Youths Rugby.

[locomotion]

The Bruff players would be from their u/17 team where the Shannon team that won the All Ireland was u19 and they may have been overage.
The other question would be how many players did Shannon put forward for the clinics

[ormond lad]

The Bruff players would be from their u/17 team where the Shannon team that won the All Ireland was u19 and they may have been overage.
The other question would be how many players did Shannon put forward for the clinics

Some of this seasons shannon/saints all ireland winners are underage for the 19s interpros in sept, some for the 20s and some may be involved with the A schools in september.
If you look at the shannon saints squad from the all ireland final. around 7 or 8 have represented Munster at one level or another(youths, 19s, A schools) over the past 2-3 years. Some may yet get a chance this summer. Their is nearly always players added to these squads throughout the summer

[bannerman]

Of this years under 19 Shannon/Saints All Ireland winning squad, 3 played Munster A schools last year, effectively not sent by the club, one was with Munchin's (Wallace) on the under 19s panel, again schools, Cronan Gleeson was in the panel through his exploits as a Nenagh player, only Ronan Hunt made the youths panel as a Shannon player. None of these are selected in the panels. As macmuffin alluded to, it does make you wonder.
I can safely say that some of the players on the Shannon/Saints side are head and over some of those selected. I accept that this is my opinion but to not even enquire into them or invite them into a session is criminal and the Machiavellian side of me tends to support MacMuffins suggestion. Last year this team did extremely well and the same thing happened. This is is nothing short of disgraceful. Again not one Shannon St.Mary's club player at u19 level has made a Munster selection in the last 2 years. Any recognition received has come through schools. I wish I shared your optimism Ormond Lad but experience tells me otherwise. Especially now that they have named reserve players for these squads.

[ormond lad]

Of this years under 19 Shannon/Saints All Ireland winning squad, 3 played Munster A schools last year, effectively not sent by the club, one was with Munchin's (Wallace) on the under 19s panel, again schools, Cronan Gleeson was in the panel through his exploits as a Nenagh player, only Ronan Hunt made the youths panel as a Shannon player. None of these are selected in the panels. As macmuffin alluded to, it does make you wonder.
I can safely say that some of the players on the Shannon/Saints side are head and over some of those selected. I accept that this is my opinion but to not even enquire into them or invite them into a session is criminal and the Machiavellian side of me tends to support MacMuffins suggestion. Last year this team did extremely well and the same thing happened. This is is nothing short of disgraceful. Again not one Shannon St.Mary's club player at u19 level has made a Munster selection in the last 2 years. Any recognition received has come through schools. I wish I shared your optimism Ormond Lad but experience tells me otherwise. Especially now that they have named reserve players for these squads.

You have complained of no representation but plenty of ye're players were on munster squads. Yes some made squads due to the work they did in other clubs, cronan in nenagh and mike flannery in corca dhuibhne, tim tobin abbeyfeale, but there is several who made it as shannon players: david wallace, ronan hunt, ryan meany and others.

They may have named a reserve squad but there is always players called up to the squads either 18s/19s/20s for one reason or another.
They will get their chance, if you feel so strongly about no players being represented contact the coaches and ask for them to look at some of your players(you may dismiss this but if may as well try)

[bannerman]

What I complain about is that all the players that made it, made because of the influence of schools apart from Ronan Hunt, who was called as an u17s player last year. No player from last years under 19s who did so well or this years under19s who are national champs made it. As a matter of fact those that made it through schools or otherwise last year seem to have been subsequently dropped or cut or ignored ie Wallace, Hunt, Tobin, Flannery, Gleeson, Fitzgerald. I am informed that attempts were made both last year and this year to have the club side looked at but to no avail. Now, the representation and attention paid to Waterpark and their players in the last few years has been massive (and rightly so) with players like Moore, O'Donoghue, O'Hare, Kiersey coming through. All fine players and well worthy of their honours. The beef I have is that Shannon St.Mary's Club side have been totally ignored for the last 2 years to a point where it seems to be a deliberate policy or ploy. If it looks, walks and talks like a duck -chances are itsa duck!!
I

