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Ideas to improve the standard of rugby in the NH

Schools and regional rugby don't mean anything here (anyone who says otherwise is a liar). The RFU allocates catchment areas for junior players then there are 2 steps... Club -> Test.


Club is a higher standard then test.
 
Some clips of Leinster Senior Cup rugby the schools competition that would get the most media coverage in Ireland. As it is a cup competition it is pretty attritional style used, it also starts in February when the weather is fairly crap and most matches are played on the Donnybrook pitch which is terrible however I think the skill level is still fairly good.

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A number of players from this match were at the U20s this year.

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Interview with Schmidt at the end.
 
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The Leinster schools Senior Cup has definitely improved in quality. Clongowes and Michaels are leading the way with some fairly enlightened coaching. This is seen in the number of players from those schools who are getting academy contracts as of late. Terenure next year have a few players who are good enough to go pro. Leinster Rugby are to be commended for taking a greater interest in coaching these players through camps over the least few years.

However this can be improved on significantly. Broaden the player base, get rid of competition at under 16 level (using other sports as a guide, this is done in Spanish football as far as I know) and focus on skills development and awareness. Apart from the school boys in the Junior and Medallion Cup competitions, nobody really cares about them and as such they serve no purpose. As has often been told in here, Brian O'Driscoll never made his schools Junior Cup team. Enjoying your rugby and broadening each players skill levels is a better way to go than focusing on knockout, competitive games at a young age.
 
The Blackrock team a few years ago had something crazy 7 players now professional with a back three of Fitzgerald, Morris and Artymiev.

The Marys team from '08 also had a number of players who should have made it but didn't for various reasons. Jack McGrath and Darren Hudson are now of course with Leinster (though Hudson will probably have to leave) but Ian O'Neill an electric winger would have made it if not for injury problems and Eoin Moriarty turned Leinster down because he couldn't take the pressure.

Junior Cup rugby is a strange one it does generally come down to size over skill but it's still something no one wants to get rid of especially those involved.

Michaels have been using it pretty well to develop players the last view years. While they may not generally be great people it's hard to arhue against the standard of rugby being produced.

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Schools and regional rugby don't mean anything here (anyone who says otherwise is a liar).

Try telling that to Sedgefield, or Bedford, or Millfield, or Barnard Castle, or Hartpury, or Warwick, or any of the other huge rugby playing schools. I think it matters to them. Even in a lot of state schools, making the 1st XV is a huge goal for lots of aspiring rugby players.
 
aye but once you go remove ther nucelus of hard core private and grammar schools your left with 90 percent who dont give a ****. its just a thing some of the lads do during the week which the staff have no clue about
 
It's named After Dr. Danie Craven who was an integral part of South African Rugby

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danie_Craven

It's still an amusing name - you are aware of the word's most common useage in English language right?

Try telling that to Sedgefield, or Bedford, or Millfield, or Barnard Castle, or Hartpury, or Warwick, or any of the other huge rugby playing schools. I think it matters to them. Even in a lot of state schools, making the 1st XV is a huge goal for lots of aspiring rugby players.

Amongst my various uni friends was a guy who'd been first XV at Sedgefield. He'd basically been a semi-pro rugby player there in terms of amount and quality of training.

The Blackrock team a few years ago had something crazy 7 players now professional with a back three of Fitzgerald, Morris and Artymiev.

The Methody cup winning team of 3 years back (I think) look on path for something similar - Niall Annett, Adam Macklin, Michael Heaney, Paddy Jackson, Craig Gilroy and Blaine McIlroy all on one team, with a few others who appear to be getting lost in the churn but might yet bounce back.

If anything, the impression I get is that schools rugby is too big in Northern Ireland. You get kids coming out age 18 who've effectively been semi-pros and they've had enough. If they can't go higher than where they were - basically, more or less straight into the pro game - they're not interested. Obviously I wouldn't know myself but I've heard the story plenty of times, including from lads who basically did that. It doesn't help the cause of Ulster rugby that a lot of lads move out of the province for uni either.
 
Yeah that was some team and last years Methody wasn't half bad either.

I wouldn't say that's the case in Leinster as far as I'm aware. Sure some players give it up or simply just play it at a more social level and don't become the player they could have become but many join AIL teams straight out (or at least from my school they do St Marys the school has a great relationship with St Marys Club). Seeing as most of the players coming through are schools players I'd say it's working to some degree.
 
Try telling that to Sedgefield, or Bedford, or Millfield, or Barnard Castle, or Hartpury, or Warwick, or any of the other huge rugby playing schools. I think it matters to them. Even in a lot of state schools, making the 1st XV is a huge goal for lots of aspiring rugby players.



Still got bigger all to do with top level rugby. Playing top level for a grammar school has no more influence in joining a pro academy then achieving a colts shirt for a feeder club. I.e. Bedford athletic supply more players to the Blues then Bedford school.
 

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