Munster Rugby Development Department Season In Stats

It was a successful season for our Rugby Development Department as they worked hard to forge pathways and develop rugby players across the department

Scroll down to see some of the stats from the department this season.

Club Community Rugby Officer (CCRO) Scheme:

This season 36 part-time CCROs were employed in Munster with 45 clubs and 3rd level colleges partnering in co-funding the roles. The CCROs were an integral part of the support system that was created to help clubs grow the game.

The CCROs collaborated with clubs to bring rugby to schools within the locality. They ran beginner sessions to encourage the students to give rugby a try with the hope that they’ll join up with their local clubs at a later stage.

Video | CCRO Induction Day 2024

Primary Schools

A view of a recent blitz day in Dungarvan RFC

264 primary schools took part in the Play Rugby programme this season. This initiative was introduced to create a safe space for young children to learn the game of rugby through games and fun activities.

Due to the high levels of participation in this programme the department were able to facilitate 47 blitz days.

As well as blitz days the department collaborated with the clubs to host different rugby events. This year saw Clonmel RFC host its first ever Spirit Of Rugby blitz in April with 42 teams from 21 clubs across Munster and Leinster travelling to take part.

Additionally, the Development Officers were also on hand to host this year’s Munster Rugby Easter Camp where 91 kids descended on to Virgin Media Park for two days of games and fun.

Secondary Schools

A view of the North Munster Emerging Schools Finals Day

The Emerging Schools Programme also saw success this year with 117 secondary schools engaging in both the boy’s and girl’s programmes.

The Development Department successfully ran 29 U14, 20 U15 and 13 U17  boys blitz days with a total of 6500 students taking part.

There were also 14 girls Emerging School blitz days held with a further 1600 girls taking part.

As well as the numerous 15-a-side blitz days the department also held 7-a-side blitzes to facilitate schools with smaller numbers with a total of 800 partaking in these games.

They also facilitated 13 transition year coaching courses to encourage the next generation to consider a career in coaching. These programmes enabled a further 275 students to become qualified coaches.

Video | Mount Mercy College TY Coaching Course

College Rugby

A view of this years Twilight 10s

Twilight 10s returned once again this year with games in both the men’s and the women’s divisions. The men’s had 22 players involved while the women’s had 30.

This season also saw six Munster 3rd Level Institutions operate with college Rugby Development Officers. This expansion has allowed the game to continue to grow and thrive amongst the colleges.

One key indicator of this growth was the return of the NMCI rugby team for the first time in five years. You can read all about the teams return here.

Summer Camp Programmes

The 2024 Munster Rugby Summer Camps took place in 23 venues across the province with 1939 children participating over the eight weeks. This was an increase of over 200 children compared to the 2023 edition.

Two boys School Of Excellence residential camps were held this season in Rockwell College with 248 attendees. We were delighted to also welcome two players and a coach from Play Rugby USA to one of the camps this season.

Play Rugby USA’s mission is to provide life-changing experiences and game-changing interventions through rugby. They aim to inspire and empower youths from disadvantaged areas around New York City.

The New York Friends of Munster dinner is hosted annually and raises vital funds for grassroots rugby here in Munster. As Play Rugby USA share the same goal as Munster Rugby, to inspire and develop the next generation of rugby players, it was a great opportunity to invite two players and a coach involved in Play Rugby USA to experience a once in a lifetime trip to Ireland and have them train under some of our best coaches for a week.

One girls School Of Excellence residential camp was held in Bandon Grammar with 140 girl in attendance.

Check out the videos below to learn more about our School Of Excellence camps.

Video | Play Rugby USA Attends Munster Rugby School Of Excellence

Video | Munster Rugby Girls School Of Excellence 2024

As well as the School Of Excellence Munster Rugby also hosted three boys Excellence Camps in Cork, Limerick and Kerry with 204 players taking part.

There was also one girls Excellence camp held with 19 attendees.

