Fitting foundation for next generation

JOHN O'SULLIVANheads to Clongowes Wood where 115 of Ireland's brightest prospects are busily honing their skills

FROM A distance it represents a traditional rugby vista, the shrill blast of whistles, voices raised in exhortation and direction and the dull thwack of bodies colliding. Ostensibly it is a scene played out on many a day in Clongowes Wood College but there are small clues that suggest the activity on this Bank Holiday morning is different.

Standing on step-ladders and gantries, there are several video analysts wearing the distinctive sporting livery of the IRFU. Then there is the sheer volume of coaches either observing on the sideline or orchestrating affairs on the pitch. The numbers in situ are swelled by physiotherapists, team managers, more analysts and Dr Ossie Fogarty.

Welcome to the IRFU National Age Grade Talent Camp, a screening process that brings together 115 of the best young, Irish qualified players at U-18 Schools, U-18 Clubs and U-19 Clubs and Schools. The latter age group arrived last Friday and left yesterday afternoon while the younger group pitched up on Saturday morning. The process finishes for them this afternoon when the U-18 Clubs and Schools oppose one another in a match.

The camp is an elite pathway – under the auspices of the Long Term Player Development programme – towards professional rugby but it is not the only one. Players mature at different rates in terms of the technical, physiological and mental aspects of the sport. The turnover in personnel will vary from this camp to others held later in the season.

IRFU high performance manager Allen Clarke explains: “It’s a national talent camp to screen the best players of the current crop, to determine the capacity of each player relevant to what’s required to become a top class rugby player.

“In the short term, (it’s about) who’s got the skill set, the athleticism, the ability to be receptive in coaching terms and the aptitude in terms of the mental side (of the sport). We are evaluating the state of the person as he is now; through muscular-skeletal screening, which involves 15 or so physiotherapists conducting tests on the Friday and Saturday.

“The second element of the camp is to fitness test each player with regard to speed, strength and endurance. That involved a similar number of our fitness staff. Finally it’s about screening their understanding of the game, through mini-units (within the team), and back to general game patterns. Within that there is some precise, technical detail provided to the young men in terms of feedback; what they’re good at and what they need to work on.

“We ensure that they are thinking of a lifestyle that’s balanced as opposed to focusing purely on rugby. In this regard we remind them of the importance of educational qualifications. The primary thing that is stressed to the young men is that while they are talented rugby players at the moment, they’re not professional rugby players.

“Fundamentally it is an opportunity to test themselves against their peers within Ireland and the Exiles. It’s a chance for them to get a real understanding of what’s required if their ambition is to become top-class professional rugby players and aspire to play for Ireland.

“It’s important that they leave here with an appreciation that nothing comes in isolation. You can be a talented rugby player but you don’t have the athleticism. You can have the athleticism but you don’t have aspects of the rugby that’s required.”

Lifestyle choices can compromise ambition and that’s stressed too. Clarke oversees a team of about 50, professional and voluntary, that includes coaches, managers, physiotherapists, fitness staff, video analysts, academy managers, elite player development officers, and administrative staff who fulfil important roles in the success of the venture.

He explained: “This isn’t Irish professional staff running all teams. There is an integration of school masters, experienced people from the club world, from all walks of life. Together we are trying to achieve what’s best. They (coaching staff) are identifying their best 26 or so players but we are also working to try and help every player individually.”

Players sleep, eat and train on campus and have a very busy programme. The mental and physical assessments are rigorous. For the U-18 age grade there is an orientation lecture that is directed at players and their parents, who are obliged to attend. Every aspect of the pathway is explained in detail, offering a more holistic than purely rugby outlook. Irish Sports Council representatives speak to the players about drugs and drug testing in sport.

Of the 115 that attend this camp, probably fewer than half a dozen will go on to play for Ireland at senior level. The attrition rate is colossal and the cull may begin before the year is out. Clarke said: “There are people here who might not be invited back at Christmas. There are others who have not been successful in being selected in the first instance who through performance on the pitch, eclipse those who are here.

“Next season there will be others left out who mature and overtake their peers . . . Failing everything else, if the least a young man leaving this camp with is a desire to be the best he can be and that desire takes him into the club world where he experiences his enjoyment for rugby, then he will have no regrets later in life. Every young man is told that: person first, player second.”