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chools rugby is a massive part of the game in Ireland, with the schools system consistently producing most of our international players. While many of us associate the sport at school level with the elite Dublin clubs – Blackrock College, St Mary’s, Terenure and so on – in fact, rugby is played by over 36,000 children in 1,131 schools across the country every week!
Keep fit, make friends, get active
Playing rugby as a kid or teenager at school is simply a great way to form friendships, keep fit and boost your confidence for years to come. From as young as five, kids can get involved in tag rugby – all you need is a pair of boots and clothes that you can run around in. John Byrne, 18, started playing rugby when he was eight and loved it from the start. “All my friends were playing, so I played,” he says. John played centre and full back at St Michael’s College in Dublin and has now been coaching at Old Belvedere for three years, training under-11s, under-12s and recently under-14s.
Build your confidence and have fun What’s great about rugby is that it’s a sport you have to be fully involved in, says John – even from an early age you can’t hang back. Not only does it keep kids fit and get them playing and working with other kids, it’s also building up their confidence all the time. “It definitely helped me develop my confidence,” he says. “When it gets to senior level you have to either step up or step out.” You learn social skills as well as sports skills every step of the way. “Trust in your teammates, knowing your teammates well is hugely important. Communication is key. “Rugby is a social game – you train hard and then have the craic afterwards.”
Schools rugby at the Rugby Show
Schools rugby will be a huge part of The Rugby Show Live 2009 at the RDS. Young players can talk and listen to Reggie Corrigan at the Scrum Clinic – find out the right way to go into a scrum and how to train properly, and much more. Brent Pope says: “If I was a young player coming down to the Rugby Show I’d be saying, ‘Okay, what should I be eating? When should I start weight training?’ Or, if I had a knee injury, I’d ask what I should be doing to strengthen that. Ask questions of the guys at the show – that’s what it’s there for.” Schools rugby has never been in better shape, and with so many people playing, T h e Rugby Show L i v e 2009 is a fantastic opportunity to up your game.
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m You can't pass the ball forward m You can't knock (drop) the ball forward m You can't tackle above the shoulders (high tackle) m You can't talk back to the referee m You must always wrap-up during a tackle m You must release the ball once you are tackled to the ground m You must be on your feet to play the ball on the ground m You can't block
KNOW Blackrock College's Winning Senior Cup Team 2009
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Western Samoa's first international was against Fiji in 1924. The game kicked off at 7am so the Samoans could go to work afterwards and the match was quite unusual because it was played in a local park, and there was a tree in the centre of the pitch!
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S ION T I T E P COM skills f l n new Lear est yourse ! and t st the best again
UNSCRAMBLE the names of these famous rugby clubs: 1. NSETRUM 2. PSWAS 3. NOLDON HISIR 4. INSTLERE 5. OULTOUES
6. LSCETARS 7. EINDHGRUB 8. LSTURE 9. ONNCTHUAG
1. MUNSTER, 2. WASPS, 3. LONDON IRISH, 4. LEINSTER, 5. TOULOUSE, 6. SCARLETS, 7. EDINBURUGH, 8. ULSTER, 9.CONNAUGHT
Schools rugby is a great way to make friends, keep fit, and has produced some of our top international stars, writes Ben Murnane
FACT BOXES Rugby is said to have been invented in England in 1823 when a guy picked up the ball during a soccer game and decided to run with it. The first rugby balls were made from pigs' bladders. Rugby was once an Olympic sport and was last played at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. The first World Cup of Rugby was played in 1987 and was won by New Zealand. In 2003, England was said to have the most rugby players with 634,460 England. Ireland had only 15,000. Pope John Paul II was a rugby player. He represented Poland at rugby.
Rugby union was famously an amateur sport until the IRB declared the game 'open' in 1995, removing restrictions on payments to players.
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