[ormond lad]

What I complain about is that all the players that made it, made because of the influence of schools apart from Ronan Hunt, who was called as an u17s player last year. No player from last years under 19s who did so well or this years under19s who are national champs made it. As a matter of fact those that made it through schools or otherwise last year seem to have been subsequently dropped or cut or ignored ie Wallace, Hunt, Tobin, Flannery, Gleeson, Fitzgerald. I am informed that attempts were made both last year and this year to have the club side looked at but to no avail. Now, the representation and attention paid to Waterpark and their players in the last few years has been massive (and rightly so) with players like Moore, O'Donoghue, O'Hare, Kiersey coming through. All fine players and well worthy of their honours. The beef I have is that Shannon St.Mary's Club side have been totally ignored for the last 2 years to a point where it seems to be a deliberate policy or ploy. If it looks, walks and talks like a duck -chances are itsa duck!!
I

A major issue with picking these squads, for the lads from the youths system anyway and IMO, that most are only picked for the provincial teams if they have been in "the system" since u15/u16 level and before the regional u17 development games so if you are not in a squad at u17/18 level you dont have much hope of making squads at u19/20 level.
As i said earlier contact the development officers who are involved in the munster u/age set up. Shannon saints have very valid reasons for complaints about having no representation so contact them and ask why theres no shannon saints players involved

[macmuffin]

I suppose really the point I was making is that while Bruff get half a dozen or so players picked for the u18s even though they ost their AIL final Shannon/Staints who won theirs get none and while you might point out that players such as Cronin and Dineen etc are Shannon and are on the u19s Munster team as these players are there through the school set up they are not really Shannon selections as such and were not allowed to play in AIL anyway presuming they would even get their place, my real question here is, is there any point playing for Shannon if you have any ambition to play representitive rugby because I have a lad who has been asked to play for a number of city clubs and schools Shannon would have been our preference as changing school is a big move

[macmuffin]

I know this sounds very selfish but it is a genuine concern as this potential move will probably decide his rugby future if he is lucky enough to have one

[TokyoCrusaders92]

Just my opinion, but if a young lad is potentially good enough I think schools rugby is currently (at least in Leinster) well ahead of what the youths can offer. Clongowes for example will have gym sessions in morning before school, training after school ends (before study) and may have an additional skills / positional session as well on same day. You multiply that be 4 days, add in the ability to monitor diet etc and compare it with a youth setup that trains players (15 - 18 y.o.) once a week for 90 minutes...
The boarding schools are providing a ready made professional style academy for young players... the problem is that the youth system at this stage has as many if not more players and these are not being developed sufficiently to break through to the sub-academy level... (Leinster had 36 full teams competing at u-17 last season at youth level (the school-youth/open league was run separately and had an additional 14 teams))

TC92

[ormond lad]

I suppose really the point I was making is that while Bruff get half a dozen or so players picked for the u18s even though they ost their AIL final Shannon/Staints who won theirs get none and while you might point out that players such as Cronin and Dineen etc are Shannon and are on the u19s Munster team as these players are there through the school set up they are not really Shannon selections as such and were not allowed to play in AIL anyway presuming they would even get their place, my real question here is, is there any point playing for Shannon if you have any ambition to play representitive rugby because I have a lad who has been asked to play for a number of city clubs and schools Shannon would have been our preference as changing school is a big move

Cronan is a Nenagh player and did play in the All Ireland. There is always issues with these selections and that Shannon Saints dont have anyone involved in the 19s or 20s squads is disapointting. Shannon Saints should enquire why none of their players who were the best u19 team in the country this season will be involved on the Munster 19s or 20s in the autumn.

