br />
challenges will be with us for years to<br />
come. The sport business has not been<br />
exempt with its vital revenue streams<br />
suffering major downturns.<br />
The club game in <strong>Leinster</strong> which is the<br />
foundation of our success has lost in<br />
excess of 11000 club and school fixtures<br />
during the past 18 months and our focus<br />
will be to ensure that we can safely return<br />
to playing the game that is so valued by<br />
our on our 73 clubs, 120 schools, 13<br />
third level colleges/universities and our<br />
communities.<br />
We also wish to acknowledge and thank<br />
the Government for their assistance in<br />
providing valued financial support to<br />
sport in Ireland as a result of the effect<br />
of the pandemic. It is much appreciated<br />
by all as it is an acknowledgement of the<br />
vital role that sport plays in the wellbeing<br />
of the nation.<br />
We extend a warm welcome to this<br />
evening’s visitors, the <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>, for<br />
our initial United Rugby Championship<br />
fixture.<br />
The Northern Transvaal side are based<br />
in Pretoria and play at the famed Loftus<br />
Versfeld Stadium which is based at 4501<br />
feet above sea level. With four Super<br />
Rugby titles to their name they are the<br />
leading South African club side.<br />
We welcome the players and team coach<br />
Jake White, who had the distinction of<br />
coaching South Africa to win the World<br />
Cup with a victory over England in 2007.<br />
‘From The Ground Up’ is a phrase that is<br />
central to the development of the game<br />
of rugby in the 12-county province of<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> as we increase the pathways for<br />
all to become involved in the sport at all<br />
levels.<br />
We have just completed our provincial<br />
competitions against Munster, Connacht<br />
and Ulster at Women’s, Youths (Girls<br />
and Boys) and Schools level with <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
winning 14 of the 15 fixtures that they<br />
played.<br />
Congratulations to all those players who<br />
wore the <strong>Leinster</strong> shirt with such success<br />
and in particular to the team coaches<br />
and management teams who have<br />
mentored and developed these players.<br />
Our <strong>Leinster</strong> clubs and schools have<br />
made major investments in recent times<br />
both in terms of developing facilities and<br />
coaching for young players and we in<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby are very appreciative of<br />
all their efforts and acknowledge the<br />
commitment, support and enthusiasm<br />
that our volunteers play in the role of<br />
achieving success for <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby.<br />
As we commence the defence of our<br />
league title we wish our squad of 46<br />
players under the captaincy of Johnny<br />
Sexton the very best for the season<br />
ahead.<br />
Our current squad is very much a blend<br />
of emerging young talent with 19 players<br />
with less than 50 appearances, while we<br />
have 13 players in the 50-100 category<br />
and 13 with in excess of 100 <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
appearances.<br />
We also welcome our seven new <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Academy players, Lee Barron, Jack<br />
Boyle, Temi Lasisi, Ben Murphy, Chris<br />
Cosgrave, Rob Russell and Mark Hernan<br />
and wish them well for the future.<br />
All these players commenced their<br />
careers with <strong>Leinster</strong> clubs and with<br />
our highly skilled coaching team of<br />
Leo Cullen, Stuart Lancaster, Felipe<br />
Contepomi, Emmet Farrell and Robin<br />
McBryde to mentor them we look<br />
forward to them progressing into the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> side.<br />
Enjoy the day and the season ahead.<br />
It’s great to be back!<br />
JOHN WALSH<br />
PRESIDENT, LEINSTER RUGBY<br />
2020/22<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 5
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Leo Cullen<br />
head Coach Welcome<br />
Good evening and welcome to<br />
the start of our United Rugby<br />
Championship campaign.<br />
It feels very special to welcome<br />
our supporters, in particular our<br />
Season Ticket Holders, back to<br />
watch the team live and in the<br />
flesh!<br />
A very warm Dublin welcome to Jake<br />
White and his <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> team, who<br />
are fresh off winning the Currie Cup just<br />
two weeks ago.<br />
Jake is a coach with so much experience,<br />
including guiding South Africa to World<br />
Cup glory in 2007. We have also met<br />
while he was coaching Montpellier in the<br />
Champions Cup a few seasons back.<br />
The South African teams are finally here<br />
and we anticipate they will add a new<br />
dimension to our tournament as we all<br />
look to grow the competition.<br />
The <strong>Bulls</strong>, Sharks, Lions and Stormers are<br />
four strong teams, each with rich heritage<br />
and proud traditions, and will test us over<br />
the course of the coming season and<br />
beyond.<br />
There has been plenty going on since the<br />
end of last season, the highlight of which<br />
was having a proper crowd to get behind<br />
the team in our only pre-season game,<br />
against Harlequins. To have almost<br />
10,000 turn out for a ‘friendly’ fixture is<br />
hugely encouraging to us all.<br />
A big thanks to the IRFU and all at<br />
the Aviva for hosting the games as<br />
we waited to get a green light for<br />
increased capacity at the RDS so we can<br />
accommodate all 12,000 Season Ticket<br />
Holders (which is a great number).<br />
That green light came during the week<br />
and we can’t wait to get back to the RDS<br />
Arena in Round 3.<br />
We also have some new laws to get our<br />
heads around and many of you will have<br />
seen the effects of these in games that<br />
have been played over the last couple<br />
of weeks. It is important that we are<br />
continually trying to improve how we<br />
play the game and ensure it is a game<br />
that you, the supporters, want to come<br />
and see.<br />
It was great to see some <strong>Leinster</strong> players<br />
representing Ireland during the<br />
Summer Series and a particular well<br />
done to Harry Byrne on making his<br />
Irish debut. Congratulations also<br />
to James Ryan who captained<br />
Ireland during the two games.<br />
The British and Irish Lions<br />
Series in South Africa was<br />
a gripping affair (even though parts of it<br />
were very much for the purists!).<br />
It was fantastic that three <strong>Leinster</strong> players<br />
managed to start all three Tests so a big<br />
congratulations to Robbie Henshaw,<br />
Tadhg Furlong and Jack Conan on how<br />
they went on an individual basis.<br />
Even though they will all be disappointed<br />
at losing a very tight series, they will have<br />
all greatly benefited from the experience.<br />
Congratulations also to Robin McBryde<br />
who represented the club as part of the<br />
coaching team and of course to Rónan<br />
Kelleher who joined up with the squad.<br />
As a young player, Rónan will have<br />
learned a huge amount from being out<br />
there.<br />
Many thanks to all the team’s sponsors,<br />
in particular Bank of Ireland, who like us<br />
all have been through a challenging time.<br />
We are very appreciative of the support<br />
we receive from our commercial partners<br />
and we look forward to seeing more of<br />
you this coming season.<br />
After what has been a very challenging<br />
18 months, we now can look forward to<br />
brighter days ahead for sport in general.<br />
Many thanks for staying with us,<br />
especially our Official Members, who<br />
signed up last season. We are getting<br />
ever closer to the reality of a packed-out<br />
RDS or Aviva and a noisy crowd singing<br />
‘Come on you boys in blue!’<br />
Take care and enjoy being back – many<br />
thanks.<br />
Leo<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 7
Joann<br />
Hosey<br />
PROVINCIAL DIRECTOR<br />
BANK OF IRELAND DUBLIN<br />
A very warm welcome back to you all attending a <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby game in person, the first time in over 20 months I<br />
have been able to write that!<br />
Everyone in society has endured<br />
difficult times during the pandemic<br />
but over the last few months we<br />
have seen clear signs of recovery<br />
as various parts of society<br />
gradually reopened. Today’s<br />
match is another step in that<br />
journey.<br />
The recent test events hosted by <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby were very successful and without<br />
the fans’ cooperation and adherence to<br />
the Covid-19 guidelines, <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
wouldn’t be in a position to host the<br />
game today at the Aviva Stadium with<br />
up to 75 per cent attendance capacity<br />
allowed. It will be a wonderful sight to<br />
witness the Sea of Blue in action again<br />
amongst the 20,000 supporters, and also<br />
to hear the Laighin Pit roar!<br />
Leo Cullen, his coaching team and<br />
players could hardly have asked for a<br />
stiffer opening task, as they welcome the<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> to Dublin.<br />
The back-to-back Currie Cup champions<br />
visit the Aviva Stadium for the first game<br />
of the new United Rugby Championship<br />
(URC), starting the new competition off in<br />
style as the current champions of South<br />
African rugby face off against the current<br />
champions of what is now known as the<br />
URC.<br />
I’m sure <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby and all its<br />
supporters want to offer a very warm<br />
welcome to Jake White and his squad,<br />
and hope they enjoy their stay in the<br />
northern hemisphere for a few weeks.<br />
We know that the <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
supporters will make you feel most<br />
welcome in Dublin during the week and<br />
in the Aviva Stadium on match day – but<br />
only until 5.15pm when the battle on the<br />
pitch commences!<br />
I am also delighted to see that the 2021<br />
Bank of Ireland <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Schools<br />
Junior Cup kicks off next week in Energia<br />
Park. Players and coaches have had to<br />
stand by and see so much rugby fall by<br />
the wayside over the last season and a<br />
half, and it is a welcome development<br />
that these players will now get to play<br />
their cup matches. We wish all the<br />
competing schools well.<br />
There is now light at the end of the tunnel,<br />
and for now, like everyone in attendance<br />
today I can’t wait to get back to Aviva<br />
Stadium, and witness <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby do<br />
what they do best.<br />
Enjoy the game,<br />
JH<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 9
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16 TEAMS,<br />
2 HEMISPHERES,<br />
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THE SPIRIT OF<br />
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CHAMPIONSHIP.<br />
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DISCOVER THE SPIRIT WITHIN |<br />
#SAVOURTHEMOMENT
Did you<br />
know?<br />
• <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby lost<br />
just one of their last<br />
four fixtures in last<br />
season’s Rainbow Cup<br />
12-15 at Glasgow on 4<br />
June.<br />
• The <strong>Leinster</strong>men have<br />
played 23 previous<br />
Championship matches<br />
at Aviva Stadium<br />
with their only<br />
defeat being 23-34 to<br />
Munster in October<br />
2014.<br />
• <strong>Leinster</strong>’s record<br />
against South African<br />
opponents in United<br />
Rugby Championship<br />
is played seven, won<br />
six, lost one with the<br />
defeat being 19-38 on<br />
a visit to Cheetahs in<br />
September 2017.<br />
• <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> won<br />
the Currie Cup for<br />
a second successive<br />
year on 11 September,<br />
beating Cell C Sharks<br />
in the final at Loftus<br />
Versfeld. Their most<br />
recent defeat was<br />
also to the Sharks in<br />
Durban on 6 August.<br />
• The <strong>Bulls</strong> reached<br />
the Rainbow Cup final<br />
last season but were<br />
eclipsed in the final<br />
by Benetton Rugby.<br />
• This is the <strong>Bulls</strong><br />
first ever visit to<br />
Ireland, and their<br />
first trip to the<br />
Northern Hemisphere<br />
since being defeated<br />
in Treviso.<br />
• The two sides<br />
have never met in a<br />
competitive fixture<br />
before.<br />
COMPARISON<br />
Last 3 URC results<br />
14 May - Ulster (H)<br />
W 21-17<br />
4 Jun - Glasgow (A)<br />
L 12-15<br />
11 Jun - Dragons (H)<br />
W 38-7<br />
URC 2020/21<br />
Conf A:<br />
1st<br />
W14 D0 L2<br />
71pts<br />
URC form<br />
WWWWWL (26pts)<br />
Top try scorer<br />
10 Scott Penny<br />
Top points scorer<br />
91 Harry Byrne<br />
1938 - 2019<br />
Last 3 URC results<br />
4 Jun - Stormers (H)<br />
W 31-27<br />
12 Jun - Sharks (A)<br />
W 34-22<br />
19 Jun - Benetton (N)<br />
L 8-35<br />
URC 2020/21<br />
Rainbow SA:<br />
1st<br />
W5 D0 L1<br />
25pts<br />
URC form<br />
WWWLWW (25pts)<br />
Top try scorer<br />
4 Madosh Tambwe<br />
Top points scorer<br />
53 Morne Steyn<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 13
johhny<br />
Sexton<br />
the big interview<br />
It is probably fair<br />
to say that if things<br />
had played out as he<br />
would have wanted,<br />
we wouldn’t be<br />
sitting down this<br />
afternoon to chat<br />
with Johnny Sexton.<br />
And he wouldn’t be leading<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby in the Aviva<br />
Stadium in the opening game of<br />
the United Rugby Championship.<br />
The <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby and Ireland captain,<br />
should have been on a plane to South<br />
Africa.<br />
Blue tinted glasses? Undoubtedly. But<br />
we’re entitled to wear those surely from<br />
time to time.<br />
Instead, Sexton was deemed surplus to<br />
requirements by Warren Gatland and co.<br />
Meanwhile Andy Farrell and the Irish<br />
coaching team made a broader decision<br />
to leave a few of the more experienced<br />
players off for the summer programme,<br />
including the <strong>Leinster</strong> skipper.<br />
14 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 15
It left Sexton, Cian Healy and Keith Earls,<br />
to kick back and relax.<br />
While Healy and Earls were on the<br />
fringes of any Lions conversation, Sexton<br />
was smack in the middle of it all and<br />
his omission was nearly as big a talking<br />
point as any player selected.<br />
So before we get into all of that, how is<br />
he?<br />
“I’m good. The body feels good, I feel<br />
sharp and I’ve had a really good block<br />
of training under my belt.<br />
“It’s probably the longest run of <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
pre-season than I have had in a while<br />
and I had the run out last week against<br />
Harlequins so yeah, I feel good and I’m<br />
just looking forward to the season starting<br />
now.”<br />
Where does he sit now on how the<br />
summer played out?<br />
“Of course, disappointment is the<br />
overriding emotion but what can I do?<br />
“I would have loved to have made the<br />
Lions but I didn’t and I have to try as best<br />
I can to put that behind me.<br />
that is the great thing about the<br />
old PRO14 or the URC as it is now,<br />
you have teams from different countries<br />
and different rugby cultures<br />
coming together.<br />
“The good thing for me was when that<br />
happened and once the plan for the<br />
season ahead was in front of me, I was<br />
