RUGBY: THE FIGHT on behalf of the club game carries on in ever more difficult times, what with the rampant expansionism of the professional, provincial game. If the four proud provinces' involvement in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup weren't enough, the demands of the provincial A sides courtesy of the British Irish Cup is stretching the club game to breaking point.
The key factor in the revival of Munster and, in turn, Irish rugby at the turn of the Millennium, while the club game may not quite be heartbeat of Irish rugby it once was it remains a potentially critical pathway for those who missed the elite schools/academy route into the provincial game.
Kevin McLaughlin, Heineken Cup winner at the end of last season before forcing his way into the Irish team for the second and third Tests in New Zealand, spent six years playing AIL Division One rugby with UCD before joining St Mary’s. Were it not for UCD, he reckons he simply wouldn’t be a professional rugby player now.
“I don’t think so. There wasn’t that many A games when I first came in. I played the majority of my rugby from 19 to 24, 25 in the club game and I learned an awful lot along the way. I was playing with the best young guys, guys coming from Irish Schools.
“It made a big difference in that we were expecting to win week in and week out. When we were playing 20s, it was similar. Then we went up to senior and teams were trying to bully us, we had to use our heads more to try to beat them because we were normally smaller, so it taught me you need to play to your strengths.
“It was similar when I came into Leinster, teams were trying to bully us because they figured we were soft, so it taught me there’s a bit of a mindset.”
McLaughlin was one of the players at a photoshoot at Donnybrook yesterday to help the launch of the IRFU’s ‘Your Club, Your Country’ fundraising initiative in association with Ulster Bank. First launched last year, it raised over €600,000 in total for participating clubs and this season the target is over €1 million.
Clubs taking part this season will be issued with 1,000 tickets valued at €10 each which means each can raise up to €10,000 for their club. To date over 117 clubs are registered to take part. Trips to Ireland’s away Six Nations games figure prominently in the prize fund, with the top prize being an 18-night trek to Australia with the British and Irish Lions for two people.
As for his part, McLaughlin has since joined St Mary’s on foot of UCD being relegated, primarily as he wanted to continue playing Division One club rugby and they were the nearest top flight club to his home in Terenure.
“They’re a serious club, there’s a family vibe there – they get everyone involved. There’s a professional set-up, they’ve got a new gym and it’s a great club to be a part of.”
Jonny Sexton, club and provincial team-mate, has credited St Mary’s with both launching and relaunching his career.
McLaughlin says the top flight is “not far off professional” and despite the difficulties in accommodating academy players who mightn’t always be available to train or play with their club first XV, “it is critical for developing younger guys who won’t always be getting games with Leinster. The AIL, particularly Division 1A is a good level of rugby, it’s really important to keep that as competitive and as positive as possible.”
He cites the progress this season of Barry O’Mahony at Munster, Lansdowne out-half Craig Ronaldson (on trial at Bath), Matt Healy at Connacht and Leo Auva’a at Leinster as evidence of the continuing pathway the club game can provide. “You’ve got to say it’s still the cornerstone of Irish rugby and without it I think we’d be in serious trouble. There’s guys putting in hours and hours every week just for the love of their club and the love of Irish rugby so it’s a huge thing,” said McLaughlin.
