Greencore Academy Update

Munster Rugby Elite Player Development Officer Colm McMahon looks back on the October happenings in the Greencore Munster Academy.

British & Irish Cup involvement…

“It’s been quite a busy time for academy players in recent weeks with quite a few of them involved with the Munster A’s. They gained excellent experience in an interprovincial win over Leinster A and that set them up nicely for the B&I Cup games against Moseley, Worcester Warriors and Nottingham.

“The academy’s Jack O’Donoghue has earned two Guinness PRO12 appearances so far this season and is captaining Munster A. That is a great achievement for such a young player. Along with Jack, a lot of the academy lads have trained with the seniors in recent weeks and such experiences will develop them as players.

“Following a win in the B&I Cup opener against Moseley (27-21), the lads learned a hard lesson against Worcester (27-23 loss) a week later. You need to play for the full 80 minutes and manage your game the whole way through. Worcester punished some poor decisions at the very end of the match and that cost our lads the win. Sometimes you learn more from your defeats and our guys took a lot from that game – look at what happened on Friday night.

“It was good to get back to winning ways against Nottingham (12-23), especially as the lads were away from home – it’s never easy to get a win in the UK. However, regardless of it being a good performance, they’ll feel they left a bit behind and know they could have scored more had they been a bit more clinical at times.

“Again it was a very young side that played with an academy centre partnership of Rory Scannell and Dan Goggin, and Greg O’Shea and Stephen Fitzgerald in the back three. Rory Burke, Sean McCarthy and Jack O’Donoghue started also and that experience of getting a win on the road will stand to the lads massively.

“Last season it took a late try to win the game over in Nottingham so it was good to bring the experience of that to win by more than one score on this occasion.

“For those rehabbing injuries or not selected for the A’s, the time has been well spent with the Munster S&C staff and that has seen them make some very good gains in the gym.”

Injury Update…

“Darren Sweetnam is one who would definitely have featured for Munster A so far this season had he been fit, but a knee injury prevented him from doing so. He has rehabbed well and should feature in the next fortnight or so.

“John Madigan picked up a shoulder injury training with the senior team and we’re waiting for the injury to settle down before we can get a scan done and know the full prognosis.

“Scrum-half Ryan Foley sustained a knee injury when playing for his club side Cork Con and underwent surgery this week so he is ruled out until the new year.

“Bruising to the knee has kept David Johnston out of action in recent weeks, but he should make a return in the coming week.

“Brian Scott (neck) has returned to running this week, with Diarmaid Dee a couple of weeks away from returning as he rehabs an ankle injury, while Niall Horan remains sidelined due to concussion.”

Media Workshop…

“Barry McLoughlin of The Communications Clinic recently held a workshop for a group of our players in UL. This followed on from a previous workshop conducted by the Munster Rugby Communications Department. The players who sat in on this were those heavily involved with the seniors and A’s over the last number of weeks.

“The lads learned how to conduct themselves in all aspects of the media – social, print, broadcast and online. It was a good refresher for the guys who had previous experience of dealing with the media, while for those who had none, they got some practical interview experience in front of a video camera.

“Modules like these help to make the lads more comfortable and less daunted should they find themselves facing media.”

Plans for the coming month…

“Our academy sponsors Greencore are coming to host a two day nutrition module for the players. While our guys are obviously very aware of their nutritional requirements, this module will provide some hands-on cooking demonstrations, allowing the lads to pick up some practical cooking skills to complement the theory from their nutritional modules to date.

“There’s now a break in B&I Cup action for the next few weeks so players will return to play with their clubs.”

Munster A return to B&I Cup action when they welcome Nottingham to Temple Hill on Saturday November 29th – KO 3pm.

Tickets can be purchased online here while entry is free for all MRSC members and Ten Year Ticket holders (on production of your membership card or ticket book).