able to focus on that and I think that’s<br />
been a really good thing.<br />
“I was also able to take time off with my<br />
family, so it was time off on top of time<br />
off because of Covid, so my body feels<br />
great because of that and I feel like I’m in<br />
a really good space now heading into a<br />
new season.”<br />
Undoubtedly as we have seen with<br />
Lions tours in the past and big selection<br />
decisions (or omissions), the story of his<br />
omission will follow him around in the<br />
following months and years and already<br />
any media event has been dominated<br />
with questions around Gatland, the Lions,<br />
the loss, his regret.<br />
But for Sexton, it’s quite simple.<br />
It hurt. Of course it did. But what could<br />
he do? He could either stew on it or he<br />
could use it to his advantage.<br />
No prizes for guessing what the<br />
173-times capped <strong>Leinster</strong> out-half chose<br />
to do.<br />
“Normally at this time of the year with<br />
a Lions tour or an Ireland tour, there is a<br />
bunch of lads that come new into <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby and they do not see the senior<br />
players for a month or two before the<br />
integration starts.<br />
“And it could be another few months<br />
before they play together.<br />
“This season it was different with myself<br />
and Cian (Healy) and a few other lads<br />
out injured like Rhys (Ruddock) and<br />
Garry (Ringrose) being around, and<br />
I think it was good for them having us<br />
16 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
senior players around and I know it was<br />
good for me.<br />
“Them seeing what it’s like at that time of<br />
the year with senior players around and<br />
internationals. Driving things maybe or<br />
little chats here and there.<br />
“I’ve enjoyed being in and around that<br />
now for the last two or three months, but I<br />
hope it will stand to them as well.<br />
“It feels good to be part of the group<br />
this early in the season and to have<br />
that three-month block of training<br />
together this early. I’m excited by<br />
what’s ahead.”<br />
Sexton made his <strong>Leinster</strong> debut<br />
in January 2006 against Border<br />
Reivers. Today, in the Aviva<br />
Stadium, the <strong>Leinster</strong> captain starts<br />
his 16th season as a professional<br />
player when he leads the side out<br />
against the <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>.<br />
He has seen most alliterations and<br />
versions of the domestic league take<br />
shape in that time.<br />
The latest version sees the previous two<br />
South African teams, the Kings and the<br />
Cheetahs, drop out to be replaced by the<br />
Cell C Sharks, DHL Stormers, Emirates<br />
Lions and <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>.<br />
What does he make of the United Rugby<br />
Championship?<br />
“I’m looking forward to getting back out<br />
there first of all and then excited by what<br />
the new competition brings.<br />
“Obviously there are the new South<br />
African teams and that will challenge<br />
us all to be better and to improve and<br />
then there are the new elements to the<br />
competition and the structures, the gaps<br />
during international windows and the<br />
new rules.”<br />
The big talking point though is<br />
what can the four new teams<br />
bring to the table and how<br />
much will <strong>Leinster</strong> have to<br />
adapt?<br />
“I think whenever you play<br />
against a team from another<br />
country you have to adapt<br />
and that is the great thing about the<br />
old PRO14 or the URC as it is now, you<br />
have teams from different countries and<br />
different rugby cultures coming together.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 17
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“You definitely need to strike a balance<br />
between recognising what they will do<br />
and what they will bring to the table and<br />
then doing what you do best as a team.<br />
We don’t have to tear up the playbook<br />
just because four new teams have come in<br />
but we certainly are very mindful of what<br />
challenges we will face.<br />
“Right now our focus is on the <strong>Bulls</strong> but in<br />
time we’ll look towards the other three teams<br />
and obviously we have games in South<br />
Africa to play later in the season as well.<br />
“The over-riding feeling is excitement of the<br />
new challenge the new teams will bring but<br />
you can’t discount either the other clubs who<br />
have also been building during pre-season<br />
and adding big names in some cases.<br />
“It’s all to play for ahead of the first few<br />
rounds and then we will all see where we<br />
stand.”<br />
There is also the small matter of new rules<br />
in the URC like the 50:22 rule and the rule<br />
around being held up over the try-line.<br />
“We’ve looked at them over the summer and<br />
I think it will definitely create opportunities<br />
for teams but at the same time it will take<br />
some getting used to.<br />
“The <strong>Bulls</strong>, for example, were playing<br />
without those rules in the Currie Cup so it<br />
will be new for them too but regardless,<br />
come Saturday it will be the same for both<br />
teams and we’ll see if there are opportunities<br />
to exploit.”<br />
Sexton has played against the South African<br />
national team and is energised by what the<br />
future holds playing against the club teams<br />
and in particular the history that will be<br />
created.<br />
“We haven’t thought too much beyond this<br />
weekend and the <strong>Bulls</strong> coming to Dublin. I<br />
think for a start we will be the first <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
team to play against the <strong>Bulls</strong> which is pretty<br />
special.<br />
“Them coming here and playing their first<br />
game in Ireland and in our national stadium<br />
is special.<br />
“But also they are one of the most famous<br />
clubs in South Africa, arguably the most<br />
famous. They have a very proud record in<br />
Super Rugby and obviously the Currie Cup<br />
as well and they have won it the last two<br />
seasons.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 19
Hopefully though<br />
this year we will<br />
have stadiums full<br />
again and that will<br />
elevate everything to<br />
another level having<br />
supporters, family<br />
and friends at the<br />
games again. We have<br />
all missed that.<br />
20 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
“They’ve a World Cup-winning coach in<br />
Jake White and have a strong squad of<br />
players already and have then recruited<br />
well from the TOP14 and elsewhere in<br />
Europe to bring that experience of the<br />
northern hemisphere in-house.<br />
“Players that have played in Munster<br />
like Arno Botha or Marcel Coetzee<br />
who played with Ulster and Bismarck<br />
du Plessis and his experience with<br />
Montpellier.<br />
“They are the form club team in South<br />
Africa and we can’t wait to test ourselves<br />
against them.”<br />
The game two weeks ago against<br />
Harlequins is the only pre-season game<br />
that <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby will play.<br />
Does that concern him given that the<br />
<strong>Bulls</strong> will be coming off a Currie Cup<br />
campaign battle-hardened?<br />
“You could look at it that way but you<br />
could also say then that we could be<br />
fresher because we have played less? It’s<br />
all about how you want to frame things<br />
and for us we like looking at it as an<br />
opportunity.<br />
“A great opportunity for us to test<br />
ourselves against a completely new<br />
proposition and a team that we have<br />
never played before or analysed before.<br />
“Regardless of what has gone before,<br />
both teams will be ready for it.”<br />
For the 10,000 or so supporters in the<br />
Aviva Stadium for the Quins game, they<br />
would have enjoyed the game but what<br />
did the captain make of it all?<br />
“First of all, I was just delighted for the<br />
lads playing.<br />
“Obviously Mike (Ala’alatoa) playing<br />
in a <strong>Leinster</strong> jersey for the first time and<br />
getting to experience the Aviva was<br />
special for him but then more so the likes<br />
of Max (Deegan), COB (Conor O’Brien)<br />
and Brian Deeny.<br />
“What those lads have been through and<br />
their injuries has not been easy and it’s<br />
a massive credit to them that they have<br />
stuck to the task so brilliantly and I was<br />
just thrilled for them really.<br />
“And then the young lads playing at that<br />
level for the first time. Lads in the first<br />
year in the Academy and that in itself is<br />
pleasing because it’s brilliant for them to<br />
get that exposure this early in the season<br />
and that will stand to them.<br />
“And then the result. That was a really<br />
important one for us.”<br />
It is not often that a result is spoken about<br />
in the context of a pre-season friendly<br />
game.<br />
It is usually about game-time or building<br />
a performance but Sexton adds meat to<br />
the bones.<br />
“With that game being the only preseason<br />
we had, plus playing against the<br />
English champions, and knowing that<br />
they were a week or two ahead of us<br />
in terms of prep, we actually put quite a<br />
focus on the result for this game.<br />
“Normally for a game like that it’s about<br />
getting 20, 40, 60, or however many<br />
minutes into the legs, trying a few things<br />
and seeing how lads go but for this game<br />
we wanted to use it as our starting point<br />
leading into the <strong>Bulls</strong> game.<br />
“Quins had already played a pre-season<br />
game the week before and even now<br />
have already played a competitive game<br />
in the Premiership before we have even<br />
kicked off in the URC so they are just a<br />
little ahead of us. So why not set a target<br />
to test ourselves? And that is what we did.<br />
“It was really pleasing to see the players<br />
go well as I said but then also for some<br />
things to come off, some things can be<br />
better but ultimately we set ourselves that<br />
test, that target, to get the win against<br />
Quins and we got that and that was<br />
really pleasing.”<br />
He was one of those to get 40 minutes<br />
under his belt.<br />
“I really enjoyed it. Good getting out<br />
there and getting those minutes played<br />
which was the plan and overall I think we<br />
can take lots from that game as we head<br />
into the season ahead.”<br />
By 5.15pm today another season will be<br />
underway and for 36-year-old Sexton,<br />
the year ahead has him just as excited<br />
as ever.<br />
Only last weekend Andy Farrell brought<br />
together a 50-strong Ireland training<br />
group to meet and plot out the season for<br />
those in contention in green and the road<br />
ahead for those in blue is taking shape<br />
as well.<br />
“Yeah, it’ll be another jam-packed<br />
season.<br />
“Hopefully though this year we will have<br />
stadiums full again and that will elevate<br />
everything to another level having<br />
supporters, family and friends at the<br />
games again. We have all missed that.<br />
“We have to focus on the <strong>Bulls</strong> first,<br />
but you’re right. The next five weeks for<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> are mapped out in the URC and<br />
then we have the autumn internationals<br />
and that is exciting and the games<br />
coming up there. Then into Europe and<br />
the beauty of it all is that everyone wants<br />
to play in those games for <strong>Leinster</strong> and<br />
hopefully with Ireland.<br />
“That competition in all of us is as strong<br />
as ever but you have to perform for<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> first. Leo can only pick 23 guys<br />
from the nearly 50 senior players here so<br />
that is the standard and the competition<br />
that will drive us all on.<br />
“There is lots of rugby to come over<br />
the season and we are all very excited<br />
now to get going again and what better<br />
way to get going than against the <strong>Bulls</strong><br />
today.”<br />
The reigning URC champions. Against the<br />
reigning Currie Cup champions.<br />
What better way is right.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 21
Action<br />
replay 40 21<br />
LEINSTER: Chris Cosgrave; Rob<br />
Russell, Jamie Osborne, Conor<br />
O’Brien, James Lowe; Johnny<br />
Sexton, Luke McGrath; Peter<br />
Dooley, Dan Sheehan, Michael<br />
Ala’alatoa; Devin Toner, Brian<br />
Deeny; Rhys Ruddock, Scott Penny,<br />
Max Deegan. Replacements<br />
from: Cian Healy, Seán Cronin,<br />
James Tracy, Vakh Abdaladze,<br />
Ross Molony, Ryan Baird, Martin<br />
Moloney, Cormac Foley, Ross<br />
Byrne, David Hawkshaw, Liam<br />
Turner, Niall Comerford.<br />
Tries: Conor O’Brien, Scott Penny,<br />
Johnny Sexton, Jamie Osborne,<br />
Ryan Baird, Liam Turner. Cons:<br />
Johnny Sexton (4), Ross Byrne.<br />
FRI, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2021<br />
AVIVA STADIUM<br />
BANK OF IRELAND<br />
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY<br />
HARLEQUINS: Tyrone Green; Joe<br />
Marchant, Luke Northmore, Andre<br />
Esterhuizen, Louis Lynagh; Tommy<br />
Allan, Danny Care; Santiago<br />
Garcia Botta, Jack Walker, Simon<br />
Kerrod; Hugh Tizard, Dino Lamb,<br />
Tom Lawday, Jack Kenningham,<br />
Alex Dombrandt. Replacements<br />
from: Sam Riley, George Head,<br />
Fin Baxter, Will Collier, Craig<br />
Trenier, Matas Jurevicius, George<br />
Hammond, Luke Wallace, Archie<br />
White, Scott Steele, Will Edwards,<br />
Ross Chisholm, Lennox Anyanwu,<br />
Huw Jones, Cadan Murley, Nick<br />
David.<br />
Tries: Luke Northmore, Joe<br />
Marchant, Sam Riley. Cons: Tommy<br />
Allan (3).<br />
22 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
Pre-season<br />
games are challenging.<br />
We came<br />
through relatively<br />
ok. It’s<br />
valuable minutes,<br />
that’s the<br />
big thing.<br />
Leo Cullen<br />
It was so nice<br />
to come back and<br />
play with fans<br />
in the stadium<br />
and getting your<br />
breath back and<br />
letting it sink<br />
in, I was very<br />
nervous.<br />
Conor O’Brien talks about his first game<br />
after nearly two years out injured<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 23
U18 Women’s Interprovincial<br />
Championshipwinners<br />
winners<br />
24 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 25
SHOP THE 2021/22 LEINSTER RUGBY RANGE NOW,<br />
EXCLUSIVELY AT LIFE STYLE SPORTS<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 27
leo<br />
the lion’s<br />
kids<br />
corner<br />
IN A BLUR!<br />
Can you name this<br />
leinster player?<br />
spot the difference!<br />
Can you find all six?<br />
ANAGRAMS<br />
Can you un-jumble the names of these players?<br />
LONER HEEL<br />
RANK<br />
RIGGER OR<br />
YARNS<br />
how did you do?<br />
IN A BLUR?<br />
ROSS MOLONY<br />
ANAGRAMS<br />
RONAN KELLEHER<br />
GARRY RINGROSE<br />
ZOOMED IN!<br />
ROBBIE HENSHAW<br />
zoomed in!<br />
WHo is this leinster<br />
player havine an<br />
extreme close-ip?<br />
28 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
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solutions for office,<br />
warehouse and<br />
environment<br />
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AZTO<br />
with<br />
Caelan Doris<br />
A – Action: If you could be a<br />
superhero, which would you be?<br />
Superman<br />
B – Boyhood: Who was your favourite<br />
sporting idol growing up?<br />
CR7<br />
C – Childhood: What is your favourite<br />
childhood memory?<br />
Football at lunch time!<br />
D – Dish: What’s your go-to pre-match<br />
meal?<br />
Spag Bol<br />
E – Education: What was your<br />
favourite subject in school?<br />
Economics<br />
F – Film buff: What’s your favourite<br />