[Papa Bear]

I suppose really the point I was making is that while Bruff get half a dozen or so players picked for the u18s even though they ost their AIL final Shannon/Staints who won theirs get none and while you might point out that players such as Cronin and Dineen etc are Shannon and are on the u19s Munster team as these players are there through the school set up they are not really Shannon selections as such and were not allowed to play in AIL anyway presuming they would even get their place, my real question here is, is there any point playing for Shannon if you have any ambition to play representitive rugby because I have a lad who has been asked to play for a number of city clubs and schools Shannon would have been our preference as changing school is a big move

Firstly this anti Shannon bias is rubbish!!! The reason Bruff 17's have a far bigger representation than a Shannon 19's who are all Ireland champions is that the Bruff players are on a Munster Youths team which only includes youths players. Having hammered some very good Cork clubs who had very strong teams at this level this year, they are well deserving of this. I would be surprised if more than 1 or 2 of the Bruff players make a 19's selection next year.

For any player to make a 19's or 20's panel is far more difficult. Just take Limerick alone where there are over 75 players lining out for their individual schools. This leaves the talent base below this very weak. This means that unlike at under 17, these players have to be better than these 75 players in Limerick alone. Add into that the 3 other major schools and WaterPark who have the pick of a whole city, along with the bones of 30 other club teams, it is not that surprising that no Shannon player has got in. I count 675 players starting for 45 clubs and schools in Munster at u19 level this year (That is not including subs and squad players which should adjust it for teams who don't compete). Shannon make up just 2.2% of players at that level. Not that unrealistic that they would not have a player at this level...

Limerick clubs have also done themselves significant damage over the years having disregarded the Munster Youths competitions past the North Munster League level by filling their teams with schools players. This left them ineligible to play in the latter stages of the competition. This policy made it very difficult for youths players to make it. It was a shocking policy, justified by keeping schools players connected to their club. Rockwell who would have put a large score on Shannon (I watched Bandon play at this level who were second best and they would certainly have been well beaten) at this level and were the cup winners had a relatively small representation, 3 or 4 max off the top of my head.

It is however my opinion that it is easier to get noticed if you are playing youths rugby. It is alot harder to make a Munster Schools team than a youths team. If a player is good enough they will make it. There is no doubting that the branch is taking youths rugby more seriously. They do not have a choice and with the popularity of the game growing, Skibbereen and Bantry were the top teams in South Munster this year at under 15. I personally never thought I'd hear the day. Bringing the players in for the Summer camp in Rockwell will do them no end of good.

They are up against the best of schools rugby also, where the best players naturally migrate. Take Rockwell for example, where the team this year was backboned by a number of youths players. Scrum half from waterpark, outhalf from Ballincollig and second row from Castleisland. This is not a new phenomena as this has always been the case. Gerry Hurley and Leamy both came to the school after playing youths Rugby. Rockwell (the only boarding school left) gives these lads the opportunity to reach the pinnical of underage rugby. The one thing people don't realise about the school and this is also true for Pres, is that education comes first. The schools reputation lives and dies by its leaving cert results. The team in Rockwell will train for about 40 minutes on a Monday and Tuesday with usually match wednesday and thursday off. Coming close to cup, Saturday training will be included while there are often matches on a Saturday. School finishes at 4 and study commences at 6 (I think, been along time) for 2.5 hours. Having to sneak in tea there as well, does not leave much time for training.

While having gone slightly off point, If a player is good enough, they will get picked up. The bar to make the next level has been raised in recent times, Rugby is getting more popular in the country where players who used to have hurling or football number one, now have Rugby as their first sport. Very likely that while these clubs may not have 15 good players, they will have one and this adds up. The point is that, at Under 19 level, Shannon winning a club competition does not entitle them to a player on the team. Munster Rugby is alot bigger than Shannon. The branch and the coaches couldn't careless where a youngster comes from. Their one ambition is to turnaround the recent failure at underage and this means picking the best players. Knowing some of the youths coaches over the years, their world does not centre around Shannon and Limerick, they couldn't carless.

