Video | Munster Age-Grade Squads Summer Preparations

Our boys age-grade squads summer preparations continued last week as the Under 18 Schools and Clubs teams returned to training to gear up for clashes against provincial rivals Ulster.

We caught up with U18 Schools head coach Sean Cronin just after their narrow lost to Ulster.

Speaking about the importance of getting the team together during their Easter break Sean said:

“It’s a really important piece in terms of building towards the summer programme for our age-grade squads. It was a really exciting start today, a good performance from our lads even though we lost out narrowly, but it is all about building for the summer and getting these lads exposure in terms of playing interpro rugby.”

Cronin went on to highlight how the team came to be and the importance of tracking the progress of players through the schools competition season:

“I suppose we have been tracking in terms of our talent ID throughout the year with the players playing across the schools competition so we have a pretty decent handle on where they are. But its bringing them into our own environment now and putting those building blocks in place for the summer ahead.”

Though suffering a narrow loss at the hands of Ulster Sean was clear in how important this programme is and how it will have a positive impact on the team going forward into the Summer Interpro Series. He said:

“It’s really important in terms of producing the next crop of players to push on and hopefully achieve good things and play in a red jersey.”

Gerry Casey, head coach of the Under 18 Clubs side who defeated their Ulster counterparts, also highlighted the importance of these games for the young players. He stated how it was great to see the teams willingness to play especially after a long club season. He said:

“First of all getting the fixtures at Easter has always been the bedrock of our programme as we go into the summer. For the lads themselves, coming off of a long club season, it proves as a marker for what we want to achieve so overall it was a great victory. The willingness to play from them was the most pleasing part of it all.”

Casey then went on to explain how the team was selected and the importance of the programmes in building towards a busy summer season.

“The majority of them come from our Club Select Programme (CSP) so they have been in the system for the past two years so a lot of them would know each other. They know each other, mostly from playing against each other, but I suppose from our CSP programme it is building into that next step which is what makes the programme so special.”

To hear more from both coaches on the upcoming summer programme click below.

Video | Munster Age-Grade Squads Summer Preparations