film?<br />
The Shawshank Redemption or<br />
Notting Hill<br />
G – Groove: Who is the best dancer in<br />
the squad?<br />
Peter Dooley - did breakdancing in<br />
Birr.<br />
H – Holiday: What’s your favourite<br />
holiday destination?<br />
Greek Islands<br />
I – Inside: Who is the worst to sit<br />
beside in the dressing room?<br />
Frawley - the ginger head on him<br />
hurts the eyes.<br />
J – Joker: Who is the funniest in the<br />
squad?<br />
Will Connors - weirdest too!<br />
K – Kick-off: What’s your favourite<br />
time of the day to play a match?<br />
5.30 - lots of time for sleeping but<br />
not too late.<br />
L – Languages: How many languages<br />
can you speak?<br />
Just the one!<br />
30 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
M – Music: Your favourite artist and<br />
song right now?<br />
Heart of Gold by Neil Young –<br />
timeless!<br />
N – Number: Do you have a lucky<br />
number?<br />
3<br />
O – Others: What’s your favourite sport<br />
outside of rugby?<br />
Gaelic or golf.<br />
P – Pal: Who is your best mate in the<br />
squad?<br />
All the lads I came through the<br />
academy with.<br />
Q – Quirky: Who has the most<br />
interesting fashion sense?<br />
Will Connors - way off!<br />
R – Red Carpet: Who is the most famous<br />
contact in your phone?<br />
Probably Will Connors too.<br />
S – Superstitions: Do you have any<br />
matchday routines?<br />
Lots of sleeping!<br />
T – Trim: What’s the worst haircut<br />
you’ve ever had?<br />
Shaved my head in 2018 - don’t have<br />
the hairline for it!<br />
U: Under pressure: Who in the squad<br />
would be the best in a bad situation?<br />
Mick Milne - cool, calm and collected<br />
at all times.<br />
V – Verified: How often do you use<br />
social media?<br />
Everyday<br />
W – Worst fear: What are you most<br />
scared of?<br />
Snakes<br />
X – X-ray: Have you ever broken any<br />
bones?<br />
Right Hand<br />
Y – Youth: Where did you grow up?<br />
Lacken, 20 minutes from Ballina, Mayo.<br />
Z – Zoo: What’s your favourite animal?<br />
Chimpanzee<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 31
ENERGIA MENS ALL<br />
IRELAND LEAGUEBY ROBERT DEACON<br />
Next weekend sees the commencement of<br />
this season’s Energia Men’s All-Ireland<br />
League with matches taking place in all<br />
five divisions across the four provinces.<br />
In March 2019 as clubs were<br />
facing into the final stages<br />
of that season’s league and<br />
preparing for defining matches<br />
that would decide their success<br />
or otherwise, the season came<br />
to an abrupt halt as a result<br />
of Covid-19. That campaign<br />
was declared null and void<br />
and no one envisaged that last<br />
season would also be lost to the<br />
pandemic.<br />
A year and a half later our <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
senior men’s clubs return to Energia<br />
All-Ireland League action after a series<br />
of matches in domestic competitions<br />
in preparation for what lies ahead.<br />
There has been a positive response to<br />
return to play after what has been a<br />
tough time for the clubs keeping players<br />
engaged throughout with little or no<br />
access to their pitches and pavilions<br />
due to lockdown.<br />
The 18 <strong>Leinster</strong> senior men’s clubs are<br />
spread across all five divisions of this<br />
season’s league and all will be aiming<br />
to get off to a good start in round one<br />
next weekend.<br />
DIVISION 1A:<br />
In Division 1A five of the 10 clubs<br />
competing are from <strong>Leinster</strong> and<br />
all will be vying to reach season<br />
ending play-offs and challenge for<br />
the title held by Cork Constitution.<br />
In round one next Saturday, Dublin<br />
University will play hosts to Lansdowne in<br />
34 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
College Park. Terenure will face UCD at<br />
home in Lakelands, so two entertaining<br />
local matches in prospect to whet the<br />
appetite for those in attendance.<br />
Clontarf will take to the road north for<br />
their opening game and will seek to get<br />
off to a winning start when they play<br />
Ballynahinch.<br />
DIVISION 1B:<br />
Again, <strong>Leinster</strong> clubs make up<br />
five of the 10 clubs competing in<br />
Division 1B.<br />
Old Belvedere and Naas will kick start<br />
the Energia All-Ireland League next<br />
Friday evening when they meet in Ollie<br />
Campbell Park.<br />
St Mary’s and Navan both have to travel<br />
outside the province on Saturday for<br />
their opening games, St. Mary’s make<br />
the journey to Cork to take on Highfield,<br />
while Navan head north to play Malone.<br />
Old Wesley will have Shannon as visitors<br />
to Energia Park in Donnybrook.<br />
DIVISION 2A:<br />
Only MU Barnhall of the 18<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> senior men’s clubs will<br />
compete in division 2A this<br />
season, which as a result means<br />
plenty of mileage around the<br />
country will be undertaken by<br />
the Maynooth club. For their<br />
opening game ‘it’s a long way<br />
to Tipperary’ to take on Nenagh<br />
Ormond.<br />
DIVISION 2B:<br />
Blackrock, Greystones, Malahide<br />
and Wanderers are the four<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> clubs competing in<br />
division 2B. Blackrock and<br />
Greystones will face opposition<br />
from Connaught with Blackrock<br />
travelling west to Galway to<br />
take on Corinthians, while the<br />
Co Wicklow men will have<br />
Galwegians as visitors to Doctor<br />
Hickey Park.<br />
Malahide will undertake the journey<br />
across the city to face fellow <strong>Leinster</strong> club<br />
Wanderers in Merrion Road.<br />
DIVISION 2C:<br />
Three <strong>Leinster</strong> clubs will represent<br />
the province in division 2C this<br />
season and all three start their<br />
league campaign with home<br />
fixtures. Both Skerries and<br />
Tullamore will play host to Ulster<br />
clubs, facing Omagh Academicals<br />
and City of Derry respectively.<br />
Enniscorthy look forward to entertaining<br />
Midleton at their Ross Road grounds.<br />
After the hiatus of the last 18 months<br />
a long-awaited Energia Men’s All-<br />
Ireland League eventually gets up and<br />
running next weekend and will continue<br />
throughout the season.<br />
So, plenty of club action over the coming<br />
weeks and months across the province<br />
and beyond to be enjoyed by both<br />
players and supporters alike, here’s to a<br />
successful league campaign for all.<br />
You will find all updates on Energia All-<br />
Ireland league fixtures and results on the<br />
IRFU, <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby and the participating<br />
clubs’ websites and social media outlets.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 35
leinster<br />
squad<br />
2021/22 season<br />
Vakh Abdaladze #1263<br />
Michael Ala’alatoa<br />
7<br />
CAPS<br />
Ryan Baird #1278<br />
5<br />
CAPS<br />
Adam Byrne #1213<br />
1<br />
CAP<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 06/02/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m<br />
WEIGHT: 121kg<br />
prop<br />
DOB: 28/08/1991<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 127kg<br />
LOCK<br />
DOB: 26/07/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.98m<br />
WEIGHT: 103.18kg<br />
WING / FULL BACK<br />
DOB: 10/04/1994<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 98.18kg<br />
Ed Byrne #1222<br />
6<br />
CAPS<br />
Harry Byrne #1280<br />
1<br />
CAP<br />
Ross Byrne #1236<br />
13<br />
CAPS<br />
Thomas Clarkson<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 09/09/1993<br />
HEIGHT: 1.8m<br />
WEIGHT: 114.09kg<br />
FLY HALF<br />
DOB: 22/04/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.9m<br />
WEIGHT: 95kg<br />
FLY HALF<br />
DOB: 08/04/1995<br />
HEIGHT: 1.9m<br />
WEIGHT: 92kg<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 22/02/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m<br />
WEIGHT: 118kg<br />
36 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
Jack Conan #1223<br />
20<br />
CAPS<br />
7<br />
CAPS<br />
Will Connors #1264<br />
9<br />
CAPS<br />
Sean Cronin #1202<br />
72<br />
CAPS<br />
Max Deegan #1256<br />
1<br />
CAP<br />
NO. 8<br />
DOB: 29/07/1992<br />
HEIGHT: 1.93m<br />
WEIGHT: 114.09kg<br />
BACK ROW<br />
DOB: 04/04/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.96m<br />
WEIGHT: 100kg<br />
HOOKER<br />
DOB: 06/05/1986<br />
HEIGHT: 1.78m<br />
WEIGHT: 103.18kg<br />
NO. 8<br />
DOB: 01/10/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.93m<br />
WEIGHT: 110kg<br />
Peter Dooley #1230<br />
Caelan Doris #1268<br />
9<br />
CAPS<br />
Jack Dunne #1276<br />
Ciaran Frawley #1265<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 04/08/1994<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 117kg<br />
BACK ROW<br />
DOB: 02/04/1998<br />
HEIGHT: 1.93m<br />
WEIGHT: 107kg<br />
LOCK<br />
DOB: 21/11/1998<br />
HEIGHT: 2.03m<br />
WEIGHT: 120kg<br />
FLY HALF<br />
DOB: 04/12/1997<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 98kg<br />
Tadhg Furlong #1220<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 14/11/1992<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 125kg<br />
49<br />
CAPS<br />
13<br />
CAPS<br />
Jamison Gibson-Park #1247<br />
SCRUM HALF<br />
DOB: 23/02/1992<br />
HEIGHT: 1.75m<br />
WEIGHT: 80kg<br />
10<br />
CAPS<br />
David Hawkshaw #1290<br />
FLY HALF / Centre<br />
DOB: 03/07/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.75m )<br />
WEIGHT: 85.91kg<br />
Cian Healy #1142<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 07/10/1987<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m<br />
WEIGHT: 116.82kg<br />
109<br />
CAPS<br />
2<br />
CAPS<br />
Robbie Henshaw #1251<br />
52<br />
CAPS<br />
9<br />
CAPS<br />
Dave Kearney #1158<br />
19<br />
CAPS<br />
Hugo Keenan #1253<br />
13<br />
CAPS<br />
Ronan Kelleher #1277<br />
13<br />
CAPS<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 12/06/1993<br />
HEIGHT: 1.9m<br />
WEIGHT: 99.09kg<br />
WING / FULL BACK<br />
DOB: 19/06/1989<br />
HEIGHT: 1.8m<br />
WEIGHT: 90kg<br />
FULL BACK<br />
DOB: 18/06/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m<br />
WEIGHT: 91.82kg<br />
HOOKER<br />
DOB: 24/01/1998<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 105kg<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 37
Jordan Larmour #1258<br />
30<br />
CAPS<br />
Dan Leavy #1231<br />
11<br />
CAPS<br />
WING<br />
DOB: 10/06/1997<br />
HEIGHT: 1.78m<br />
WEIGHT: 90kg<br />
FLANKER<br />
DOB: 23/05/1994<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 105.91kg<br />
for full squad profiles<br />
please click here<br />
James Lowe #1262<br />
6<br />
CAPS<br />
Nick McCarthy<br />
Luke McGrath #1206<br />
19<br />
CAPS<br />
Michael Milne #1279<br />
WING / FULL BACK<br />
DOB: 08/07/1992<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m<br />
WEIGHT: 105kg<br />
SCRUM HALF<br />
DOB: 25/03/1995<br />
HEIGHT: 1.8m<br />
WEIGHT: 84.09kg<br />
SCRUM HALF<br />
DOB: 03/02/1993<br />
HEIGHT: 1.75m<br />
WEIGHT: 84.09kg<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 05/02/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 115kg<br />
Jimmy O’Brien #1272<br />
Conor O’Brien #1260<br />
Josh Murphy #1261<br />
Ross Molony #1233<br />
LOCK<br />
DOB: 11/05/1994<br />
HEIGHT: 1.96m<br />
WEIGHT: 113kg<br />
FLANKER<br />
DOB: 17/02/1995<br />
HEIGHT: 1.98m<br />
WEIGHT: 110kg<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 06/02/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 100kg<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 27/11/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 88kg<br />
Tommy O’Brien #1283<br />
Rory O’Loughlin #1248<br />
1<br />
CAP<br />
Scott Penny #1271<br />
Andrew Porter #1246<br />
37<br />
CAPS<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 28/05/1998<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 95kg<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 21/01/1994<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m<br />
WEIGHT: 94.09kg<br />
FLANKER<br />
DOB: 22/09/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 104kg<br />
PROP<br />
DOB: 16/01/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 114.09kg<br />
38 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
Garry Ringrose #1237<br />
34<br />
CAPS<br />
Rhys Ruddock #1167<br />
27<br />
CAPS<br />
James Ryan #1259<br />
37<br />
CAPS<br />
Johnny Sexton #1127<br />
99<br />
CAPS<br />
14<br />
CAPS<br />
CENTRE<br />
DOB: 26/01/1995<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m<br />
WEIGHT: 96kg<br />
BACK ROW<br />
DOB: 13/11/1990<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 113.18kg<br />
LOCK<br />
DOB: 24/07/1996<br />
HEIGHT: 2.03m<br />
WEIGHT: 115kg<br />
FLY HALF<br />
DOB: 11/07/1985<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m<br />
WEIGHT: 90kg<br />
Dan Sheehan #1286<br />
HOOKER<br />
DOB: 17/09/1998<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m<br />
WEIGHT: 110.91kg<br />
Devin Toner #1128<br />
LOCK<br />
DOB: 29/06/1986<br />
HEIGHT: 2.11m<br />
WEIGHT: 127kg<br />
70<br />
CAPS<br />
James Tracy #1211<br />
HOOKER<br />
DOB: 02/04/1991<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m<br />
WEIGHT: 106kg<br />
6<br />
CAPS<br />
Josh van der Flier #1228<br />
FLANKER<br />
DOB: 25/04/1993<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m<br />
WEIGHT: 103kg<br />
32<br />
CAPS<br />
Coaching<br />
Staff<br />
2021/22 season<br />
LEO CULLEN<br />
HEAD COACH<br />
STUART LANCASTER<br />
SENIOR COACH<br />
ROBIN MCBRYDE<br />
ASSISTANT COACH<br />
FELIPE CONTEPOMI<br />
BACKS COACH<br />
EMMET FARRELL<br />
KICKING COACH AND<br />
LEAD PERFORMANCE ANALYST<br />
GUY EASTERBY<br />
HEAD OF RUGBY OPERATIONS<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 39
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LEINSTER RUGBY PLAYS<br />
ROLE IN NEW CONTACT<br />
TRAINING GUIDELINES<br />
Rugby is set<br />
to adopt a<br />
new approach<br />
to contact<br />
training<br />
following the<br />
publication of<br />
new guidelines<br />
by World<br />
Rugby and<br />
International<br />
Rugby Players<br />
(IRP) aimed<br />
at reducing<br />
injury<br />
risk and<br />
supporting<br />
short and<br />
long-term<br />
player<br />
welfare.<br />
42 | www.leinsterrugby.ie<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby is playing a central<br />
role in the study with coach Stuart<br />
Lancaster a member of the World<br />
Rugby Advisory Group on contact<br />
load, as well as <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
being on of the 10 teams using<br />
instrumented mouth guards to<br />
assess the mechanism, incidence<br />
and intensity of head impact<br />
events.<br />
The guidance is being supported by<br />
national players’ associations, national<br />
union Directors of Rugby, coaches and<br />
clubs.<br />
Earlier this year, World Rugby unveiled<br />
a transformational six-point plan aiming<br />
to cement rugby as the most progressive<br />
sport on player welfare. These new<br />
best-practice guidelines on the intensity<br />
and frequency of contact training<br />
to which professional rugby players<br />
should be exposed have been shaped<br />
by consultation with players, coaches<br />
and leading medical, strength and<br />
conditioning, and scientific experts.<br />
Global study<br />
The guidelines are based on a global<br />
study undertaken by IRP of almost 600<br />
players participating across 18 elite<br />
men’s and women’s competitions, and a<br />
comprehensive review of the latest injury<br />
data. It reveals that training patterns vary<br />
across competitions, with an average<br />
of 21 minutes per week of full contact<br />
training and an average total contact<br />
load of 118 minutes per week. A more<br />
measured and consistent approach to<br />