[bannerman]

Neither does the world revolve around schools, PBC or Rockwell. I would argue, and have done before, that the quality of Munster rugby has gone to pot because the branch has focused primarily on schools with distinctly avaerage players coming through that system and being called to Munster representation to the detriment of the club game (not only Shannon despite your rant). No one has said that Shannon/St.Mary's have a devine right to representation. What would have been expected is that they would have drawn some attention after there efforts of the last 2 years which doesn't seem to be the case. For me it is that those in charge don't pay attention to the club games. I was at numerous schools games this year and saw them falling over each other. Also was at numerous club games with absolutely no interest shown by the same people. I won't name players names but there are guys within Shannon/St.Mary's who are head and shoulders above their counterparts in the Munster squads. I would also venture to say that clubs like Thomond also have players who have been unfairly overlooked because of laziness/ mind set of those picking squads. Take Ger Meehan the Thomond scrum half for example-an absolute gem but not a hope of ever getting picked. If they were doing their job correctly they would be identifying the talent from the likes of Shannon/Saints, Highfield, Thomond, Bandon etc and look beyond the old boys network thats schools.

"Limerick clubs have also done themselves significant damage over the years having disregarded the Munster Youths competitions past the North Munster League level by filling their teams with schools players. This left them ineligible to play in the latter stages of the competition. This policy made it very difficult for youths players to make it. It was a shocking policy, justified by keeping schools players connected to their club."
If you knew what you were talking about you'd know that Limerick/ Nth Munster teams are unable to field due to lack of numbers because of being shafted by schools-no Richmond, UL/Bohs, Shannon and Saints have to merge to field a team, Thomond and Munsters barely able to field and seriously under strength, Garryowen field due to some good work by there backroom to get loan players. The only competition they could play was Nth Munster before they got screwed by the schools again. Its a credit to their clubs and coaches that they can get a team on the field at all. Shannon, if you do your homework, have over 25 players lost to them through cup tied rule and I would say the other clubs have something similar.
Hard to get picked if you can't get seen in the first place. If you know some of the youth coaches as you say, get em of their asses and go watch some games that aren't just schools.

[ormond lad]

Firstly this anti Shannon bias is rubbish!!!
There is something up if the currentall Ireland u19 club champions have no representation at either 19s or 20s.This Shannon saints team are a very good side and it’s a joke that they have norepresentation on any provincial side this season

The reason Bruff 17's have a far bigger representation than a Shannon 19's who are all Ireland champions is that the Bruff players are on a Munster Youths team which only includes youths players.
Yes bruff do have a largerrepresentation but that is due to several factors and not just the fact thatthe youths side does not include schools players, like bruff dominated thenorth u17 regional side this season which was very strong

Having hammered some very good Cork clubs who had very strong teams at this level this year, they are well deserving of this. I would be surprised if more than 1 or 2 of the Bruff players make a 19's selection next year.

For any player to make a 19's or 20's panel is far more difficult. Just take Limerick alone where there are over 75 players lining out for their individual schools. This leaves the talent base below this very weak. This means that unlike at under 17, these players have to be better than these 75 players in Limerick alone.
Of course making the 19s/20s squadsare more difficult as the schools players are included but the fact that Shannonsaints found and developed a team to become all Ireland champs with suchrestrictions means they clearly have some players of a very good standard thatdeserve the chance to wear Munster red.

Add into that the 3 other major schools and WaterPark who have the pick of a whole city, along with the bones of 30 other club teams, it is not that surprising that no Shannon player has got in. I count 675 players starting for 45 clubs and schools in Munster at u19 level this year (That is not including subs and squad players which should adjust it for teams who don't compete).
Yes it is surprising dispite allthese numbers that Shannon saints have no representation in either squad. Theyclearly showed that they were the best non schools side in the country and invirtually all the games they played they beat their opposition well.