Video | Munster Rugby Excellence Camp 2024

The Munster Rugby English and Rugby camps returned for 2024 with two camps taking place in MTU with 48 international students in attendance.

The two-week programme is for students between the ages of 13 and 16 years who wish to develop their English language and improve their rugby skills.

Students will build and develop their confidence in communicating in English and increase their vocabulary and social English while learning more about rugby values including teamwork, respect and integrity.

Coach Education

12 IRFU coaching courses took place around the province this season with 349 participants.

As well as that the organisation also hosted six Coaching Children courses with 159 attendees, four Coaching Youth courses with 153 people in attendance, one Senior Coaching course with 37 participants and one Performance course with nine attendees.

This brought the total of newly qualified coaches to 707 for the year.

As well as the numerous coaching awards there were 34 Active Coaching Badge workshops run throughout the season. These were done both online and in person and were attended by 658 people from all corners of the province.

Four Women’s Practical Coaching courses ran along with individual club and school workshops across the course of the season as did a Coaching Teenage Girls workshop that had 27 coaches taking part on the day.

There were six Munster attendees at the IRFU Performance course earlier this season, five of whom have already completed their award.

Additionally, Rugby Development Officers held internal club and school workshops across the province while also providing numerous coaches with resources including session plans, games and activities.

Video | Munster Rugby Youth Coaching Course

Player Development

Summer Programme

The player development programme kicked off proceedings for the 2024/2025 season with their respective summer programmes. These programmes took place in Virgin Media Park and UL with boys U19s, U18 Clubs and U18 Schools as well as the girls U18 squads all taking part in the interprovincial series.

Our boys U17 Clubs and U17 Schools along with our girls U17 and U16 squads also had full summer programmes to kick start their Munster Rugby pathway.

Video | Munster U18 Girls Interpro Preparations

Video | Munster U19 Men Interpro Preparations

Video | Munster U18 Clubs Interpro Preparations

Video | Munster U18 Schools Interpro Preparations

Boys Regional Development Squads

The RDS winter programme took place on Monday throughout the season. These sessions took place across four regional centres: UL, Virgin Media Park, Fethard Town Park and MTU Kerry.

Across the whole programme there were 70 training sessions, 27 games and 8 position specific skills sessions with over 110 players taking part.

Girls Regional Development Squads (Operating at U17 and U18 levels)

The girls RDS programme operated over two training centres, Virgin Media Park and UL, hosting 28 sessions throughout the season.

The Zara Horan regional competition at U18.5 level was a new addition to the season calendar. Taking place across the season it was contested by the four regions within the province: North Munster, South Munster, East Munster and West Munster.

The main aim of the competition was to further support the growth of the women’s player development pathway. South Munster were the winners of this season’s competition.

Throughout the competition 30 training sessions were hosted and 14 games were played.

In addition to the Zara Horan competition there were four U16 trial days, two Munster U18 games and two Munster U17 games.

Club Select Player Programme (CSP)

The CSP (Club Select Player) programme is a player development initiative in Munster which sees age-grade club players play in high intensity games in the pre-Christmas pool stages of the Munster Schools Junior and Senior Cups.

The programme, which is run in conjunction with the players’ respective development programmes at their clubs, sees representation from a wide-range of clubs throughout the province.

This was run in conjunction with the RDS programme and saw the U16s take part in the Munster Schools Boys Junior Cup Group Stages, where they topped their group, the U17s played four games against club opposition and schools Bowen shield teams and the U19s took part in the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup group stages ultimately finishing third in their group.

We caught up with Fiach O’Loughlin, Munster’s Player Development Lead and head coach of the U16 CSP side, earlier this season to learn more about the programme and it’s importance in the players development pathway.

Video | Munster Rugby Club Select Player Programme

Provincial Matches

Our age grade teams played Connacht at U17, U18 and U19 Boys and U17 and U18 Girls during the February midterm.

During Easter the U18 Clubs and Schools teams played Ulster and the U18 Clubs and U19’s played games against Leinster.

The Girls U18s played Connacht during the Easter break