Sir, – The IRFU wishes to respond to “Corkery rant highlights the importance of club game” (May 17th) and “Corkery unable to contain fury after IRFU pull players” (May 16th), in which it was suggested that the IRFU had “pulled” a player from participating in the Munster Senior Cup Final at short notice.
In recognition of the importance of club competitions, the IRFU works to minimise any disruption to clubs and advised all provinces of the Sevens programme schedule in January 2016.
This schedule outlined that players contracted to the IRFU, and participating in the Sevens programme would be required from May 1st to prepare for an Olympic qualifier.
Furthermore, the IRFU’s High Performance Unit recognises the importance of club competition and its role in player development and as such a number of contracted players were released from the Sevens programme to compete in competitions which reached completion just inside the pre-advised Sevens preparation window.
Disappointingly, the Munster Senior Cup final, originally scheduled for April 9th, was delayed for five weeks, as a result of one fixture being rescheduled seven times, and due to the great success of Cork Constitution in advancing to the Ulster Bank League and Bateman Cup finals.
It is unfortunate, but entirely an issue for those involved in rescheduling this delayed fixture to May 15th, that a contracted player in the Sevens programme was unavailable on the day. The IRFU did not “pull” any players at short notice. – Yours, etc,
DAVID NUCIFORA
Irish Rugby Football Union
Performance Director,
Lansdowne Road,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.