Kanturk benefitting from quality coaches
IT seems that with most top Irish teams, club, provincial or national, a coach from the southern hemisphere is a prerequisite for success. Of course the countries of Australia and New Zealand are famed for their knowledge and ability at the game so it is hard to blame Irish sides from going down that path.
Kanturk are also in the enviable position of being able to call upon a knowledgeable figure in the game to guide them in the AIL with now local lad Ben Martin spearheading their fight for survival in senior rugby.
Martin, a native of New South Wales in Australia, has plenty experience of the Irish game and spent five years with UL Bohemians as well as time with Bruff and Clonmel RFC before settling into his role as head coach with the Duhallow AIL 2C side. Martin also experienced life in French rugby spending three years at Colomiers RFC, just outside Toulouse.
The club has also managed to engage the services of other high profile ex-players in their club set up with former Ireland international Elaine Buckley, front and centre when it came to setting up the Ladies team.
Buckley, a veteran of three World Cups (Scotland, Holland and Spain), with 29 international caps has brought all her skills and experience to the table in this ambitious, long term project.
The former UL Bohemians hooker, along with Kanturk RFC have taken a prudent approach to starting the ladies club by commencing with girls (under 18) rather than going straight for adult rugby.
It is incumbent on rugby clubs around the province to attract, retain, develop and entertain kids if the game of rugby in Munster has any chance of getting back to the glory days.
While professional rugby clubs have the option of using the transfer market to strengthen, the game in Ireland thankfully still depends heavily on the local player and that is where youth and mini rugby programs come into their own.
Kanturk Rugby Club, more than most in the county, need to run good introductory programs for kids as the club has so many teams at the higher age groups that require steady streams of new blood.
Front and centre in the Kanturk mini club is the Director of Mini rugby, Jim Geary. Breen may not have had to travel the same distance as Martin to get to Kanturk, as he lives in Liscarrol however he does work in Germany each week but this doesn’t have any negative impact on the setup as Jim has a brilliant team around him. Kanturk currently has over 150 registered players from ages 6 to 11.
Clubs like Kanturk RFC need volunteers and experienced mentors if they are to survive in the dog-eat-dog world of modern day sports and thankfully for the Duhallow club in this regard they are top of the table.