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Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Matt Williams: Irish rugby should value the URC above the faltering Champions Cup
It is no crash that if we charted the rise of the Irish national team alongside the introduction of our indigenous provincial club competition, the two lines would almost overlap. In the amateur era, the AIL club competition was dominant in Ireland, with the provincial teams playing only a handful of representative games. This structure placed Irish rugby and the national team in an extraordinarily weak position during Ireland's transition to professionalism in the late 1990s. While I am a great supporter of our AIL clubs and believe that today, they are our rugby community's lifeblood, in the late 1990s the AIL structure spread Ireland's elite playing talent far too thinly across the many clubs. READ MORE It was the introduction of the original multinational provincial competition in 2001, titled the Celtic League, that created a meaningful season-long playing programme for our provincial teams, which triggered the sudden rise of Irish rugby. For over a century, South African provinces competed for the Curry Cup. Since 1904, the New Zealand provinces had fought over the Ranfurly Shield, which eventually evolved into their National Provincial Championship competition. In France, winning the Bouclier de Brennus in the French championship has always been regarded as the pinnacle of their sport. While in Australia, before the formation of the Brumbies in 1996, the contests between Queensland and New South Wales not only spilled a lot of blood but produced the Wallaby players who won the 1984 Grand Slam and the 1991 World Cup. When I arrived in Ireland 25 years ago, Irish rugby desperately required a meaningful, season long, provincial competition and the Celtic League delivered that. Today's United Rugby Championship is the grandchild of the Celtic League. Since its conception, it has morphed into a unique rugby polyglot competition containing an extraordinarily diverse array of teams from Italy, South Africa and the three Celtic nations. Extraordinarily, the URC spans both hemispheres. So it is being played simultaneously in summer and winter. In the same round, games can be played in the heat of a southern summer, at altitude on the South African Highveld, with another game being played on a cool crisp evening in Milan, or a contest under a torrential lashing from an Atlantic gale in Galway. Munster's Jean Kleyn training in Durban. Photograph: Steve Haag/Inpho Supporters who journey to follow their team could be sipping magnificent wine from the Constantia Valley while enjoying the culinary wonders of a South African Braai. Or perhaps sampling the delights of a local restaurateur's Italian Nonas recipe from northern Italy. Or the gastronomic joys that can be found along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way or in the mist of the Scottish Highlands. So, with all of these unique points of difference, why does the Irish rugby community not hold the URC in far more prestige? Many in Ireland are clinging to the memories of an era that has now passed, wrongly obsessed with the bisected remains of the once great Heineken Cup. Today's Champions Cup is a competition that has been designed by British and French administrators to limit the possibility of Irish provincial teams' success. In creating the Round of 16, the Champions Cup has failed to ensure the most basic of sporting competition principles, that teams actually need to win games before they make the playoffs of the competition. After a rigorous 18 rounds of hard fought, high-quality home and away fixtures in the URC, the rigorous competition has required the Scarlets, who are the lowest qualifying team for the quarter-finals, to accumulate 48 competition points, made up of nine wins, a draw and 10 bonus points. The lowest qualifier in the URC is required to have a winning record of 50 per cent across an arduous 18 games. The Champions Cup provided Ulster with a place in the Round of 16 with a winning record of one win in four games. A 25 per cent gets you into a Champions Cup playoff. What a joke. The URC has created a competition structure of the highest quality, which has empowered Irish provinces with the opportunities to select the next generation of players like Jack Crowley and Sam Prendergast. While at the same time it has enabled our great players such as Peter O'Mahony, Jonny Sexton and Conor Murray to prolong their careers. They would not have enjoyed the longevity of playing for Ireland into their mid-thirties if their careers had been spent under the heel of owners in the Top 14 or the English Premiership. A general view of the URC trophy in Pretoria. Photograph: Steve Haag/Inpho There is no doubt that the addition of the South African teams has created logistical difficulties. Last week, Munster played at home. This week they are in Cape Town. Next week, they could remain in South Africa or be back in the north. That is problematic for all involved. However, the inclusion of the South African teams has lifted the standard of play inside the URC by a considerable margin. The quality of rugby that has been played across this season in the URC has been exceptionally high. In today's URC, winning away from home against Benneton, Glasgow or in Pretoria or Llanelli is exceptionally difficult. There is also no doubt that the defection of the South African teams to the URC has significantly weakened the standard of the Super Rugby competition. The South Africans would be welcomed back to the south in a Super Rugby heartbeat. Here we should take a leaf out of French rugby's play book. To the French, the Top 14 remains their pinnacle. Several French players have told me they regard winning the Top 14 above winning the World Cup. Even as Bordeaux are still celebrating their Champions Cup success, those players will tell you that trophy remains a significant step below the Bouclier de Brennus. Irish rugby needs to respect, nurture and value the URC above all else because it is the fuel that is powering rugby across the island.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Why Leinster now have to win the URC
This weekend was a quiet one for Irish rugby, with no provincial involvement in the Champions Cup final. Still, plenty of intriguing storylines emerged; Noel McNamara's triumph, Henry Pollock's return back to Earth plus the curious level of antipathy towards this game in Ireland. Gordon D'Arcy joins Nathan Johns to discuss rugby's place in the sporting calendar, how important it is that Leinster win the URC this year, the mentality of winning and losing as well as the newly announced Club World Cup set for 2028. Produced by John Casey.