training will help manage the Contact<br />
Load for players, especially those moving<br />
between club and national training<br />
environments. The research supports the<br />
minimising of the contact load in training,<br />
so that players can be prepared to<br />
perform but not have elevated injury risk.<br />
The guidelines are an attempt to aid with<br />
striking that balance.<br />
New ‘best practice’<br />
training contact<br />
guidelines<br />
World Rugby and International Rugby<br />
Player’s new framework sets out clear<br />
and acceptable contact guidelines<br />
for training sessions, aiming to further<br />
inform coaches – and players – of best<br />
practice for reducing injury risk and<br />
optimizing match preparation in season.<br />
The guidance covers the whole spectrum<br />
of contact training types, considering<br />
volume, intensity, frequency and
predictability of contact, as well as the<br />
optimal structure of sessions across the<br />
typical training week, including crucially<br />
recovery and rest periods.<br />
Recommended contact<br />
training limits for the<br />
professional game are<br />
as follows:<br />
Full contact training: maximum of 15<br />
minutes per week across a maximum<br />
of two days per week with Mondays<br />
and Fridays comprising zero full contact<br />
training to allow for recovery and<br />
preparation<br />
Controlled contact training: maximum of<br />
40 minutes per week with at least one<br />
day of zero contact of any type<br />
Live set piece training: maximum of 30<br />
minutes set piece training per week is<br />
advised<br />
The guidance, which also considers<br />
reducing the overall load for players of<br />
particular age, maturity and injury profile<br />
(in line with the risk factors and load<br />
guidance published in 2019), will feature<br />
in the men’s and women’s Rugby World<br />
Cup player welfare standards and it is<br />
anticipated that other competitions will<br />
follow suit.<br />
Programme of review<br />
and research<br />
World Rugby has committed to<br />
measuring the ‘real life’ effect of these<br />
recommendations. World Rugby is<br />
partnering with 10 elite teams (five<br />
women’s and five men’s) and assess the<br />
mechanism, incidence and intensity of<br />
head impact events using instrumented<br />
mouth guards and video analysis.<br />
Four clubs – <strong>Leinster</strong>, ASM Clermont<br />
Auvergne, the Southland Stags and<br />
Benetton Treviso – have signed up to an<br />
innovative monitoring programme using<br />
instrumented mouthguards which will<br />
monitor implementation and measure<br />
outcomes in partnership with World<br />
Rugby.<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby have worked with Impact<br />
Gumshields to customize each players<br />
gumshield.<br />
World Rugby Chief Executive Alan<br />
Gilpin said: “This important body of work<br />
reflects our ambition to advance welfare<br />
for players at all levels of the game.<br />
Evidence-based, this guidance is based<br />
on the largest study of contact training<br />
in the sport, developed by some of the<br />
best rugby, performance and medical<br />
minds in the game. We believe that by<br />
moderating overall training load on an<br />
individualised basis, including contact<br />
in season, it is possible to enhance both<br />
injury-prevention and performance<br />
outcomes which are good for players,<br />
coaches and fans.”<br />
World Rugby Director of Rugby and<br />
High Performance and former Ireland<br />
coach Joe Schmidt added: “Training has<br />
increasingly played an important role in<br />
injury-prevention as well as performance<br />
over the last decade. While there is<br />
significantly less full contact training<br />
than many people might imagine, it is<br />
our hope that having a central set of<br />
guidelines will further inform players<br />
and coaches of the progression, key<br />
considerations and volume/intensity of<br />
any contact that is done during training.<br />
“These new guidelines, developed by<br />
leading experts and, backed by elite<br />
players, union directors of rugby and<br />
leading competitions, will aid coaches<br />
in identifying performance gains through<br />
best-practice training and contact limit<br />
guidance. It is by necessity a work in<br />
progress and will be monitored and<br />
further researched to understand the<br />
positive impact on player welfare.<br />
“We recognise that community level<br />
rugby can be an almost entirely different<br />
sport in terms of fitness levels, resources<br />
and how players can be expected to<br />
train. World Rugby continue to invest<br />
in research and as well as trialling law<br />
adaptations, focused specifically on the<br />
community game for men, women and<br />
children, to complement our commitments<br />
to player welfare in the professional<br />
game.”<br />
World Rugby is also progressing a<br />
wide-ranging study of the impact of<br />
replacements on injury risk in the sport, a<br />
ground-breaking study into the frequency<br />
and nature of head impacts in community<br />
rugby in partnership with the University<br />
of Otago, and further research specific<br />
to the professional women’s game. All<br />
of these priority activities will inform the<br />
decisions the sport makes to advance<br />
welfare for players at all levels and<br />
stages.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 43
Johnny O'Hagan<br />
a tribute<br />
As the 2021/22<br />
United Rugby<br />
Championship<br />
kicks off<br />
today in Aviva<br />
Stadium, it<br />
will do so<br />
without one<br />
of the most<br />
recognisable<br />
characters in<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
patrolling the<br />
touchline.<br />
For as long as anyone can<br />
remember, Johnny O’Hagan,<br />
has been a constant feature of<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby games at home<br />
and away but this season they<br />
will have to negotiate those trips<br />
without the Bective Rangers<br />
legend.<br />
At the end of last season, O’Hagan hung<br />
up the keys to the kit-van and handed the<br />
keys to the shed at the Rosemount pitch in<br />
UCD to the next man in, Jim Bastick.<br />
O’Hagan will continue as kitman to the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby ‘A’ team but it is most<br />
definitely the end of an era.<br />
And it is a difficult job for anyone to put<br />
into words O’Hagan’s impact on the club<br />
over so many years.<br />
But Leo Cullen, who knows O’Hagan<br />
from his very early days in a <strong>Leinster</strong> age<br />
grade jersey, did his best.<br />
“Yeah, Hago is probably the big one for<br />
me from last season as Hago has been<br />
there every step of the way for me in<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> and in the professional era.<br />
“It’s an incredible period of time and he’s<br />
a unique character I think it’s fair to say.<br />
I haven’t come across anyone quite like<br />
him and he’ll leave probably the biggest<br />
hole to fill.<br />
“I remember Mike Ruddock was the first<br />
professional coach of <strong>Leinster</strong> and Johnny<br />
was around then and that was 1997.<br />
Then he was doing kitman for the <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
U-20s when I was with them leaving<br />
school in 1996.<br />
“It’s been some shift.”<br />
What were his first impressions of Hago?.<br />
“My first impressions of Johnny<br />
O’Hagan? Probably the same as they<br />
are now!<br />
“He actually looks better now than he<br />
did back then! Looking back on some of<br />
his photos he has some kind of Benjamin<br />
Button trick going on at<br />
the moment!<br />
“He looked older<br />
25 years ago than<br />
he does now! But<br />
amazing times really.<br />
“Back in 1997 with Mike Ruddock, then<br />
Matt Williams - who incidentally wrote<br />
a glowing piece in The Irish Times there<br />
a few months ago about Hago and that<br />
was great to see because Hago would<br />
hate that! – and then Gary Ella, Declan<br />
Kidney, then Michael Cheika, then Joe<br />
(Schmidt), Matt (O’Connor) and now<br />
myself.<br />
“Cheiks and Hago were an odd<br />
combination, but they were thick as<br />
thieves the two of them, very very close.<br />
Cheiks was and is hugely fond of Hago<br />
and that was great to see in a video<br />
tribute that Cheiks sent us.<br />
“And not just head coaches, Jono Gibbes<br />
and Kurt McQuilkin, and many others too<br />
and then the players, the great players.<br />
“Trev Brennan, who would have been<br />
very close to Johnny because of his<br />
affiliation with the premier club, Bective<br />
Rangers, but then Brian O’Driscoll, to<br />
Gordon D’Arcy, and all the greats that<br />
have put on the <strong>Leinster</strong> jersey.<br />
“Literally every player that has pulled<br />
on a <strong>Leinster</strong> jersey it has been put on<br />
the hook by Johnny. I am genuinely<br />
struggling to think of a game that he has<br />
missed too in that time.<br />
“An incredible servant to <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby,<br />
he is very much loved and he’ll be sorely<br />
missed.”<br />
A fitting tribute to one of the true greats<br />
of the club.<br />
44 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 45
compiled by stuart farmer<br />
media services limited<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Player<br />
Statistics<br />
SQUAD<br />
CAP<br />
NO<br />
DEBUT<br />
2021/22 SEASON FOR LEINSTER LEINSTER CAREER<br />
ALL GAMES URC EPCR ALL GAMES PRO14/URC EPCR<br />
App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts<br />
SINCE LAST TRY<br />
CAPS<br />
VAKH ABDALADZE 1263 2 DEC 17 - - - - - - - - - 0+12 1 5 0+12 1 5 - - - 11 -<br />
MICHAEL ALA'ALATOA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WS 7<br />
RYAN BAIRD 1278 27 APR 19 - - - - - - - - - 12+15 6 30 11+11 6 30 1+4 - - 1 IR 5<br />
ADAM BYRNE 1213 29 DEC 12 - - - - - - - - - 49+8 20 100 39+8 14 70 10 6 30 5 IR 1<br />
ED BYRNE 1222 9 FEB 14 - - - - - - - - - 19+51 10 50 19+40 9 45 0+11 1 5 7 IR 6<br />
HARRY BYRNE 1280 28 SEP 19 - - - - - - - - - 14+10 6 154 14+9 6 149 0+1 - 5 3 IR 1<br />
ROSS BYRNE 1236 4 SEP 15 - - - - - - - - - 70+34 6 650 58+18 2 471 12+16 4 179 5 IR 13<br />
THOMAS CLARK-<br />
1285 29 AUG 20 - - - - - - - - - 2+8 - - 2+8 - - - - - - -<br />
SON<br />
JACK CONAN 1223 20 FEB 14 - - - - - - - - - 80+25 23 115 59+15 16 80 21+10 7 35 1 IR 20<br />
WILL CONNORS 1264 9 FEB 18 - - - - - - - - - 17+6 2 10 16+6 2 10 1 - - 10 IR 9<br />
TIM CORKERY 1298 12 MAR 21 - - - - - - - - - 0+2 - - 0+2 - - - - - - -<br />
SEAN CRONIN 1202 28 OCT 11 - - - - - - - - - 120+75 42 210 76+54 25 125 43+19 16 80 7 IR 72<br />
MAX DEEGAN 1256 3 DEC 16 - - - - - - - - - 35+30 18 90 32+22 16 80 3+8 2 10 7 IR 1<br />
PETER DOOLEY 1230 31 OCT 14 - - - - - - - - - 40+53 5 25 38+47 5 25 2+6 - - 8 -<br />
CAELAN DORIS 1268 28 APR 18 - - - - - - - - - 32+8 5 25 26+6 3 15 6+2 2 10 9 IR 9<br />
JACK DUNNE 1276 16 FEB 19 - - - - - - - - - 2+13 - - 2+13 - - - - - - -<br />
CORMAC FOLEY 1299 24 APR 21 - - - - - - - - - 0+1 - - 0+1 - - - - - - -<br />
CIARAN FRAWLEY 1265 17 FEB 18 - - - - - - - - - 17+18 4 143 16+14 3 132 1+4 1 11 5 -<br />
TADHG FURLONG 1220 1 NOV 13 - - - - - - - - - 73+41 8 40 42+33 3 15 31+8 5 25 3 IR 49<br />
JAMISON GIBSON-PARK 1247 2 SEP 16 - - - - - - - - - 49+52 17 85 44+28 14 70 5+24 3 15 5 IR 10<br />
MARCUS HANAN 1295 19 FEB 21 - - - - - - - - - 0+3 - - 0+3 - - - - - - -<br />
DAVID HAWKSHAW 1290 2 NOV 20 - - - - - - - - - 0+8 1 14 0+8 1 14 - - - 4 -<br />
CIAN HEALY 1142 5 MAY 07 - - - - - - - - - 156+75 27 135 90+48 13 65 64+26 13 65 2 IR 109<br />
ROBBIE HENSHAW 1251 8 OCT 16 - - - - - - - - - 56+1 11 55 25 5 25 31+1 6 30 1 IR 52<br />
DAVE KEARNEY 1158 16 MAY 09 - - - - - - - - - 147+22 51 255 121+15 44 220 25+6 7 35 7 IR 19<br />
HUGO KEENAN 1253 5 NOV 16 - - - - - - - - - 27+3 4 20 22+3 4 20 5 - - 3 IR 13<br />
RONAN KELLEHER 1277 22 FEB 19 - - - - - - - - - 20+5 9 45 14+3 8 40 6+2 1 5 13 IR 13<br />
JORDAN LARMOUR 1258 2 SEP 17 - - - - - - - - - 52+10 19 95 31+7 14 70 21+3 5 25 1 IR 30<br />
DAN LEAVY 1231 31 OCT 14 - - - - - - - - - 43+29 17 85 35+19 13 65 8+10 4 20 1 IR 11<br />
46 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
SQUAD<br />
CAP<br />
NO<br />
DEBUT<br />
2021/22 SEASON FOR LEINSTER LEINSTER CAREER<br />
ALL GAMES URC EPCR ALL GAMES PRO14/URC EPCR<br />
App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts App Try Pts<br />
SINCE LAST TRY<br />
CAPS<br />
JAMES LOWE 1262 2 DEC 17 - - - - - - - - - 52 34 170 34 25 125 18 9 45 3 IR 6<br />
NICK MCCARTHY 1241 19 DEC 15 - - - - - - - - - 6+30 4 20 6+24 4 20 0+6 - - 5 -<br />
LUKE MCGRATH 1206 5 MAY 12 - - - - - - - - - 102+49 39 195 69+43 31 155 33+6 8 40 2 IR 19<br />
MICHAEL MILNE 1279 28 SEP 19 - - - - - - - - - 1+15 2 10 1+15 2 10 - - - 14 -<br />
MARTIN MOLONEY 1300 24 APR 21 - - - - - - - - - 0+1 - - 0+1 - - - - - - -<br />
ROSS MOLONY 1233 20 FEB 15 - - - - - - - - - 64+52 4 20 62+37 4 20 2+15 - - 2 -<br />
JOSH MURPHY 1261 3 NOV 17 - - - - - - - - - 42+7 5 25 41+6 4 20 1+1 1 5 9 -<br />
JAMIE OSBORNE 1294 30 JAN 21 - - - - - - - - - 2+4 1 5 2+4 1 5 - - - 1 -<br />
CONOR O'BRIEN 1260 3 NOV 17 - - - - - - - - - 16+7 6 30 16+6 6 30 0+1 - - 9 -<br />
JIMMY O'BRIEN 1272 23 NOV 18 - - - - - - - - - 26+9 7 37 24+9 6 32 2 1 5 1 -<br />
SEAN O'BRIEN 1297 12 MAR 21 - - - - - - - - - 0+2 - - 0+2 - - - - - - -<br />
TOMMY O'BRIEN 1283 20 DEC 19 - - - - - - - - - 4+5 3 15 4+5 3 15 - - - 5 -<br />
RORY O'LOUGHLIN 1248 2 SEP 16 - - - - - - - - - 64+23 21 105 57+15 18 90 7+8 3 15 30 IR 1<br />
MAX O'REILLY 1291 2 JAN 21 - - - - - - - - - 6+1 1 5 6+1 1 5 - - - 6 -<br />
SCOTT PENNY 1271 23 NOV 18 - - - - - - - - - 23+6 16 80 23+6 16 80 - - - 1 -<br />
ANDREW PORTER 1246 2 SEP 16 - - - - - - - - - 28+49 11 55 23+30 8 40 5+19 3 15 2 IR 37<br />
GARRY RINGROSE 1237 12 SEP 15 - - - - - - - - - 84+2 27 143 52+1 16 88 32+1 11 55 1 IR 34<br />
RHYS RUDDOCK 1167 6 DEC 09 - - - - - - - - - 143+45 11 55 106+31 9 45 36+12 2 10 4 IR 27<br />
JAMES RYAN 1259 2 SEP 17 - - - - - - - - - 44+6 3 15 22+1 1 5 22+5 2 10 10 IR 37<br />
JOHNNY SEXTON 1127 27 JAN 06 - - - - - - - - - 148+25 26 1507 87+19 13 833 59+6 12 643 13 IR 99<br />
DAN SHEEHAN 1286 23 OCT 20 - - - - - - - - - 3+10 6 30 3+10 6 30 - - - 5 -<br />
ANDREW SMITH 1292 2 JAN 21 - - - - - - - - - 1+1 - - 1+1 - - - - - - -<br />
ALEX SOROKA 1296 28 FEB 21 - - - - - - - - - 1+1 - - 1+1 - - - - - - -<br />
DEVIN TONER 1128 27 JAN 06 - - - - - - - - - 206+60 4 20 140+42 4 20 63+18 - - 49 IR 70<br />
JAMES TRACY 1211 4 NOV 12 - - - - - - - - - 57+72 14 70 50+44 13 65 7+28 1 5 2 IR 6<br />
LIAM TURNER 1287 23 OCT 20 - - - - - - - - - 4+2 - - 4+2 - - - - - - -<br />
JOSH VAN DER FLIER 1228 11 OCT 14 - - - - - - - - - 75+23 11 55 45+17 7 35 30+6 4 20 8 IR 32<br />
2021/22 SEASON FOR LEINSTER LEINSTER CAREER<br />
ALL GAMES URC EPCR ALL GAMES PRO14/URC EPCR OVERALL<br />
KICKING<br />
SUCCESS<br />
RATE<br />
C PG DG C PG DG C PG DG C PG DG C PG DG C PG DG ATT Career<br />
%<br />
- - - HARRY BYRNE - - - - - - - - - - 53 6 52 5 1 1 74 79.73%<br />
ROSS BYRNE - - - - - - - - - - 196 75 1 154 50 1 42 25 - 354 76.55%<br />
CIARAN FRAWLEY - - - - - - - - - - 51 7 - 48 7 - 3 - - 72 80.56%<br />
DAVID HAWKSHAW - - - - - - - - - - 3 1 - 3 1 - - - - 6 66.67%<br />
JIMMY O'BRIEN - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - 1 - - - - - 3 33.33%<br />
GARRY RINGROSE - - - - - - - - - - 4 - - 4 - - - - - 6 66.67%<br />
JOHNNY SEXTON - - - - - - - - - - 234 292 11 120 169 7 107 119 4 660 79.70%<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 47
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10 September 2021<br />
Jonathan Sexton lines up a<br />
conversion as supporters look on<br />
during the Bank of Ireland Pre-<br />
Season Friendly match between<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> and Harlequins at Aviva<br />
Stadium.<br />
