Midlands rugby fans will have an opportunity to see the stars of the future in Mullingar as the local club host one of the games in Ireland’s U19s annual Easter series against France.
This two-game series will take place in Creggs Rugby Club and Mullingar Rugby Club. There will be particular Westmeath interest as three young Buccaneers players (Andrew Henson, Rourke O’Sullivan and Leo Anic) featured on the Ireland U19 squad.
The Mullingar RFC fixture takes place on Sunday, April 12, and sees the Ireland Under-19s take on the France U20 Development XV.
Mullingar RFC Club president Ciarán Murtagh explained their involvement: “The IRFU are looking at ways of developing opportunities to allow people access to international games outside the capital. Examples of this are the U20 Six Nations championship that has taken place in Cork and the Women’s Six Nations that is taking place at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway.
“It’s part of a move by the IRFU to mix up the venues hosting international rugby games and spread the interest. We were obviously delighted to be asked to host this game and I think players and fans will be happy because of the ease of access and the facilities available to them.”
Westmeath has hosted underage internationals before. Dubarry Park in Athlone, the home ground of Buccaneers RFC, was the venue for Ireland Under-20s Six nations games in the mid 2000s. Ciarán is delighted to see a national team return to play in the midlands: “There was a great interest in the games at that time, but I think rugby has become even more popular in the intervening years. The quality of underage rugby has also risen.
“Many of the under-19s and under-20s players are playing at a professional standard. It attracts a large crowd and it’s definitely very entertaining for the spectators,” Ciarán said.
Mullingar RFC have produced some significant names from the pantheon of Irish rugby, including the likes of Seán O’Brien, Conor O’Brien, Conor Gilsenan, Mark Flanagan, Jack Boyan, and of course Jo Schmidt. The Mullingar club president says hosting this international may inspire future players: “I think it’s a reflection of all the work that’s going on in Mullingar.
“We had it in our heads that as well as looking after our own younger players, and the player pool in general, we are able to attract Leinster to our facilities and IRFU events. So we’re delighted that they’re coming behind us on this,” he said.
The game comes as the domestic rugby season reaches a conclusion, and a bottleneck of fixtures manifest. The growth of the number and standard of pitches at Mullingar puts it in a very good position to deal with any problems: “It’s a really busy time of the year in rugby clubs with finals and semifinals going on. The work we have undertaken has given us the capacity to be able to take something like this in Mullingar.
“Once you go outside of the Aviva, Musgrave Park, Thomond Park or Dexcom, there aren’t too many places that can cater for a decent crowd the way we can. We have parking spaces for about 500 cars.”
Ciarán hopes that the people of Westmeath will come out in support of the Ireland U19 team, and also show that there is an appetite for this sort of fixture outside the urban centres of population: “Obviously the teams will have their own supporters, family, friends, and teammates and general rugby enthusiasts. We are hoping the people of the midlands also come out and take a look at what are the best players born in 2007 to represent Ireland. These will be the players of the future, and we hope it might inspire a few of our younger players to want to get to that level in a few years’ time when they come around to under-19s age grade.”
• The Ireland U19s take on the France U20 Development XV at Mullingar RFC on Sunday, April 12; kick-off at 2.30pm.