Shannon make up just 2.2% of players at that level. Not that unrealistic that they would not have a player at this level...
Yet they were champions of north munster, munster and ireland without losing a game all year and only lost 1 game all season.They deserve at least 1 player to represent munster in september at 19s/20s level
Limerick clubs have also done themselves significant damage over the years having disregarded the Munster Youths competitions past the North Munster League level by filling their teams with schools players. This left them ineligible to play in the latter stages of the competition. This policy made it very difficult for youths players to make it.
Most Limerick clubs didn’t disregard theyouths competitions(some did) they were hampered by ridiculous attitudes of schools inthe city.

It was a shocking policy, justified by keeping schools players connected to their club. Rockwell who would have put a large score on Shannon (I watched Bandon play at this level who were second best and they would certainly have been well beaten) at this level and were the cup winners had a relatively small representation, 3 or 4 max off the top of my head.
I don’t think Rockwell would have put a large score onShannon Saints. Theyd have beaten Shannon Saints but not as much as you think and i saw shannon saints play several times this season and also saw every senior cup game that was played in Limerick this year. Shannon Saints were a very good side this season and deserve recognition similar to what a very very successfull side deserves. Rockwell have 7 players between 19s and 20s squads, while maybe Shannon Saints dont deserve that many they do deserve 3-4 players as after watching them play this season there is definately at least 3 or 4 shannon saints players good enough to step up the levels to play interpros
It is however my opinion that it is easier to get noticed if you are playing youths rugby. It is alot harder to make a Munster Schools team than a youths team. If a player is good enough they will make it. There is no doubting that the branch is taking youths rugby more seriously. They do not have a choice and with the popularity of the game growing, Skibbereen and Bantry were the top teams in South Munster this year at under 15. I personally never thought I'd hear the day. Bringing the players in for the Summer camp in Rockwell will do them no end of good.
Yes 1 player can dominate games much more in youths rugby but it is not much easier to make the munster schools side ahead of the munster youths. They are as difficult as each other. If a player is good enough they should make it but sometimes politics play a big role and who people are/who they know plays a bigger role in deciding the make up of provincial squads.
It was great to see Skibb play Bantry Bay in the south 15s league final this year and Skibb going on to do the double. Hopefully both club can build on this and do well at 17s and 19s level in the next few years.

Bringing all the underage sides to rockwell has its advantages and disadvantages. Having the 18s and 19s sides train in rockwell gives the rockwell coaches who may be there easy opportunitys to pick out players from the youths system to entice to move to the school to play senior cup similar to what they did this year with steve mc mahon from dungarvan and several others as well as innumerous kids in the past

They are up against the best of schools rugby also, where the best players naturally migrate. Take Rockwell for example, where the team this year was backboned by a number of youths players. Scrum half from waterpark, outhalf from Ballincollig and second row from Castleisland. This is not a new phenomena as this has always been the case.
This is not a new phenomena but the sheer number of kids who played senior cup who had played on a very very strong and successful east munster u17 regional side the previous spring made things interesting
Gerry Hurley and Leamy both came to the school after playing youths Rugby. Rockwell (the only boarding school left) gives these lads the opportunity to reach the pinnical of underage rugby.
The Munster schools Cup is not the pinnacle of underage rugby, its the pinnacle of schools rugby. It is paid way more attention by media hacks like ward, cummiskey but the u19 and former 18s cup is as pristigeous a competition except without the media attention and publicity
The one thing people don't realise about the school and this is also true for Pres, is that education comes first. The schools reputation lives and dies by its leaving cert results. As they should,
The team in Rockwell will train for about 40 minutes on a Monday and Tuesday with usually match wednesday and thursday off. Coming close to cup, Saturday training will be included while there are often matches on a Saturday. School finishes at 4 and study commences at 6 (I think, been along time) for 2.5 hours. Having to sneak in tea there as well, does not leave much time for training.

