6 Nations
McKee Appointment ‘A Very Important One For Women’s Programme’
IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora confirmed at a media briefing today that John McKee has joined the Ireland Women’s coaching team on a full-time basis.
McKee was brought in as a technical advisor and forwards coach for their summer tour to Japan. He ‘really enjoyed working with the group and the whole backroom team’, and said there were ‘very good signs for the squad going forward’.
The Wellington-born coach has now been signed up as a senior coach to the Ireland Women’s side, supporting head coach Greg McWilliams, and the pair will coordinate the Women’s 15s programme at the IRFU High Performance Centre.
“John, who went on the tour to Japan as a consultant, is coming on board full-time,” announced Nucifora. “He’s an incredibly experienced coach. For over 20 years, he’s coached professionally. He’s been in Clermont, he was in Connacht so he has Irish connections out there.
“He coached at the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups with Tonga and Fiji respectively. He’s coming on board as a senior coach to the Women’s team, supporting Greg (McWilliams).
“John will also be working full-time in the Women’s programme that will run out of the HPC as the coordinator of that programme with Greg. So we’ve added some significant firepower into that space.”
2023 is shaping up to be a huge year for the Ireland Women – their TikTok Women’s Six Nations schedule includes home games against France and England – and the dawn of the new WXV international competition which will be played next September and October.
World Rugby’s three-tier WXV will feature 16 teams and form a key part of the Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification process. To play in the top-tier WXV 1, Ireland need a top three finish in the Six Nations.
To aid with preparations for their Six Nations campaign, an Irish team will play in a three-team Celtic Cup competition in January and February, according to Nucifora.
“To start with, the Women’s Celtic Cup will have three teams in it – one from Ireland, one from Wales, and one from Scotland,” he revealed. “The Irish team will be made up of players that are based here on the island.
“We’ll be looking to use that as a competition to try and develop more of the up-and-coming players. That will be their match opportunity, and obviously the players that are full-time in the programme here will be available to play in that as well.
“That will be year one. Year two that competition will build to a six-team competition where there’ll be two teams from each of those countries. Beyond that, our ambition over three to five years is to build that to four Irish teams.”
Reacting to today’s news regarding McKee, Ireland head coach McWilliams dubbed it a ‘very important appointment for the Women’s programme’.
The Dubliner, who guided the girls in green to wins over Italy, Scotland and Japan during his first year in charge, tweeted: “Absolutely delighted to have John come on board full-time with the Ireland Women’s 15s programme from November 1.
“A brilliant mind and one of the game’s true gentlemen. Grateful and so, so happy.”
From a player’s point of view, flanker Edel McMahon gave a sense of the impact McKee had during the historic tour to Japan in August, agreeing that he was ‘brilliant to work with’.
“John is very direct and clear in his coaching points, so it’s very easy to know what he’s talking about – this is what we’re doing and then we go out and rep it,” she explained at the time.
“There’s no grey area around his coaching. I like that, it’s very straightforward. So, yeah, he’s been very good for us.
“He’s gelled very well with the squad. You can always pick his brain, especially from my point of view on the breakdown and the lineout.”
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
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