News

Highlights: November 2024

02nd December 2024

Categories: Develop, Engage, Represent

Autumn Nations Series

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

In November 2009, Cian Healy made his international debut against the Wallabies. 15 years later he became the most capped Irish player of all-time against the same side. After equalling Brian O’Driscoll‘s 133 caps in Ireland’s win over Argentina, Healy broke the record when he came off the bench in the 67th minute against the Australians.

It was also a memorable few weeks for those on the other side of the scale with Thomas Clarkson, Cormac Izuchukwu, Gus McCarthy and Sam Prendergast all making their debuts for Ireland over the course of the Autumn Nations Series. Prendergast also had the particular distinction of sharing the Test arena with his brother Cian against Fiji.

A proud few weeks for all players, their families and friends.

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Personal Accolades

As 2024 draws to a close, several players are bringing the curtain down on the past 12 months with significant honours to their names.

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/World Rugby/Mattia Ozbot

Foremost amongst these was Erin King who was named the Women’s XVs Breakthrough Player of the Year and in doing so became the first Irish women’s rugby player to win an individual honour at the World Rugby Awards. Erin’s teammate Aoife Wafer was an obvious inclusion in the Women’s XVs Dream Team of the Year.

Tadhg Beirne, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe and Caelan Doris (who was also nominated for the Men’s XVs Player of the Year) were named in the Men’s XVs Dream Team of the Year. Men’s 7s Player of the Year in 2022, Terry Kennedy missed out on reclaiming the title to Antoine Dupont but was named in the Men’s 7s Dream Team.

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Meanwhile, Doris (Men’s XVs POTY) and Wafer (Women’s XVs POTY) were the big winners at the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Awards with Zac Ward (Men’s 7s POTY) and the recently married Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Women’s 7s POTY) and also receiving the acclaim of Ireland’s rugby media.

Heineken Hall of Fame

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

It was our pleasure to host an afternoon of celebration in honour of Lynne Cantwell, Marcus Horan and Donncha O’Callaghan as they became the latest Irish rugby giants to be inducted into the players’ association’s Hall of Fame which was supported this year by Heineken Ireland and hosted by Darren Cave.

It was e a memorable afternoon in the company of the players’ family, friends and many former teammates.

International Rugby Players

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher

Rugby Players Ireland staff members were centrally involved as the International Rugby Players General Exec Conference took place in Dublin. While the global representative body were in Ireland it was announced that Melodie Robinson and former Rugby Players Ireland Chairperson Rob Kearney have been appointed to the World Rugby Executive Board following a nomination process conducted by International Rugby Players. It marks the first time that players will have representation at the highest level of the sport’s governance.

Tackle Your Feelings

We were very excited to link with with TikTok’s teacher influencer Tadhg O’Donovan who highlighted the TYF Schools Programme to his vast reach of followers. In the lead-up to Ireland’s clash with New Zealand, TYF also linked up with Mitey which supports schools to deliver an evidence based approach to mental health education. The programme was founded by All Black legend Sir John Kirwan.

Eimear Considine was also the feature of a film which aired as part of the Game On series which is produced by BBC StoryWorks. Eimear, who has enjoyed a long relationship with Tackle Your Feelings having helped to launch the second phase of the campaign in 2020, reflects on her own career and how programmes like TYF are giving teenagers the tools to care for their own mental health and wellbeing through sport.

It’s fitting that this piece of content emerged following news of Eimear’s rugby retirement. Despite only taking up the game at 23, the former Clare dual star made a huge impact both on and off the rugby field over the ensuing ten years. A regular for Ireland since her 2017 debut, she sustained an ACL injury in the 2022 Six Nations which seemed to bring her international career to a premature end. However, following the birth of her son Caolán and a second ACL injury, Eimear showed incredible resilience by making a try-scoring return to the Irish fold as they shocked the Wallaroos in Belfast. She was also key as Scott Bemand’s side then stunned New Zealand in WXV1 later that month.

Contract News

Northampton Saints’ South African No.8 Juarno Augustus will link up with Ulster Rugby next season. He will be joined there by Iain Henderson who has signed a two-year contract extension along with Stewart Moore. Rob Herring will be in situ for another season.

Former players Denis Leamy and Mike Prendergast will remain part of the Munster Rugby coaching set-up having both signed two-year contracts. Earlier in November Young Munster’s Conor Bartley linked up with the squad on a short-term basis along with fellow prop Dian Bleuler from the Sharks.

Leo Cullen‘s tenure as Leinster Rugby Head Coach is likely to extend to at least 12 seasons following his signing of a two year contract extension. Cullen took over the reins from Matt O’Connor ahead of the 2015/16 season.

Player Development Programme

Chris Gibbons from Inside Inclusion who delivered a practical and thought-provoking inclusion/diversity workshop to the Irish Sevens teams as the SVNS Series season kick-off began to loom large.

Led by former Connacht Rugby player JP Cooney, members of the current squad visited the SmartBear offices in Galway for a transition workshop where they learned from athletes from different disciplines about how they applied their high-performance skills in a new direction.

Members of the Player Development Team were hosted by the Performance Life Skills team from Sport Ireland Institute to the Dual Career Forum which welcomes the Dual Career community to the Sport Ireland Campus, to network and recognise the important role that third level institutions play in the development & support of student athletes.

Irish Athletes Alliance

Our thanks to our friends at the Gaelic Players Association who invited Rugby Players Ireland to participate in a two-day Mental Health First Aid training course. Led by Mental Health First Aid Ireland, the course teaches participants to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, and provides a frame work for offering initial help and guidance towards appropriate support.

A New Chapter

Our congratulations to Johnny Sexton who along with Peter O’Reilly, won the coveted Easons Sports Book of the Year Award at the An Post Irish Book Awards for Johnny’s autobiography, Obsessed.

Clubhouse

Ian Keatley, Sean Cronin and Tommy O’Donnell all featured in the squad as Ahane GAA claimed a last gasp victory in Limerick’s Junior A Football Championship decider.

Former Irish Women’s XVs international Judy Bobbett retained her National Boxing 81kg+ title at the National Stadium. Bobbett, who is also a former Meath footballer, took a break from elite sport to focus on her mental health before turning her attentions to the boxing ring.

Former Ulster Rugby player Kyle McCall has been forced to bring his playing days to a close. Capped 66 times by his home province, McCall has dedicated the latter days of his rugby career to Ballynahinch RFC in the AIL.

As his former teammates took flight for Dubai, Harry McNulty announced that he is stepping away from the programme. The backbone of the Irish 7s programme for the best part of the decade, McNulty guided Ireland from the basement floor of European 7s rugby to the heights of the SVNS Series. He will continue to have a bearing on the SVNS Series working in a media capacity, having previously worked as a photographer and content creator in his spare time.