While having gone slightly off point, If a player is good enough, they will get picked up. Does not happen anywhere near as much as it should The bar to make the next level has been raised in recent times, Rugby is getting more popular in the country where players who used to have hurling or football number one, now have Rugby as their first sport. Very likely that while these clubs may not have 15 good players, they will have one and this adds up. The point is that, at Under 19 level, Shannon winning a club competition does not entitle them to a player on the team. Yes it does, they are one of the best u19 teams in ireland and it makes a mockery of Munster Rugby that they have no representation in either squad Munster Rugby is alot bigger than Shannon. It is but that still doesnt mean Shannon shouldnt have representation in the squad The branch and the coaches couldn't careless where a youngster comes from. They clearly do if you were involved in some way in underage representative rugby
Their one ambition is to turnaround the recent failure at underage and this means picking the best players. Knowing some of the youths coaches over the years, their world does not centre around Shannon and Limerick, they couldn't carless.

Nice rant but you made some points that are very wrong and had to be pointed out.

[bannerman]

I suppose really the point I was making is that while Bruff get half a dozen or so players picked for the u18s even though they ost their AIL final Shannon/Staints who won theirs get none and while you might point out that players such as Cronin and Dineen etc are Shannon and are on the u19s Munster team as these players are there through the school set up they are not really Shannon selections as such and were not allowed to play in AIL anyway presuming they would even get their place, my real question here is, is there any point playing for Shannon if you have any ambition to play representitive rugby because I have a lad who has been asked to play for a number of city clubs and schools Shannon would have been our preference as changing school is a big move

Let me assure you McMuffin, there is every point in sending your lad to Shannon. Primarily, the wellbeing of your young fella will be foremost in their efforts and they will bust a gut to ensure your lad is the best he can be. PM if you want some further info or chat.

[bannerman]

And just to add or attempt to add a further nail in the coffin, a motion to ban merged teams like Shannon/Saints was proposed in the Munster Youth meeting I believe but thank God was defeated.

[ormond lad]

And just to add or attempt to add a further nail in the coffin, a motion to ban merged teams like Shannon/Saints was proposed in the Munster Youth meeting I believe but thank God was defeated.

Do you know what club proposed that motion?
We should be looking to merge more clubs at u19 level. If Shannon Saints hadnt merged 20+ kids wouldnt have had any rugby to play the past 2 seasons.

[nuke]

Do you know what club proposed that motion?
We should be looking to merge more clubs at u19 level. If Shannon Saints hadnt merged 20+ kids wouldnt have had any rugby to play the past 2 seasons.

I don't know what club proposed it but believe that was proposed after what happened with the youghal/waterford city /dungarvan merge where they walked away with the south league but refused to enter teams into their respective cups despite (at least in the east)admiting they could have fielded 15 players for the cup.

They were not allowed play in either cup with the merged side.

I did not see Shannon/Saints play this season but I saw Bandon a few times and the Youghal/Dungarvan/Waterford team would have beaten them with 10 points to spare IMHO.

That is not meant to put Bandon down who deserved to do as well as they did.

I also know that Munster were out and about looking at youths players as I know of at least one of my own players who was watched more than once, despite the fact we did not qualify for the pan Munster competition.

In Clonakilty we would probably not have been able to field at U19 without players coming to the club from Other west cork clubs.What shocked me is that over the last 2 seasons at U19 a dozen players from other clubs have come to Clon but only two were registered with their previous clubs. I would also like to point out that we didn't go looking for the players but were very happy to get them, one of those who came in has already lined out for the 1st's(albeit to give him exposure to it at the end of the season, once we were already relegated from 2A)

[bannerman]

This would fit in with what I've heard. Heard the proposal came from the south with another proposal that prevents merges coming from cross area which was passed. This would prevent the likes of NCW and Abbeyfeale merging which was on the table last year.

[bannerman]

Shannon/St.Mary's u19 receive recognition from Mayor of Limerick and City council with Civic reception. Great honour for the lads.