50 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 51
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www.leinsterrugby.ie | 53
offical leinster<br />
supporters club<br />
The start of<br />
the 2021/22<br />
United Rugby<br />
Championship<br />
is upon us and<br />
we for one<br />
could not be<br />
more excited<br />
as we finally<br />
get to ring<br />
in the start<br />
of another<br />
season of<br />
rugby and<br />
what a season<br />
it promises<br />
to be!!<br />
The United Rugby Championship<br />
sees 16 teams in total going<br />
to battle over the course of<br />
18 regular rounds, before the<br />
knock-out stages sometime next<br />
summer but let’s not get ahead of<br />
ourselves. All we want to see for<br />
now is regularly scheduled games<br />
and things are looking bright for<br />
the coming months ahead so let’s<br />
get down to business.<br />
Last season saw a split competition due<br />
to COVID restrictions however this season<br />
sees all 16 teams pooled together for<br />
what is sure to be some mouth-watering<br />
games of rugby. Rugby fans for the most<br />
part last season were unfortunately<br />
unable to enjoy in person the spectacle<br />
of games against our South African<br />
counterparts, but this is not to be the<br />
case this season and we look forward to<br />
welcoming the Lions, <strong>Bulls</strong>, Stormers and<br />
Sharks to either the RDS or the Aviva for<br />
our scheduled games.<br />
For this fixture, we’re temporarily<br />
relocating up the road from the RDS to<br />
Aviva stadium as restrictions continue<br />
to ease, but given the pre-season fixture<br />
against Harlequins, those in attendance<br />
were able to see, feel and experience<br />
the atmosphere and joy that a live fixture<br />
brings and we know that this game will<br />
be no exception. We know from previous<br />
seasons that wherever the faithful <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
blue rock up to support the team, the<br />
colour, noise and spectacle of it all is<br />
never far behind.<br />
Unlike last season when there were<br />
unknowns around fixtures, restrictions and<br />
everyday life in some parts, this season<br />
is the pure focus of down to business<br />
and rugby action and we know that all<br />
at <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby are looking forward<br />
to this. Players, coaches, backroom and<br />
admin staff have all worked tirelessly to<br />
allow us get to this point and we ask that<br />
we continue as we did in the pre-season<br />
game and work with all parties to ensure<br />
the participation at games goes on and<br />
in time, increases in capacity until we hit<br />
100 per cent and we’re back in the RDS.<br />
By the time of this going to post, the<br />
OLSC AGM will have taken place and<br />
a new committee will be in place. The<br />
previous committee worked tirelessly over<br />
the past two seasons and rest assured<br />
the new one will continue in the same<br />
manner of working with <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby in<br />
the best interest of all supporters. There<br />
was a break for the past short while on<br />
social media but with the new season<br />
upon us, this will ramp back up to its<br />
usual levels and we ask that you connect<br />
on as many platforms as you can in order<br />
to ensure you’re up to date with all things<br />
OLSC and <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby.<br />
For now though, enjoy the first scheduled<br />
fixture of the season and make sure to<br />
make some noise when the Boys in Blue<br />
take to the field.<br />
Yours in Rugby,<br />
OLSC Committee<br />
54 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
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GETTING<br />
We check social media<br />
for the latest views<br />
and thoughts across<br />
SOCIAL<br />
the 12 counties<br />
58 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 59
Virtual Mascot<br />
Aaron<br />
Kelly<br />
Age: 11<br />
School: Willow Park<br />
Class: Sixth class<br />
Hobbies: Rugby, tennis and PlayStation<br />
Favourite Player: Johnny Sexton<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 61
WHERE ARE<br />
THEY NOW?<br />
GAVIN HICKIE<br />
THEN: The St<br />
Mary's College<br />
hooker played<br />
43 times for<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
between 2001<br />
and 2005.<br />
NOW: Gavin<br />
lives with his<br />
American wife<br />
Jess and two<br />
sons, Fionn<br />
and Cian, in<br />
Annapolis,<br />
Maryland,<br />
working as<br />
Director of<br />
Rugby for the<br />
United States<br />
Naval Academy.<br />
62 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
“The rugby pitch is a very honest<br />
place. You'll get your rewards<br />
if you put in the work.” - Shane<br />
Jennings.<br />
When Gavin Hickie left <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby<br />
in 2005, this pearl of wisdom from his<br />
teammate stayed there in his head,<br />
through the rest of his playing journey<br />
and on into his passion for coaching.<br />
Deep down, he knew he had not made<br />
the most of his time at <strong>Leinster</strong>. More of<br />
that anon.<br />
In 1999, there was a comical introduction<br />
to life at <strong>Leinster</strong> when Hickie was caught<br />
off-guard by a phone call from head<br />
coach Mike Ruddock.<br />
“It was a Welsh voice. I thought Mike<br />
was a Kiwi. So, I thought it was a hoax,”<br />
he admits.<br />
“I rang my cousin Denis (Hickie) after it<br />
and asked him, 'What's going on here?<br />
Who's pulling my leg?'”<br />
Cousin Denis set him straight and the<br />
progress from St Mary's College, school<br />
and club, to <strong>Leinster</strong> and Ireland Age<br />
Grades was reinforced by his <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
debut against Ebbw Vale in the Celtic<br />
League in 2001.<br />
At the time, Peter Smyth was dealing with<br />
a serious health problem. Shane Byrne<br />
moved up to play for Ireland, leaving<br />
Hickie to compete with David Blaney for<br />
the number two shirt.<br />
“It was a funny old time at <strong>Leinster</strong>. I had<br />
four coaches between 2000 and 2005.<br />
It was Ruddock, Matt Williams, Gary Ella<br />
and Declan Kidney,” he says.<br />
The revolving door of coaches did<br />
not make for a consistent message as<br />
different playing philosophies came and<br />
went.<br />
Even so, in hindsight, Hickie eventually<br />
came to the realisation that the main fault<br />
for being cut in 2005 lay with the man in<br />
the mirror.<br />
“When I look back at my rugby career,<br />
I think I was very immature. I didn't<br />
realise the opportunity I had in front of<br />
me, the chance to impress so many new<br />
coaches,” he says.<br />
“That is probably why I admire the<br />
maturity of the younger players these<br />
days.”<br />
The last experience left a bitter taste that<br />
took years to fade from his palate.<br />
“Declan Kidney came in, in my final year.<br />
He had made me captain of the Irish<br />
U-19s a few years earlier. For whatever<br />
reason, we didn't see eye-to-eye.<br />
“By the end of his first year, I was out and<br />
he left. There were a lot of up-and-coming<br />
players trying to make their names in the<br />
game.<br />
“Declan was always big on reminding<br />
us that <strong>Leinster</strong> was our home, the<br />
importance of being home. That<br />
resonated with us. It was where we<br />
came from, you know, Des Dillon, Brian<br />
O'Riordan, Niall Treston, James Norton,<br />
myself and others.<br />
“In less than a year, he decided none<br />
of us would have our contracts renewed<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 63
and, the same week, he said: 'By the<br />
way, I am going back to my home in<br />
Munster.'<br />
“It didn't sit well with me. I made that<br />
known to the team, as a whole, to Paul<br />
McNaughton, the Team Manager, to<br />
Mick Dawson, the Chief Executive.<br />
“In hindsight, it was my fault. I wasn't<br />
mature enough to realise the opportunity<br />
I had. I look at the likes of Denis (Hickie),<br />
Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, oneteam<br />
players for their careers.<br />
“It doesn't work out that way for<br />
everyone, for most people. I don't want to<br />
sound bitter. I am at peace with it now. I<br />
have been for years,” he adds.<br />
“I was just too immature to understand<br />
the significance of a good opportunity. I<br />
certainly understand it now.”<br />
That desire to prove Kidney wrong, to<br />
stay in the game, led to a barrage of<br />
emails – he didn't want an agent – to<br />
“every club in Europe” and subsequent<br />
stints at Wasps, London Irish, Worcester<br />
Warriors and Leicester Tigers, winning a<br />
Premiership title in 2007.<br />
The main life lesson learned from eight<br />
years in the professional game is based<br />
on what he did not do when he was back<br />
home at <strong>Leinster</strong>.<br />
“Seize the opportunity,” I would say,<br />
“you are not guaranteed anything in this<br />
game. I am thrilled I have learned that<br />
lesson. It means the world to me.<br />
“I still carry a quote from my good friend<br />
Shane Jennings, who always said: 'The<br />
rugby pitch is a very honest place. You'll<br />
get your rewards if you put in the work.'”<br />
Jason Robinson effectively ended Hickie's<br />
playing career, tearing his shoulder trying<br />
to make a tackle on the England wing<br />
legend in a Premiership game.<br />
Advice from good friend Mike<br />
McDonald, the US Eagles prop, led to an<br />
opportunity to play in America.<br />
In 2008, Hickie went to California to<br />
play for three months with Belmont Shore<br />
and has never really come home.<br />
He fell in love with the place. He fell in<br />
love with 'grassroots rugby' again and he<br />
fell in love with his wife-to-be Jess.<br />
It has been a very steep learning<br />
curve coming from Ireland to<br />
California, then to an Ivy League<br />
Liberal Arts college and now to<br />
a military academy.<br />
In 2012, he moved from the west coast<br />
to become head coach at Dartmouth<br />
College in New Hampshire for five years.<br />
Thereafter, the move to become the<br />
Director of Rugby at the United States<br />
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland<br />
has changed Hickie's perspective as a<br />
coach and as a man.<br />
“Genuinely, it is the greatest job in the<br />
whole world. I love it so much,” he said.<br />
“It has been a very steep learning curve<br />
coming from Ireland to California, then<br />
to an Ivy League Liberal Arts college and<br />
now to a military academy.<br />
“It is a place where we educate future<br />
officers of the US Navy or the Marine<br />
Corps. The whole school is about<br />
developing leaders, morally, mentally<br />
and physically. It's about developing<br />
leaders who can ultimately win wars.”<br />
The three main military academies<br />
West Point in New York, the Air Force<br />
Academy in Colorado and the Naval<br />
Academy in Maryland are foundation<br />
pieces of the United States military<br />
machine.<br />
“It is very difficult to get into all three<br />
Academies. You have to be an incredibly<br />
high academic achiever coming out of<br />
high school,” notes Hickie.<br />
“You need a nomination from your<br />
congressional representative or a<br />
Vice-Presidential nomination. If you<br />
get in which is about an eight per cent<br />
acceptance rate, you get a very highly<br />
regarded education.<br />
“The education is free education which,<br />
by American standards, is something very<br />
valuable, but in return, you owe at least<br />
five years to military service after you<br />
commission into the Fleet.”<br />
64 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
From a pure rugby sense, this is the<br />
perfect breeding ground for players. The<br />
mindset is built around a dedication to<br />
discipline, physical fitness, taking orders<br />
and committing to a cause.<br />
“There is a thing called the PRT, Physical<br />
Readiness Test. There are 4,500<br />
Midshipmen here - that is what the<br />
students of the Naval Academy are<br />
called.<br />
“Every semester, the Midshipmen have<br />
to run one-and-a-half miles in under<br />
10-and-a-half minutes, they have to do a<br />
minimum number of push-ups and timed<br />
plank holds. Failing a PRT could see you<br />
separated from the Naval Academy.<br />
“The basis of life at the Academy is<br />
physical fitness and expecting to win, two<br />
important things here.”<br />
Training to be officers, the Midshipmen<br />
are contained within the walls of the<br />
Naval Academy, except for the few times<br />
per week they are granted liberty to<br />
leave the grounds of the "Yard".<br />
Their Commandant of the Midshipmen<br />
must know where they are at all times.<br />
Everyone within the Brigade must be<br />
accounted for.<br />
“I loved my five years at Dartmouth. But,<br />
I would go to bed worrying about what<br />
was happening at the 'frat house’,” says<br />
Gavin.<br />
“Here, there is none of that at all. The<br />
attitude is 'Yes, sir! No, sir! How much<br />
more can I do, sir?' From a coach's<br />
perspective, it is a dream.”<br />
Right now, Hickie has 60 players on the<br />
men's squad, cut down from the 130 tryouts.<br />
There are currently 85 women vying<br />
for 63 places on the main roster.<br />
“On a personal level, it wasn't that long<br />
ago, I had massive aspirations to coach<br />
at the highest level possible,” he states.<br />
“I have been involved in almost all levels<br />
of US Rugby, Collegiate All-Americans,<br />
United States U-20s, U-23s and the<br />
Select (A) Side. I had a passion to create<br />
professional rugby players, get them to<br />
the international stage and, one day,<br />
work on that stage.<br />
“I have changed in the last few years. I<br />
believe I have a higher calling, without<br />
sounding too cheesy, to try and create<br />
better leaders through rugby at the<br />
United States Naval Academy.<br />
“These men and women are preparing<br />
to protect the United States of America,”<br />
he says.<br />
“It is not about creating good players. It<br />
is about creating great leaders. That is the<br />
greatest challenge and greatest reward<br />
of my job.<br />
“These men and women will go on<br />
to become Navy SEALs, Navy and<br />
Marine Corps pilots, Nuclear Submarine<br />
Specialists, Explosive Ordnance Disposal<br />
(bomb disposal experts), the best of the<br />
best.”<br />
The desire to create a stable home<br />
environment for Jess and their two sons<br />
Fionn (three this month) and Cian (four<br />
months) has also led to Hickie embracing<br />
the long-term view in Annapolis.<br />
“I am blessed to be in the position I am in<br />
now. If I am still here in 20 years, I will be<br />
the happiest person in the world.<br />
“I certainly see the significance of<br />
every day. It is a unique challenge and<br />
opportunity I have.”<br />
And he is seizing it.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 65
Referees<br />
Corner<br />
BY DAN WALLACE<br />
Welcome to another season. Hopefully<br />
this year will be a lot different to last.<br />
Our referees are delighted to be back out<br />
on the pitch refereeing, as I am sure the<br />
players are to be playing.<br />
We were delighted to see 13 of<br />
our referees in this season’s IRFU<br />
National Panel. Our <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby Referee Development<br />
Officer Seán Gallagher has<br />
retired from refereeing and we<br />
wish him continued success in his<br />
role with the IRFU.<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Referees are immensely<br />
proud of the contribution that Seán<br />
has made to our organisation and<br />
