Colm McMahon | “Our Staff Are Really Keen To Get Back Out There”

We hear from Head of Rugby Development Colm McMahon who made the move from the Greencore Munster Rugby Academy in January.

The Clare native had a brief period of overseeing the department’s regular activities with the early conclusion of the domestic rugby season in March due to the coronavirus.

Settling into the new role….

“I was expecting things to be quite different because of the change in department, with a complete change in role, but all deals were off when Covid-19 struck and no different to everyone else, it has been very challenging because we’re dealing with something we haven’t dealt with before.

“My previous ten years with Munster were on-pitch so I was expecting it to be different, but not necessarily this different given the circumstances.”

Previous roles with Munster…

“I am fortunate that I’ve had probably the full spectrum of work experience during the last decade.

“My first role was with the regeneration project in Limerick, going in and out of schools in Limerick and trying to get children playing sports inside designated areas where we wanted to try and get life back into sport and get kids active.

“I went from there to coach development and then moved into the academy.  My biggest block of work was with the academy, which is a really good place to see everything because you are dealing with grassroots rugby in the rugby development sense and looking at young players coming through from clubs and schools.  We look at how we can make the game better for them and give them a better chance of performing and moving up the pathway to become elite players.

“Then I had an opportunity to work with the senior squad last year, which was great as well to get up there and see exactly the week to week pressures of professional rugby.  A huge amount of work goes on in the week to try and get the team to where you want them for a Saturday kick-off.

“So thankfully I’ve had a touch-point with all aspects of the pathway and that experience stands to me now in having a very good overview of the landscape.”

Plans for rugby development…

“Now that I’ve moved back into rugby development, I’m concentrating on picking up on the detail to see what I can bring from my experiences and identify areas that we can add further value to.

“When I moved over was it was brilliant to see the quality of staff we had working in domestic rugby, supporting the clubs and schools and the volunteers, which is what our game is built on. It was just that reminder again about our brilliant volunteers, and we need to make sure we keep doing things well and doing our best to support them as it’s their work that’s building a brilliant game for us.

“The department staff are doing a fantastic job already and they’ve really been teaching me at the moment on the finer details, and the ins and outs of the game at club and school level.

“From my academy days I’m a big believer in building relationships, as that was something we had to do on a daily basis with players, it wasn’t about managing them, it was about working with them to achieve their goals. It’s something I want to continue to do, build relationships with the staff and volunteers, so that we all know what we’re trying to achieve and that we understand what it takes to get there.

“That’s one of the things I enjoy seeing, everybody pulling in the same direction and fortunately across Munster it’s there already but it’s about challenging ourselves to do things even better.”

Return to rugby….

“As the country opens up more, we’re getting to a place now where people want to move away from the online meetings and get back out onto the pitch which is great.

“Our focus is on the return to rugby and how we can support the clubs and schools, getting back out there safely and making sure that they’re getting the information that they need.

“Thankfully we are well underway with it and the club appetite has been great and we’re looking forward to continuing that during the summer now as clubs traditionally get back into a bit of work in August for their preseason training.

“Our staff are really keen to get back out there, and everybody realizes the most important thing is to get clubs and schools opened up again, getting the rugby club open, and how we can support in that regard getting our rugby community back up and running.”