[ormond lad]

West Munster u17/15/13 league and cup fixtures for next season available from here

[ormond lad]

North Munster league fixtures should be up on deadsite though if you click on any of the leagues no teams/fixtures can be seen.
There is 2 groups in the 19s, 17s and 16s leagues with 1 group in the 18s league with a league and conference at 13s, 14s and 15s level
West 17s league is also up on the website. these fixtures are also available here

[locomotion]

The North Munster leagues started last Sunday but some of the fixture lists have to be redrawn again as not all clubs can confirm yet if they have teams in some age groups due to schools issues and the large number of players transferring between clubs this season.

[blood]

Just Wondering if/when the South Munster under 13's league fixture list will be drawn up.

[ormond lad]

While in Musgrave Park at the A schools interpro today i saw the south u19 league groups
there is 2 sections with 9 teams in section 1 and 7 in section 2 from what i saw which is strange
section 1
youghal, mallow, old christians, midleton, fermoy, sundays well, dolphin, cobh, kanturk
section 2
highfield, skibbereen, muskerry, clonakilty, ballincollig, cork con, kinsale
league due to start 20th oct

[Stretch]

While in Musgrave Park at the A schools interpro today i saw the south u19 league groups
there is 2 sections with 9 teams in section 1 and 7 in section 2 from what i saw which is strange
section 1
youghal, mallow, old christians, midleton, fermoy, sundays well, dolphin, cobh, kanturk
section 2
highfield, skibbereen, muskerry, clonakilty, ballincollig, cork con, kinsale
league due to start 20th oct

No Crosshaven?

[ormond lad]

No Crosshaven?

Not fielding at 19s but are due to field in the 20s league with nenagh, dunmanway-bantry bay, UCC, sundays well, bruff and waterpark

[bannerman]

No Bandon either?

[Stretch]

Not fielding at 19s but are due to field in the 20s league with nenagh, dunmanway-bantry bay, UCC, sundays well, bruff and waterpark

Does that mean Waterpark, Nenagh, Bruff and such are not fielding a 19s also. If this was the case - with Dungarvan gone to Youghal, other east teams aren't going to be at much! Some trip from Nenagh to Bantry, from what I heard it was hard enough to get ye to travel to Dungarvan at times, never mind west Cork, that could be tricky!


Waterpark have lost a strong core of their 19s, how is J.Hayes, your munster youths prop from last year doing these days, is he back training?

[ormond lad]

Does that mean Waterpark, Nenagh, Bruff and such are not fielding a 19s also. If this was the case - with Dungarvan gone to Youghal, other east teams aren't going to be at much! Some trip from Nenagh to Bantry, from what I heard it was hard enough to get ye to travel to Dungarvan at times, never mind west Cork, that could be tricky!


Waterpark have lost a strong core of their 19s, how is J.Hayes, your munster youths prop from last year doing these days, is he back training?

Nenagh, Waterpark, Bruff are fielding at 19s. The 20s league was brought in as some clubs dont appear to like the 17s/19s/21s and would prefer to go back to 18s/20s and this is to help them.
Their is 8 teams in the east 19s league(fixtures for all leagues now up online on munsterugby). with dungarvan gone to youghal and playing in the south a team you would expect to be strong is out of the contention for the east but their is plenty of strong sides left
Never an issue for nenagh sides to travel down to dungarvan, waterford city etc it was always more of an issue of clubs travelling up to nenagh than us travelling down
Waterpark have lost some 19s but they will still be very strong and contending for trophies again this season

Good to see the number of sides competing at 17s/19s increasing
At 17s there is 48 teams competing
At 19s there is 33 clubs competing

[ormond lad]

Next years Munster youths will begin looking at players with a training session in UL tuesday october 30th with the 4 regional u17 squads in attendance.
The west u17 development squad played waterparks u17 side recently as preperation for that training day in UL.
http://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic/news/10940