refereeing as a whole.<br />
The referees included are: Dermot<br />
Blake, Andrew Cole, Nigel Correll, Paul<br />
Haycock, Cillian Hogan, John Carvill,<br />
Glenn Sheridan, John Flynn, Michael<br />
Forrestal, Sam Holt, Paul O’Connor,<br />
Padraic Reidy and Colm Roche.<br />
The IPAS referees for this season are<br />
Robbie Jenkinson, Kevin Beakey and<br />
Katie Byrne. IPAS allows referees<br />
from all the provinces to officiate at a<br />
selected number of games across the<br />
country. Collated assessments from<br />
these games will determine who will be<br />
promoted from the provincial ranks to<br />
referee at national league level.<br />
We had an excellent annual seminar<br />
in August, held online and facilitated<br />
by Sean Gallagher and Sam Holt. The<br />
main discussion point for the season<br />
was the new World Rugby Global Trial<br />
Laws. There was a lot to take in, and<br />
you will notice these coming into play at<br />
tonight’s game.<br />
Want to get<br />
involved?<br />
Feel free to make contact with the <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Referees<br />
at hayley.whyte@leinsterrugby.ie. If you are interested<br />
in becoming a referee get in contact with us through our<br />
Facebook and Google + pages, our website www.arlb.ie<br />
or through twitter @leinsterreferee.<br />
66 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
So what are they?<br />
Well, the following global law<br />
trials apply to competitions<br />
beginning on or after 1 August<br />
2021.<br />
50:22<br />
If the team in possession kicks<br />
the ball from inside their own<br />
half indirectly into touch inside<br />
their opponents’ 22, they will<br />
throw into the resultant lineout.<br />
The ball cannot be passed or<br />
carried back into the defensive<br />
half for the 50:22 to be played.<br />
The phase must originate inside<br />
the defensive half.<br />
This is designed to encourage the<br />
defensive team to put more players in<br />
the backfield, thereby creating more<br />
attacking space and reducing defensive<br />
line speed.<br />
Goal line drop-out<br />
If the ball is held up in-goal, there<br />
is a knock-on from an attacking<br />
player in-goal or an attacking<br />
kick is grounded by the<br />
defenders in their own in-goal,<br />
then play restarts with a goal<br />
line drop-out anywhere along<br />
the goal line.<br />
The idea here is to encourage variety<br />
in attacking play close to the goal line<br />
and to increase ball in-play time by<br />
replacing a scrum with a kick that must<br />
be taken without delay. An opportunity<br />
for counterattack is also created.<br />
Flying wedge<br />
To sanction the three person prebound<br />
mini-scrum by redefining<br />
the flying wedge<br />
The intention is to reduce the number<br />
of events where the ball carrier and<br />
multiple support players are in contact<br />
(latched) prior to contact, and to protect<br />
the tackler who can be faced with<br />
the combined force of three opposing<br />
players.<br />
One-player pre-latched<br />
To recognise the potential for<br />
one-player pre-latching prior<br />
to contact, but this player must<br />
observe all of the requirements<br />
for a first arriving player,<br />
particularly the need to stay on<br />
their feet.<br />
The intention here is to be more<br />
consistent in the management of the oneperson<br />
pre-latched player.<br />
Cleanout and the safety of the jackler<br />
To introduce a sanction for clean outs<br />
which target or drop weight onto the<br />
lower limbs. The idea here it to reduce<br />
injury risk to the player being cleaned<br />
out.<br />
Want to know more? There are some<br />
great videos on the World Rugby<br />
website which cover all these new trials.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 67
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www.leinsterrugby.ie | 69
TO MAXIMISE YOUR SPORTS AND EXERCISE<br />
PERFORMANCE THROUGH NUTRITION<br />
Optimum Nutrition and <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby have partnered to help share good nutrition tips throughout<br />
the season to help you achieve your performance goals. Here are some simple tips and things to<br />
remember to help maximise your performance and help you recover quickly to come back stronger.<br />
Protein Rich.<br />
Protein provides your muscles with<br />
the building blocks to repair & grow.<br />
Carb-Up.<br />
Carbohydrate foods are king as they<br />
power high intensity play.<br />
Fuel-Up.<br />
Consume the majority of your<br />
carbohydrates around training to<br />
support fuelling and recovery.<br />
Recover.<br />
Quality rest & nutrition between<br />
training sessions is the key to<br />
recovery. Remember to:<br />
Repair with protein,<br />
Refuel with carbohydrate,<br />
Rehydrate with fluid.<br />
Hydrate.<br />
Dehydration can lead to a drop in<br />
exercise intensity & can impact your<br />
decision making. Drink 2-3 litres of<br />
fluid each day to ensure hydration.<br />
Game Day.<br />
To fuel performance on the field,<br />
consume a large carbohydrate rich<br />
meal 2-3 hours before kick-off, i.e.<br />
chicken & pasta, turkey bolognaise<br />
wraps.<br />
Get 20% off all Optimum Nutrition products<br />
using code <strong>Leinster</strong>20 on optimumnutrition.ie
KNOWING WHAT ADVICE TO TAKE<br />
IS ESSENTIAL IN THIS GAME.<br />
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Cardiac Risk<br />
CRY<br />
in<br />
the Young<br />
TEXT CRY TO 50300<br />
TO DONATE €4<br />
Texts cost €4.00 CRY Ireland will recieve a<br />
minimum of €3.60 Service Provider: LIKECHARITY.<br />
Helpline: 076 680 5278<br />
About CRY<br />
CRY in Ireland was founded in March 2002 by parents who had experienced the effects<br />
of sudden and unexplained death within their families. We are a self-supporting<br />
registered Charity.<br />
We are therefore dependent on fundraising activities and donations to help us provide<br />
access for families in Ireland, north and south, bereaved by the sudden cardiac death<br />
of a young person, to free screening and emotional support services, in an empathetic<br />
environment and to support Research into the prevention of sudden cardiac death.<br />
Our Programmes<br />
Clinical Assessment & Management Programme<br />
CRY provides access to free cardiac assessment<br />
at its Centre at Tallaght University Hospital,<br />
Dublin for families who have lost a young person<br />
through SCD or SADS (Sudden arrhythmic<br />
death syndrome), or who are affected by, or<br />
at risk from, inherited conditions that cause<br />
SCD. Comprehensive cardiac investigations are<br />
performed, and results are discussed at a single<br />
visit.<br />
Cardiac Risk<br />
CRY<br />
in<br />
the Young<br />
Family Support Programme<br />
This Programme offers emotional support to<br />
families, bereaved through Sudden Cardiac Death,<br />
by providing the CRY Helpline a freephone service<br />
available 7-9pm Tuesdays and Thursdays and<br />
4-6pm Sundays.<br />
FREEPHONE:<br />
Republic of Ireland: 1800 714 080<br />
Northern Ireland/UK: 00 44 8006 40 62 80<br />
For more see our website www.cry.ie<br />
If you wish to help in any way, to<br />
assist us fundraise or partake in<br />
some of the planned events to raise<br />
vital funds for CRY please contact<br />
us at info@cry.ie.<br />
@CRYIre<br />
@cryireland<br />
@cry.ireland<br />
CRY Ireland is an autonomous charitable legal entity, entirely separate<br />
from Tallaght University Hospital. Registered Charity No. 14506<br />
Proudly supported by BearingPoint
CRY<br />
Cardiac Risk<br />
in<br />
the Young<br />
KEVIN O’Flynn was a fit, healthy 34-year-old.<br />
He enjoyed running and playing soccer, playing fivea-side<br />
with friends and work colleagues at least once<br />
a week.<br />
And like many young men who lead active lives, the<br />
subtle signs that something could be wrong gave no<br />
immediate cause for worry. When he started to feel<br />
more tired than usual during the weekly kick-about,<br />
he put it down to getting older. The palpitations he<br />
was having at night, the ones that sometimes kept<br />
him awake, were cast aside as a side effect of drinking<br />
too much coffee.<br />
Then, on July 27th, 2015, half way through a soccer<br />
game in his hometown of Fermoy, Kevin collapsed<br />
on the pitch. Ten days later, surrounded by his family,<br />
he passed away in Cork University Hospital. Kevin<br />
died from a Sudden Cardiac death as a result of an<br />
undiagnosed heart condition called Hypertrophic<br />
Cardiomyopathy.<br />
“There was absolutely no history of this in the<br />
family,” said his brother Shane.<br />
“It came as such as shock because he was<br />
extremely active and very healthy. We could not<br />
believe this had happened to our family.”<br />
In trying to understand what had happened to his<br />
younger brother, Shane’s internet search brought him<br />
to CRY Ireland. The charity offers cardiac assessment,<br />
counselling and bereavement support services to<br />
those affected by cardiac conditions or to those that<br />
have lost a loved one to sudden cardiac death.<br />
“When this happens to someone you love it’s just<br />
absolute disbelief,” said Shane.<br />
“You are trying to figure out, ‘Why did this happen?<br />
how could this happen to such a fit guy?’ You are<br />
searching for information and answers its only now,<br />
through CRY that I can understand exactly how it can<br />
happen. It happens to so many people. There are<br />
people out there now and people who will be reading<br />
this that possibly have a heart condition and they<br />
don’t even know it.”<br />
In June last year, Danish footballer Christian Eriksen<br />
collapsed during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020<br />
game with Finland and needed to be resuscitated<br />
on the pitch. Erikson made a full recovery and had<br />
a cardioverter defibrillator implanted. Shane said the<br />
incident bore striking similarities to what happened<br />
to Kevin.<br />
Shane O’ Flynn (left) with his brother Kevin.<br />
“It was exactly the same situation,” he said.<br />
“The difference was that that Erikson had doctors,<br />
paramedics, defibrillators and everyone around him.<br />
It was amazing to see. With Kevin, unfortunately those<br />
people were not around him and the lads that were<br />
with him were in total shock. It took about 10 to 15<br />
minutes to get a defibrillator to him from a nearby<br />
leisure centre. He was able to keep going for ten days<br />
in hospital and we take solace from having that time<br />
with him. We were able to say goodbye.”<br />
CRY Ireland strongly recommends that cardiac<br />
assessments are carried out for those families who<br />
are affected by Sudden Cardiac Death.<br />
“At the time we weren’t aware that CRY offered the<br />
screening service, so we got ours done privately,” said<br />
Shane.<br />
“Thankfully the screening didn’t show anything<br />
unusual, and it gave us piece of mind. I know that the<br />
screening service CRY runs in Tallaght has provided<br />
the same piece of mind for other families.”<br />
Since contacting Kevin’s death, the O ‘Flynn family<br />
have raised thousands of euros through fundraising<br />
in his name. The money was used to purchase the<br />
first defibrillator for the town of Fermoy, where Kevin<br />
grew up.<br />
“It’s charities like CRY that help raise awareness of<br />
sudden cardiac death,” said Shane.<br />
“Kevin was young, fit and healthy but he had a<br />
condition he didn’t know about. For us as a family,<br />
we want to do all we can to prevent another death<br />
like Kevin’s. It’s the way we honour his memory.”<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 73
1938 - 2019<br />
COUNTRY<br />
SOUTH AFRICA<br />
HOME GROUND<br />
LOFTUS VERSFELD<br />
FOUNDED<br />
1938<br />
<strong>Bulls</strong> News<br />
Currie Cup Final<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> 44<br />
Cell C Sharks 10<br />
WORDS: BULLSRUGBY.CO.ZA<br />
A dominant performance by the <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> ensured<br />
that they successfully defended the Carling Currie Cup<br />
with an emphatic 44-10 victory over the Cell C Sharks<br />
at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, 11 September.<br />
The <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>, who went into<br />
the 2021 Carling Currie Cup final<br />
as defending champions, showed<br />
their intentions in the early stages<br />
of the match when they went<br />
ahead 19-3 at half-time after<br />
a good attack, which resulted<br />
in three tries in the opening 40<br />
minutes, and solid defensive sets.<br />
The home side accelerated their efforts in<br />
the second half by scoring a further three<br />
tries and two penalties to put the game<br />
out of the visitors’ reach.<br />
POINTS SCORERS<br />
VODACOM BULLS (19) 44<br />
TRIES: Harold Vorster, Lionel Mapoe,<br />
Marcell Coetzee, Janko Swanepoel, Zak<br />
Burger, Cornal Hendricks<br />
CONVERSIONS: Chris Smith (4)<br />
PENALTIES: Smith (2)<br />
CELL C SHARKS (3) 10<br />
TRY: Thomas du Toit<br />
CONVERSION: Curwin Bosch<br />
PENALTY: Bosch<br />
The victory for the <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> was<br />
the first back-to-back title win in 17 years,<br />
with the Tshwane-based side also adding<br />
their name to the history books with<br />
the largest winning margin in a Carling<br />
Currie Cup final.<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> director of rugby, Jake<br />
White, expressed his satisfaction after the<br />
game: “I am very happy with the result.<br />
I’m quite happy with the performances<br />
in the last two weeks, and the definite<br />
progression in our game.<br />
“We were spot on with our conditioning<br />
and play. We have to give credit to the<br />
coaches, the conditioning team, the<br />
players and everyone involved. We are<br />
really happy to finish on a high note.<br />
74 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
<strong>Vodacom</strong><br />
<strong>Bulls</strong> Name<br />
Touring<br />
Squad<br />
The <strong>Vodacom</strong><br />
<strong>Bulls</strong> begin<br />
a fourweek<br />
tour<br />
in Ireland,<br />
continue to<br />
Wales and end<br />
in Scotland<br />
for their<br />
opening<br />
fixtures of<br />
the <strong>Vodacom</strong><br />
United Rugby<br />
Championship.<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> director of rugby,<br />
Jake White, has announced a 37-<br />
man squad for the overseas trip.<br />
Springbok hooker, Bismarck du Plessis,<br />
who joined the side earlier this month,<br />
will be a noticeable inclusion to the<br />
squad that will also see the return<br />
of Johan Goosen, who missed the<br />
final of the domestic Carling Currie<br />
Cup. Also in the travelling party,<br />
following a full recovery from<br />
injury, is scrum half Embrose<br />
Papier and Sintu Manjezi.<br />
“We have a long and tough<br />
URC season ahead, and it will<br />
be important how we manage<br />
our squad going forward.<br />
Equally, it is important that we<br />
continue building on the winning<br />
culture we are creating at the<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>, so it is imperative that<br />
we utilize our experienced workhorses<br />
and our exciting youngsters,” said<br />
White.<br />
“We are looking forward to a highly<br />
competitive opening four fixtures<br />
against <strong>Leinster</strong>, Connacht, Cardiff and<br />
Edinburgh – all quality opposition. All<br />
participating teams will be looking to<br />
start the season on a high note, and it is<br />
no different for us.”<br />
Check page 77 for full squad<br />
details…<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 75
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Visit windsor.ie for more info.
