Double Delight For Newcastle West/Estuary & Waterpark

The Bank Of Ireland Munster U18 and Munster U16 Clubs competition has reached the quarter final stage with all eight fixtures scheduled to take place on the weekend of 27th and 28th February.

The draw for the final qualifying eight has been decided, with U18 defending champions Newcastle West/Estuary hosting Waterpark.

To add to the excitement, Newcastle West/Estuary were also drawn to host Waterpark in the Under 16 quarter final, and both fixtures will take place on the same day in a double-header.

As the county Limerick side set out to retain their Under 18 title, Waterpark will be vying for their hat-trick of Under 16 successes, and Newcastle West/Estuary Youth Officer Pat Daly says the double-header has the makings of a mouth-watering occasion for all involved in age grade rugby.

“Waterpark will be odds on favourites to make the final so it will be a tough battle for Newcastle West/Estuary in both the U18 and U16s”, he said. “They are very strong every year but we’ll rise to the challenge as best we can and hopefully we can win both encounters.”

“It makes for a very interesting quarter final in both competitions, as the two sides are defending their respective 16 and 18 titles, which will definitely add to the occasion and most certainly be a crowd pleaser.

“Both clubs will bring huge support and we’re really looking forward to welcoming Waterpark to our home grounds.”

With a two in a row in mind, the experienced Newcastle West/Estuary U18 outfit has retained half of its squad that competed last year, including Jason Wolfe, who captains the side for his second time.

“About 50% of our players have been retained from last year, including Jason, with the remainder that have come up from our U16s, said Daly.

“The core squad would be quite experienced and hopefully that will pay dividends this year.”

As Newcastle West/Estuary concentrate on the development of their underage structure, Daly said the key to their ongoing success at youth level has been providing as much game time as possible with an overall objective of the players progressing to Under 20 level and eventually feeding into their senior side.

“We’ve about 25 Under 18s constantly training with us so our main challenge is to retain those players at U20 level and eventually feed into adult rugby,” he said.

“The big thing for the coaches is to get the lads out playing matches as much as possible so even on the weekends that there are no competitive fixtures, they organise friendlies to give them as much game time as possible.

“We believe that once you provide matches for players they learn a lot more and you can rotate the squad so every player gets a game and feels part of it.”

“The common denominator over the last few years for our success has also been the quality of our coaches. Training is twice a week on our all-weather pitch for both squads with matches on the weekend so things are pretty intense and I must credit all the coaches Tom Fox and Conor Magner at Under 18s and Vincent O’Doherty, Philip Wrenn and Mike Lyons at Under 16s for their commitment in getting the players well prepared for the quarter finals.”

Following Newcastle West’s amalgamation at youths level with neighbouring club Estuary RFC three seasons ago, Daly acknowledges the success of the initiative.

“Estuary were short numbers for teams after mini rugby which resulted in players fading off and giving up rugby”, he said.

“I met with the Estuary guys three years ago and asked if they were interested in joining up at age grade and that’s where the amalgamation began.

“We have about 10% of Estuary players down through all the age groups at this stage with a lot of their coaches helping out with coaching, organising matches and looking after medical requirements on match day.”

The new format Munster Under 18 and Under 16 Clubs competition has been highly successful – focused primarily on providing approximately nine competitive fixtures for all teams at the group stages.

“It has been highly successful and all credit to Ralph (O’Leary, Competition Fixtures Secretary) for all his work,” said Daly.

“It’s been great for us to make the knock out stages in both age grades, and hopefully this year the two sides will go all the way.”

Bank of Ireland Munster Under 18 Cup Quarter Final

Weekend of 27th and 28th February

Bruff v Skibbereen
Dolphin v Shannon/Mallow/Sunday’s Well
Dungarvan v Midleton/Muskerry/Cashel
Newcastle West v Waterpark

Bank of Ireland Munster Under 16 Cup Quarter Final

Weekend of 27th and 28th February

Bandon v Cork Constitution
Bruff v Midleton
Newcastle West/Estuary v Waterpark
Ennis v Skibbereen/Nenagh Ormond