Director of Rugby<br />
Jake<br />
White<br />
Jake White is a well-known face<br />
in the coaching box having guided<br />
the Springboks to Rugby World<br />
Cup success in 2007, defeating<br />
England 15-6 in the final in Paris.<br />
Following that win, he took up a position<br />
on the technical committee of the IRB<br />
before returning to coaching with<br />
Brumbies in 2012.<br />
He has also had spells with Sharks,<br />
Tonga, Montpellier and Toyota Verblitz<br />
before returning to South Africa to take<br />
the <strong>Bulls</strong> hotseat in 2020.<br />
Captain<br />
Marcell<br />
Coetzee<br />
The <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> captain is no<br />
stranger to these shores having<br />
spent five years in the north with<br />
Ulster Rugby from 2016 until<br />
earlier this year.<br />
Capped 30 times by the Springboks,<br />
Coetzee returned home to South Africa,<br />
signing with the <strong>Bulls</strong> in June after<br />
finishing as joint top try-scorer in the<br />
PRO14 and winner of the Players’ Player<br />
of the Season award.<br />
Originally from Potchefstroom in the<br />
North West Province, he has also<br />
represented Sharks and Honda Heat.<br />
The <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> touring<br />
group, by position:<br />
PROPS:<br />
1. Lizo Gqoboka<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
2. Simphiwe Matanzima<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
3. Gerhard Steenekamp<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
4. Mornay Smith<br />
Betway Centurion)<br />
5. Jacques van Rooyen<br />
(Tuine)<br />
6. Robert Hunt<br />
(Harlequins)<br />
HOOKERS:<br />
7. Bismarck du Plessis<br />
(Betway Centurion)<br />
8. Jan-Hendrik Wessels<br />
(U20)<br />
9. Joe van Zyl<br />
(Harlequins)<br />
10. Sidney Tobias<br />
(Northam)<br />
11. Schalk Erasmus<br />
(Tuine)<br />
LOCKS:<br />
12. Walt Steenkamp<br />
(Betway Centurion)<br />
13. Sintu Manjezi<br />
(Harlequins)<br />
14. Reinhardt Ludwig<br />
(U20)<br />
15. Ruan Nortje<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
16. Janko Swanepoel<br />
(Pretoria)<br />
LOOSE-FORWARDS:<br />
17. Arno Botha<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
18. Marcell Coetzee<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
19. Jacques du Plessis<br />
(FNB Tuks)<br />
20. Muller Uys<br />
(FNB Tuks)<br />
21. Elrigh Louw<br />
(FNB Tuks)<br />
22. WJ Steenkamp<br />
(Tuine)<br />
SCRUMHALVES:<br />
23. Zak Burger<br />
(Tuine)<br />
24. Embrose Papier<br />
(FNB Tuks)<br />
25. Marco Jansen van Vuren<br />
(Pretoria)<br />
26. Keagan Johannes<br />
(FNB Tuks)<br />
FLYHALVES:<br />
27. Johan Goosen<br />
(ABE Midas Naka Bulle)<br />
28. Chris Smith<br />
(Harlequins)<br />
CENTRES:<br />
29. Cornal Hendricks<br />
(Northam)<br />
30. Harold Vorster<br />
(Northam)<br />
31. Lionel Mapoe<br />
(Pretoria)<br />
32. Stedman Gans<br />
(Northam)<br />
OUTSIDE BACKS:<br />
33. Kurt-Lee Arendse<br />
(Betway Centurion)<br />
34. Madosh Tambwe<br />
(Pretoria)<br />
35. Stravino Jacobs<br />
(Harlequins)<br />
36. Ruan Combrinck<br />
(Tuine)<br />
37. David Kriel<br />
(Betway Centurion)<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 77
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Club in Focus<br />
MU Barnhall<br />
Location! Location! Location!<br />
The mantra of the property pundits among us<br />
is as true today as it ever has been. There are<br />
those who would move heaven and, especially,<br />
earth to build in the right place.<br />
MU Barnhall has always realised<br />
that its location, situated in a<br />
burgeoning area, would lend<br />
itself to establishing a thriving<br />
rugby club where the many<br />
local, rapidly growing towns are<br />
serviced by the sport.<br />
The venue is readily accessible, close<br />
to the M50, M4 and N7 motorways. It<br />
means a reasonable commute even for<br />
those in other provinces. Most notably<br />
though is the carpet-like playing facilities,<br />
which have been maintained by long<br />
term club legend Christy Dunne.<br />
“You look at Barnhall as a club with<br />
the great car and bus parking facilities,<br />
one of the best-kept, best-playing grass<br />
surfaces in Ireland,” says club stalwart<br />
Peter Black.<br />
“We didn't go with astro. We stayed<br />
with the natural grass pitch and it is<br />
unbelievable. Beside that, we've got<br />
the second pitch which is great for<br />
Interprovincial warm-ups.<br />
“There are great views for supporters.<br />
There is a nice clubhouse, an all-purpose<br />
gym, eight changing rooms, two first-class<br />
AIL standards.”<br />
The fruitful partnership with Maynooth<br />
University only further enhances this<br />
prospect and the future ambitions<br />
to continue building towards a club<br />
competing at the highest levels of<br />
both the male and female games are<br />
attainable.<br />
Recently, the Age Grade Interprovincials<br />
came to a conclusion at MU Barnhall’s<br />
grounds at Parsonstown. It didn't happen<br />
by accident.<br />
“We have always tried to be a<br />
progressive community club, building<br />
steadily,” stresses Peter.<br />
“We have made ourselves open to the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Branch and the IRFU to come to<br />
us at relatively short notice to host Age<br />
Grade, U-20s and senior representative<br />
rugby because we have the ability to<br />
move club games to wonderful facilities<br />
under lights at Maynooth University.”<br />
It is about visibility, winning and keeping<br />
the trust of the <strong>Leinster</strong> Branch and the<br />
IRFU, putting on a good show for the<br />
provinces and the guests that come to<br />
the club.<br />
“From a player point of view, we have<br />
Interprovincials at many different levels,”<br />
he says.<br />
“If you are playing Interpro rugby, but<br />
not at the RDS or the Aviva, wouldn't you<br />
want to run out at your home club playing<br />
for your province? We've got that now.<br />
“There is no point in locals coming to<br />
MU Barnhall rugby club if no one on the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> squad is from the club.<br />
“When people found out the U-18 Girls<br />
were playing in Barnhall, there was a<br />
80 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
huge interest in seeing Emma Tilly, just<br />
one girl. It is a real community club and<br />
the local support is unbelievable.<br />
“As a club, we are seen in a really good<br />
light by <strong>Leinster</strong> and the other provinces<br />
when we host. It is the ultimate stamp of<br />
approval as a well-organised, well-run<br />
club.<br />
“It is also to give back to our players,<br />
who are making those squads. They can<br />
run out from their home club onto the first<br />
pitch in MU Barnhall in the blue shirt of<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong>.”<br />
The long-term plan for the club and the<br />
rugby programme, linked to Maynooth<br />
University, is to attract players in. Then,<br />
the position of the club in the men’s and<br />
women’s AIL can make it appealing for<br />
them to stay.<br />
The emergence of women’s rugby has<br />
been a major catalyst for growth.<br />
When Ireland international Eve Higgins<br />
came down to the club to play rugby,<br />
there were no girls minis at that stage, so<br />
she played with the boys.<br />
The latent talent Eve showed prompted<br />
the club to set up a girls youths team to<br />
provide an outlet for her and to see what<br />
others were out there.<br />
When Eve moved away to play with<br />
Railway Union, the club realised it had<br />
to put the pillars in place to do what they<br />
could to prevent it from happening again.<br />
The work has been put in to develop Girls<br />
squads at U-18, U-16 and U-14, some<br />
senior players being drawn back into<br />
coaching.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 81
Then, of course, Tom McKeown has<br />
spearheaded the addition of women<br />
to the rugby programme between<br />
Maynooth and Barnhall, thus MU<br />
Barnhall.<br />
The women have delivered on the time<br />
invested in them, moving up from Division<br />
3 to qualify for Division 1 of the <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
League just before Covid struck in 2019.<br />
There will be no entry into the All-Ireland<br />
League until 2022, at the earliest, and,<br />
at the moment, that is awarded through<br />
an application to play rather than the<br />
desired promotion-relegation system.<br />
Barnhall prides itself on being a<br />
‘University Rugby Club’, belonging to its<br />
communities. This is brought to life by the<br />
extensive local schools and community<br />
engagements through larger than life<br />
Club Community Rugby Officer Luke<br />
Ingleton, operating on behalf of the<br />
club and <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby in a strategic<br />
way to bring rugby to those who maybe<br />
wouldn’t get to experience it.<br />
AIL status would grant MU Barnhall the<br />
profile to hold onto their best women<br />
82 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
We have worked<br />
hard to produce<br />
all these<br />
Interprovincial<br />
players and<br />
the club took<br />
the opinion<br />
of pushing<br />
to host the<br />
Interprovincials.<br />
players and attract even more quality to<br />
the scholarship programme in Maynooth.<br />
The same goes for the youths and the<br />
adult men’s teams with MU Barnhall<br />
located in Division 2A of the AIL.<br />
“At Age Grade levels, we started to see<br />
more boys and girls being selected for<br />
trials and extended squads,” says Black.<br />
“In 2018, we saw Holly Leach making<br />
the <strong>Leinster</strong> Women's U-18 squad, the<br />
first Age Grade interpro from the club.<br />
This year, you had Emma Tilly playing<br />
for them.<br />
“At senior level this year, we had three<br />
girls for the <strong>Leinster</strong> squad, Holly,<br />
Katelynn Doran and Ciara Faulkner, one<br />
for Connacht, Orlaith Murray, and one<br />
for Ulster, Ava Fannin.<br />
“For the boys, Keith Farrell made the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> U-18 Clubs this season. David<br />
Dooley was at inside centre for the<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> U-19s. At U-16s, we had nine<br />
boys screened and involved in the Metro<br />
U-17 squad, namely Gavin Keane, Dylan<br />
Hewitt, Ethan Fennell, Sean Kearney,<br />
Ruaidhri Smith, Edgar Kucinskas, Hugh<br />
Donegan, Adam Gray and Mar Cleary.<br />
There has been a steady, consistent<br />
growth that has suddenly exploded.<br />
“We have worked hard to produce all<br />
these Interprovincial players and the club<br />
took the opinion of pushing to host the<br />
Interprovincials.”<br />
In addition, the club is working with<br />
Kildare County Council to further develop<br />
Lough na Mona, an eight-acre site, on<br />
which they trained during the lockdown.<br />
The University rugby programme<br />
produced its first Ireland U-20 player<br />
since the club-university partnership’s<br />
inception with Will Reilly playing at<br />
scrum-half during the belated U-20 Six<br />
Nations campaign.<br />
He has built on this honour by earning<br />
a place in the Connacht Academy. He<br />
Left: Peter Black; Middle: Barry Smith; Right: Tom McKeown.<br />
joined the University programme from<br />
Portlaoise RFC and his trajectory is<br />
certainly a success story many school<br />
leavers are taking note of.<br />
“The way the IRFU structures AIL rugby<br />
and national players, the players coming<br />
out of Age Grade rugby, they have to<br />
play in the top tier of AIL rugby, the likes<br />
of Lansdowne, Clontarf.”<br />
The plan is to make it to that elite tier of<br />
AIL rugby.<br />
“The development of the women’s game,<br />
our increase in Age Grade Interpros,<br />
both boys and girls, and our partnership<br />
with Maynooth University puts the club in<br />
a strong position to build towards the top<br />
tier in the AIL, thus enabling us to keep<br />
the players we develop.<br />
“We don't want to lose the Eve Higgins’,<br />
the Holly Leeches, the Emma Tillys, the<br />
Will Reillys, the David Dooleys.”<br />
They are doing all they can to make that<br />
happen.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 83
IRFU U19 Men’s Interprovincial<br />
Championship<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 85
86 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
Brian<br />
Deeny<br />
THE ACADEMY<br />
INTERVIEW<br />
BY RYAN CORRY<br />
It was a<br />
quiet summer<br />
for <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby Academy<br />
second row<br />
Brian Deeny,<br />
two weeks of<br />
holidays, time<br />
spent back<br />
at home in<br />
Wexford with<br />
family.<br />
During that time, he dug in around<br />
the house, helping his parents<br />
with work, something he’s no<br />
stranger to having grown up in<br />
a BnB in the middle of Wexford<br />
town.<br />
But, all the while he was helping out at<br />
home, there was a solitary mindset to<br />
him, as he counted down the days before<br />
he could get back to UCD where the<br />
province’s Academy are based training<br />
alongside the senior team.<br />
It had been 19 months since his last game<br />
of rugby, Ireland’s third round of the<br />
2020 U-20 Six Nations Championship,<br />
a 39-21 win for Ireland over England at<br />
Northampton Saints’ Franklin’s Gardens,<br />
a third win on the bounce and a good<br />
shot at back-to-back Grand Slams for<br />
Noel McNamara’s men.<br />
First, there was Covid, and then an ACL<br />
injury that would take his 2020/21<br />
campaign away from him. It’s been a<br />
difficult journey but one that reached<br />
a happy ending in Aviva Stadium on<br />
Friday, 10 September.<br />
Deeny lined out in the second row as<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> took on Gallagher Premiership<br />
champions Harlequins in a Bank of<br />
Ireland pre-season friendly, his first<br />
taste of senior action with the<br />
province.<br />
“Even though it was a friendly game,<br />
I was so nervous. I was just trying to<br />
visualise to make sure that the feelings<br />
I would be having on the day, that it<br />
wouldn’t be the first time that I would<br />
have those in the stadium,” Deeny<br />
explains.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 87
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“I did sort of let the emotion get the best<br />
of me for the first five minutes when I<br />
walked out into the Aviva. I think once<br />
I made the first tackle, got the first hit, I<br />
kind of got to grips with things.”<br />
On the night, he was joined by both Max<br />
Deegan and Conor O’Brien, also making<br />
returns from serious injuries that had seen<br />
them absent from the action throughout<br />
the majority of the previous campaign.<br />
A shared experience for the three of<br />
them – one none of them wanted to have<br />
but were the better for having it together.<br />
Deeny emphasises the input of those<br />
teammates and the support system within<br />
the backroom team as being a major<br />
boost.<br />
“I think all of us did our ACLs in the<br />
space of like a month so we were going<br />
through the same journey. You’d never<br />
wish it on anyone but it made it easier for<br />
each of us because we could bounce off<br />
each other and let each other know how<br />
the knees were feeling on a day-to-day<br />
basis,” he adds.<br />
“And then when we were playing in the<br />
game, the fact that all three of us were<br />
playing our first game, it made things a<br />
lot easier. I was so happy to play with<br />
them and have the three of us come back<br />
together at the same time. It was a really<br />
special moment for myself.<br />
“Darragh (Curley) was my physio. There’s<br />
such a great staff in <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby, and<br />
then in terms of physios and S&Cs, they<br />
just make it so much easier when you’re<br />
coming in every day. They can probably<br />
recognise when you’re having a shit day<br />
and they’ll have the laugh with you.<br />
“It makes the whole thing more<br />
enjoyable, Darragh definitely made<br />
my process as easy as possible. I was<br />
working with Joe (McGinley) then for<br />
S&C to strengthen up my quad and my<br />
hamstrings to help come back as fast<br />
as possible. I had Gordon (Brett) then<br />
towards the end and I thought both of<br />
them equally helped me as much as<br />
possible.”<br />
The ‘shit days’.<br />
Post-op, no light at the end of the tunnel,<br />
just crutches or knee braces, and<br />
watching your teammates go out and do<br />
what you wish you still could.<br />
How does a young player trying to eke<br />
out a career in the professional game<br />
overcome that obstacle?<br />
“I didn’t really come to terms with it. The<br />
first three months, you’re so pro-active,<br />
getting better and focusing on the injury<br />
and until you experience a long-term<br />
injury, you don’t fully understand how<br />
dark it can get,” Deeny says.<br />
“It’s very lonely when you’re coming in<br />
and doing rehab by yourself, you’re not<br />
actually training with the lads. It can get<br />
quite lonely. That lasted for about two<br />
months in the middle while you come to<br />
terms with it then.<br />
“But after that when I could see the light<br />
at the end of the tunnel, close to coming<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 89
ack running and training, everything fell<br />
into place then and I was really happy<br />
with how things went.”<br />
“Usually when you have a long-term<br />
injury like that, they encourage you to<br />
focus on something outside of rugby. I<br />
deferred my second year in college so<br />
I did half a semester the year of my Six<br />
Nations, and deferred the second half.<br />
“The first six months of my injury, I didn’t<br />
have any college so I couldn’t focus on<br />
that and then with Covid and the social<br />
distancing, I couldn’t see anyone except<br />
for the lads I was living with which was<br />
hard as well. I couldn’t go home and see<br />
my family.”<br />
Once his own inner will made the<br />
first steps, from there it was family, the<br />
physios, the teammates, the rehabilitators<br />
and the coaches who made sure that the<br />
extra yards would follow.<br />
“I couldn’t have had a better experience<br />
through that. I’ve had friends who have<br />
done ACLs in other sports and I’m so<br />
lucky that I’ve had the help I had in<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong>, coming in doing physio and<br />
S&C. I’m very grateful and understand<br />
how lucky I am to be in this situation.”<br />
So what’s next? Deeny is now in his third<br />
year in the Academy, and will be looking<br />
to continue building on his recovery from<br />
injury, taking every step possible away<br />
from that nightmare few months.<br />
“It’s tough for anyone to try and impress.<br />
Training is so competitive and so hard, if<br />
everyone is going to impress, it’d be hard<br />
but I think the coaches see the amount of<br />
effort that goes in.<br />
“I’m just hoping to stay as available as I<br />
can and get as much gametime as I can<br />
whether that’s with the seniors or the ‘A’s<br />
or in the AIL. I’ve missed a lot of matches<br />
so coming back and playing as much as I<br />
can is the goal for this year.”<br />
And for a young second row, you could<br />
do far worse than to be working under<br />
the tutelage of <strong>Leinster</strong> head coach Leo<br />
Cullen, a decorated lock in his own<br />
career, captaining the province to three<br />
Heineken Cup titles before later winning<br />
it as a head coach. He also racked up<br />
32 Ireland caps and won a Premiership<br />
medal in his time with Leicester Tigers.<br />
Sharing a dressing room, there’s also<br />
Devin Toner, <strong>Leinster</strong>’s most-capped<br />
player after overtaking Gordon D’Arcy’s<br />
record on the day the province won a<br />
fourth PRO14 title in a row in April 2021.<br />
“If you’re looking for advice or have any<br />
questions from a second row point of<br />
view, or at the set-piece, lineout or scrum,<br />
their answers are the best ones you’re<br />
going to get. It’s very helpful to have<br />
the likes of them to help along the way,”<br />
Deeny states.<br />
“A lot of the lads are Ireland<br />
internationals but I’m just focusing on<br />
learning as much as I can from the lads<br />
that are there and trying to train to the<br />
best of my abilities. The competition<br />
brings out the best in everyone because<br />
there’s such an amount of talent in<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong>. It is hard but it’s very enjoyable.”<br />
Off the field, he’s returned to his studies<br />
after the deferral. Previously doing<br />
Biomedical Science in Trinity College,<br />
Deeny has now transferred to UCD<br />
where he will specialise in Physiology,<br />
something that goes hand-in-hand with<br />
the life of a modern athlete.<br />
“Because we’re training and working<br />
in UCD, I transferred there this year<br />
so I’m doing Biomedical Science but<br />
specialising in Physiology this year. When<br />
you’re coming out of school, nobody<br />
really knows what they want to do. I was<br />
interested in science in school, from a<br />
young age, I was interested in how the<br />
body works and how the systems interact<br />
with each other.<br />
“It was either Physiology or Zoology and<br />
then Physiology won out. For the first two<br />
years of college, I enjoyed those modules<br />
the most.”<br />
So, back fit and back in the books. Deeny<br />
will be hoping that this season is a busier<br />
one for him both on and off the field.<br />
However, he still doesn’t view the last<br />
90 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
season as a year lost. It’s simply one<br />
that happened. The next one is always<br />
the most important – and this time the<br />
motivation is greater than ever.<br />
“I was more just frustrated because I<br />
couldn’t play. I don’t know was it a year<br />
lost but I was just trying to focus on the<br />
positives throughout the whole thing and<br />
just try to get back as quickly as possible.<br />
“Because there weren’t that many games,<br />
I didn’t miss as much as I would have if<br />
Covid wasn’t there, the other Academy<br />
lads, they weren’t playing ‘A’ games,<br />
weren’t playing AIL. It made things worse<br />
but made me miss less. It was a long,<br />
heavy process but it’s doable.<br />
“It made things harder but, I suppose,<br />
going through that rocky road, and with<br />
every restriction that’s lifted, I appreciate<br />
it so much, my friends and family, college,<br />
all that. I probably have a bit more drive<br />
now because I know what it’s like when<br />
it’s taken away from you.”<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 91
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Academy<br />
Year Three 2021/22:<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Academy<br />
Year two 2021/22:<br />
Second Row<br />
Brian Deeny<br />
DOB: 02/03/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.99m WEIGHT: 121kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (8 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Brian played youth rugby with Wexford<br />
Wanderers RFC. He got his first Irish cap playing for<br />
Ireland Under-18 Sevens. Brian played midfield for<br />
his school St Peter’s College in Gaelic football and<br />
reached the All-Ireland Colleges Final in 2017. He is<br />
currently studying Science in Trinity and lives in Abbey<br />
House B&B, Wexford...if you are looking for a room?!<br />
Instagram: brian_deeny<br />
wing<br />
Niall Comerford<br />
DOB: 06/04/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m WEIGHT: 86kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20<br />
Did You Know: Niall played both hurling and Gaelic<br />
football with Kilmacud Crokes for 14 years. He also<br />
represented Dublin in Gaelic football in the U17<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Championship. He is currently studying<br />
Commerce in UCD.<br />
Instagram: niall_c123<br />
Cormac Foley #1299<br />
DOB: 24/10/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.81m WEIGHT: 88kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (9 caps)<br />
& <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (1 cap)<br />
Marcus Hanan #1295<br />
DOB: 03/10/2000<br />
HEIGHT:1.8m WEIGHT:110.91kg<br />
HONOURS: <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (3 caps)<br />
Scrum Half<br />
Did You Know: Started playing rugby with Greystones<br />
RFC when he was nine. Growing up, Cormac did a lot<br />
of show jumping and he is now studying Economics and<br />
Finance in UCD.<br />
Instagram: cormacfoley6<br />
prop<br />
Back Row<br />
Martin Moloney #1300<br />
DOB: 19/10/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m WEIGHT: 99kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (5 caps) &<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (1 cap)<br />
Did You Know: Martin played hurling for Kildare and<br />
played GAA and basketball for his secondary school,<br />
Knockbeg College, and local GAA club, St Laurence’s.<br />
He played his youth rugby with Athy RFC. He is now<br />
studying Business and Law in UCD, He also enjoys<br />
working on the family farm. Instagram: martin_moloney<br />
Second Row<br />
Joe McCarthy<br />
DOB: 26/03/2001<br />
HEIGHT: 1.95m WEIGHT: 119kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (3 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Joe started playing rugby with Blackrock<br />
College RFC at the age of six before moving to<br />
Willow Park and then Blackrock College. He was also<br />
on the Blackrock swim team for five years. He’s currently<br />
studying Global Business in Trinity College Dublin.<br />
Instagram: joetmmcc<br />
Second Row<br />
Charlie Ryan<br />
DOB: 03/02/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 2.01m WEIGHT: 115kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (15 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Charlie played youth rugby at Blackrock<br />
College RFC while also attending the school since<br />
Senior Infants. He captained Ireland to the U20 Grand<br />
Slam in 2019 and again for the U20s World Cup. His<br />
friends call him Chuck! He is currently studying Business<br />
and Legal Studies in UCD.<br />
Instagram: chuck_ryan5<br />
hooker<br />
John McKee<br />
DOB: 15/02/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.82m WEIGHT: 105kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (12 caps)<br />
Did You Know: John grew up in Belfast going to school<br />
at Campbell College where he won a Senior Cup. He<br />
was involved with Ulster at age grade level until moving<br />
to Dublin after school. He also has multiple medals<br />
from Northern Irish Schools Judo competitions.<br />
Instagram: johnmckee_<br />
Centre<br />
Liam Turner #1287<br />
DOB: 14/07/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.73m WEIGHT: 91kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (10 caps)<br />
& <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (6 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Liam started to play rugby at the age<br />
of six at Blackrock College RFC. He later joined<br />
Blackrock College and was part of the 2018 Senior Cup<br />
winning team. He was also part of the Ireland U20 team<br />
that went on to win the 2019 Grand Slam. Liam currently<br />
studys BESS in Trinity College. Instagram: liamtn123<br />
Centre / Full Back<br />
Jamie Osborne #1294<br />
DOB: 16/11/2001<br />
HEIGHT:1.93m WEIGHT:96.82kg<br />
HONOURS: <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (6 caps)<br />
92 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
Seán O’Brien #1297<br />
Lee Barron<br />
DOB: 31/07/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.90m WEIGHT: 103kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (3 caps)<br />
& <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (2 caps)<br />
DOB: 15/02/2001<br />
HEIGHT: 1.91m WEIGHT: 108kg<br />
Back Row<br />
Did You Know: Seán started playing rugby at age<br />
six with Greystones RFC where he played up until Under-13.<br />
He then played on the Junior and Senior Cup<br />
teams in Blackrock College. He is currently studying<br />
Economics and Finance in UCD<br />
Instagram: seanobrien456<br />
Hooker<br />
Did You Know: Lee played golf growing up in the<br />
Castle Golf Club and in the end was playing off a<br />
handicap of eight. He has family roots in Carlow but<br />
went to school in Dublin and attended St Michael’s College.<br />
As well as rugby with his school, he also played<br />
GAA and even lined out in Croke Park.<br />
Max O’Reilly #1291<br />
Chris Cosgrave<br />
Full Back<br />
DOB: 26/02/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m WEIGHT: 86kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (3 caps) &<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (7 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Max is currently in his third year of<br />
Business and Management in DIT. His preferred sport<br />
was soccer until about the age of 15, which he had<br />
played at centre midfield with Enniskerry FC for over 10<br />
years and also for Wicklow.<br />
Instagram: max_oreilly<br />
full back<br />
DOB: 24/07/2001<br />
HEIGHT:1.83m WEIGHT:85kg<br />
Did You Know: Chris is a member of UCD RFC, where<br />
he is also an Ad Astra scholar studying Agricultural<br />
Science. His athleticism is best highlighted by his feats<br />
in the field of Athletics with All-Ireland honours to his<br />
name in both the 4x100m relay and the Discus. Before<br />
the UCD and St Michael’s College days, he played at<br />
a young age with Old Belvedere RFC.<br />
Andrew Smith #1292<br />
Mark Hernan<br />
DOB: 21/07/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m WEIGHT: 91kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (3 caps) &<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (2 caps)<br />
DOB: 04/07/2000<br />
HEIGHT: 1.88m WEIGHT: 99kg<br />
Back Three<br />
Did You Know: Andrew is currently studying Quantity<br />
Surveying and Construction Economics in TUD. In<br />
2019, he won the <strong>Leinster</strong> Schools Senior Cup with St<br />
Michael’s College. Andrew also played Gaelic football<br />
with his local club - Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club.<br />
Instagram: andrew.sm1th<br />
Flanker<br />
Did You Know: Mark was coached by Ross Molony,<br />
Josh Murphy, Ross Byrne and Nick McCarthy when in<br />
St. Michael’s College. His grandfather Fergus O’Brien<br />
was Lord Mayor of Dublin and his father, Ray, played<br />
for Connacht seniors and Ireland u25s.<br />
Alex Soroka #1296<br />
Temi Lasisi<br />
Back Row<br />
DOB: 19/02/2001<br />
HEIGHT: 1.95m WEIGHT: 104.5kg<br />
HONOURS: Ireland U20 (2 caps)<br />
& <strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby (2 caps)<br />
Did You Know: Alex’s family moved to Ireland from<br />
Ukraine shortly before his birth. He was born in Cork<br />
before moving to Dublin.<br />
Instagram: alex._.soroka<br />
prop<br />
DOB: 09/05/2001<br />
HEIGHT: 1.78m WEIGHT: 115.8kg<br />
Did You Know: The TUD Mechanical Engineering<br />
student originally picked up the oval ball in Enniscorthy<br />
before later moving to Lansdowne FC. Temi rose<br />
through the ranks in the Youths system, his first outing<br />
with the province came at U-18 level against Northampton.<br />
He also describes himself as a ‘competent<br />
pianist’.<br />
Ben Murphy<br />
DOB: 23/04/2001<br />
HEIGHT: 1.75m WEIGHT: 80kg<br />
<strong>Leinster</strong> Rugby Academy<br />
Year one 2021/22:<br />
Scrum half<br />
Did You Know: Ben played all different sports growing<br />
up including football, GAA and golf and won an 800m<br />
gold in the U-14 East <strong>Leinster</strong>s. He is studying economics<br />
in UCD. Ben’s father Richie played for <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Rugby and has coached at all levels of the game and is<br />
the current Ireland U-20s head coach.<br />
Jack Boyle<br />
DOB: 10/03/2002<br />
HEIGHT: 1.85m WEIGHT: 106kg<br />
Rob Russell<br />
DOB: 13/01/1999<br />
HEIGHT: 1.83m WEIGHT: 90kg<br />
Prop<br />
Did You Know: UCD Commerce student Jack is also<br />
one of the college’s Ad Astra Scholars. Outside of rugby,<br />
he’s also accomplished in Athletics, winning bronze<br />
in both the hammer throw and long jump at <strong>Leinster</strong><br />
Schools level. His first memory of rugby is walking out<br />
at the RDS Arena as team mascot beside then captain<br />
Leo Cullen for the clash with Scarlets in 2008.<br />
Full Back / Wing<br />
Did You Know: Rob is currently in his final year of<br />
Business and Management in DIT. He started playing<br />
rugby at the age of five with Wanderers RFC. He also<br />
played football up to minor level with Kilmacud Crokes<br />
and it took priority over rugby until he left school.<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 93
Date<br />
KO/<br />
Result<br />
25/09 17:15 URC VODACOM<br />
BULLS<br />
03/10 14:00 URC DRAGONS<br />
Opposiotion Venue 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 1 2<br />
Aviva<br />
Stadium<br />
Rodney<br />
Parade<br />
09/10 13:00 URC ZEBRE RDS Arena<br />
fixtures and<br />
results 2021/22<br />
16/10 17:15 URC SCARLETS RDS Arena<br />
22/10 19:35 URC GLASGOW Scotstoun<br />
Stadium<br />
27/11 20:00 URC ULSTER RDS Arena<br />
03/12 19:45 URC CONNACHT RDS Arena<br />
10/11/12<br />
Dec<br />
17/18/19<br />
Dec<br />
TBC<br />
HCC BATH<br />
TBC HCC MONTPELLIER<br />
26/12 19:35 URC MUNSTER<br />
01/01 19:35 URC ULSTER<br />
Aviva<br />
Stadium<br />
GGL (Altrad)<br />
Stadium<br />
Thomond<br />
Park<br />
Kingspan<br />
Stadium<br />
07/01 19:35 URC SIGMA LIONS RDS Arena<br />
14/15/16<br />
Jan<br />
21/22/23<br />
Jan<br />
28/29/30<br />
Jan<br />
18/19/20<br />
Feb<br />
04/05/06<br />
Mar<br />
25/26/27<br />
Mar<br />
01/02/03<br />
Apr<br />
22/23/24<br />
Apr<br />
29/30/01<br />
Apr<br />
20/21/22<br />
May<br />
TBC HCC MONTPELLIER RDS Arena<br />
TBC<br />
TBC<br />
HCC BATH<br />
URC CARDIFF<br />
RUGBY<br />
Recreation<br />
Ground<br />
Cardiff Arms<br />
Park<br />
TBC URC OSPREYS RDS Arena<br />
TBC<br />
URC BENETTON<br />
tadio<br />
Monigo<br />
TBC URC CONNACHT Sportsground<br />
TBC URC MUNSTER RDS Arena<br />
TBC<br />
TBC<br />
URC CELL C<br />
SHARKS<br />
URC DHL<br />
STORMERS<br />
Jonsson<br />
Kings Park<br />
Green Point<br />
Stagium<br />
TBC URC EDINBURGH RDS Arena<br />
94 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
3 4 5 6 7 8 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23<br />
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 95
matchday<br />
Squads<br />
Hugo Keenan<br />
Rory O’Loughlin<br />
Garry Ringrose<br />
Ciarán Frawley<br />
James Lowe<br />
Johnny Sexton [C]<br />
Luke McGrath<br />
15<br />
14<br />
13<br />
12<br />
11<br />
10<br />
9<br />
FULL BACK<br />
RIGHT WING<br />
OUTSIDE CENTRE<br />
INSIDE CENTRE<br />
LEFT WING<br />
FLY HALF<br />
SCRUM HALF<br />
David Kriel<br />
Cornal Hendricks<br />
Lionel Mapoe<br />
Harold Vorster<br />
Madosh Tambwe<br />
Johan Goosen<br />
Zak Burger<br />
officials<br />
REFEREE:<br />
MIKE ADAMSON<br />
(SRU, 55th competition game)<br />
ASSISTANT REFEREES:<br />
AJ JACOBS (SARU),<br />
DANIEL CARSON (IRFU)<br />
TMO:<br />
NEIL PATERSON (SRU)<br />
Andrew Porter<br />
Dan Sheehan<br />
Michael Ala’alatoa<br />
Ross Molony<br />
James Ryan<br />
Rhys Ruddock<br />
Josh van der Flier<br />
Caelan Doris<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
LOOSE HEAD PROP<br />
HOOKER<br />
TIGHT HEAD PROP<br />
SECOND ROW<br />
SECOND ROW<br />
BLINDSIDE FLANKER<br />
OPENSIDE FLANKER<br />
NUMBER 8<br />
Gerhard Steenekamp<br />
Bismarck du Plessis<br />
Mornay Smith<br />
Walt Steenkamp<br />
Ruan Nortje<br />
Marcell Coetzee [C]<br />
Arno Botha<br />
Elrigh Louw<br />
James Tracy<br />
Ed Byrne<br />
Cian Healy<br />
Ryan Baird<br />
Max Deegan<br />
Jamison Gibson-Park<br />
Ross Byrne<br />
Jamie Osborne<br />
16<br />
17<br />
18<br />
19<br />
20<br />
21<br />
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23<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
REPLACEMENT<br />
Joe van Zyl<br />
Simphiwe Matanzima<br />
Jacques van Rooyen<br />
Janko Swanepoel<br />
Jacques du Plessis<br />
Keagan Johannes<br />
Chris Smith<br />
Stedman Gans
At Sword we know how important the Game is.<br />
We know how important your memories are ....so relax<br />
and enjoy yourself, you're in safe hands.<br />
LEINSTER RUGBY FANS .... Secured by the team at Sword<br />
Dublin: 01-6688220<br />
info@swordsecurity.com<br />
www.swordsecurity.com<br />
Securing Sports Fans around the World.
Parting Shot<br />
10 September 2021<br />
Supporters during the Bank of<br />
Ireland Pre-Season Friendly match<br />
between <strong>Leinster</strong> and Harlequins at<br />
Aviva Stadium.<br />
98 | www.leinsterrugby.ie
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 99