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Matt Williams: The IRFU gets almost all the big calls right, but axeing the men's Sevens programme is shameful
For many years, politics within the IRFU kept Ireland from participating in the global Sevens programme. In 2009, the excitement surrounding Sevens reached fever pitch when the game was accepted into the Olympics . Yet Ireland remained steadfast in refusing to participate until 2014. During that period, the IRFU's stance astounded me and many others in Irish rugby. [ IRFU to axe men's sevens programme following review ] I became part of a loose coalition of former players, coaches and administrators who publicly and privately agitated for Ireland to enter both men's and women's squads into the World Sevens. The IRFU's public stance against joining the World Sevens circuit was because of financial restraints. Sound familiar? READ MORE However, we were informed via back channels that the real reason was highly political, as theoretically an Ireland Sevens player from Northern Ireland could declare for the Great British team before the Olympics. At the Olympic Games, the IRFU is not the governing body, it is the Olympic Federation of Ireland . The astounding strength of Irish rugby's alliance between North and South that has stood firm against the most arduous of political tests rightly remains sacrosanct within the IRFU. The feedback that reached our group's frustrated ears was that Ireland was refusing to join the World Sevens because the IRFU was being ultra-cautious to avoid even the slightest possibility of ever having to face the problem of a player leaving an Irish team to join a Great British Olympic team. Many plausible solutions were put to the IRFU on their hypothetical problem. The most simple of the proposals was the creation of a watertight contract for Sevens players to declare for Ireland before playing a game. Multiple unofficial communications were held over tea, coffee or pints with supportive members of the special committee who were tasked with looking at the possibility of Ireland joining the World Sevens circuit. Still, for several years, the IRFU rejected all proposals. As a result, it was not until 2019 that Ireland's men's team finally qualified for the World Sevens programme. Ireland celebrate winning gold in the men's rugby Sevens final at the 2023 European Games and qualifying for the Paris Olympics. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO In all my many experiences with the IRFU administrators, they have got the vast majority of their big decisions absolutely right. We only have to look across the water at the financial shambles and the high-performance train crashes that are happening at various levels of the game in England, Scotland and Wales to see that the path the IRFU administrators have trodden has Irish rugby financially secure and performing on the field far above almost every other union on the planet. However, on the matter of the Irish men's Sevens programme, the long years of delay before the IRFU finally gave it the green light denied generations the opportunity to compete on the global and Olympic stage. That long delay remains a deeply flawed decision by the IRFU. There is a sentence that every union on the planet has in their constitution that states one of their core responsibilities is 'to grow and foster the game of rugby'. It does not say to grow and foster only the 15s version of the game. Sevens is a unique and integral part of rugby's history. Like all sports, rugby is in a state of constant change, and Sevens has evolved at an astonishing speed. It is now a unique hybrid game that stands almost totally divorced from the men's 15-a-side game. Public statements from the IRFU that the men's World Sevens and Olympic programmes can only be viewed as a vehicle to produce players for the 15s game is out of touch with reality. Sevens Rugby is a singularly elite sport. It is not a step along the path of a player's developmental process to play 15s. The IRFU are wrong to compare international sevens with provincial academies. The crucial aspect in Sevens evolution is that it has opened up rugby to a different calibre of athlete who has natural rugby skills and buckets of aerobic and anaerobic fitness. While Sevens players are exceptionally athletic, you don't have to be a bulging genetic mammoth performing as a battering ram in a mindless 7-1 bench to play Sevens rugby. Jordan Conroy scores Ireland's second try against New Zealand in the men's rugby Sevens at last year's Paris Olympics. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/INPHO Those who watched the Paris Olympics Sevens tournament were captivated by the exceptional skill, athleticism and courage that was on display. This was not a developmental tournament for 15s. It was elite sporting entertainment in which Ireland's men's and women's teams were wonderful contributors. The decision to abandon the men's Irish Sevens programme has broken the hearts and shattered the dreams of generations of players. As children, we started to play the game because we hoped that one day we could be like our heroes. I wonder how many little boys and girls watched the Olympic Sevens tournament in Paris and said to themselves: 'One day I am going to do that.' One of the IRFU's most sacred responsibilities is to ensure there will always be the opportunity for the dreams of our young rugby boys and girls to come true. That our young men can no longer dream of playing for Ireland at an Olympic Games because the IRFU says they cannot afford men's Sevens borders on the shameful. While budgets are real, savings should have been made in other areas to ensure that Ireland's men will continue to represent the nation at world sport's greatest event, the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, rugby minnows such as Kenya, Uruguay and Spain must be selling raffle tickets to raise money, because they are capable of sending their men's teams on the Sevens circuit. This makes the IRFU decision appear even more farcical. It has taken over a decade for Irish rugby to develop the pathways and infrastructure that now empowers our superb men's and women's Sevens athletes to compete on equal terms with the world's best. For the IRFU to abandon that generation of work, which has created the men's Sevens programme, is to walk away from a huge part of rugby's future. This decision is rightly being seen by many in the rugby community as a dereliction of duty by their governing body. History is a ruthless editor and the IRFU's chapter on men's Sevens makes for some ugly reading.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Aoife Wafer interview: I wore a scrum cap to hide my hair so boys would treat me the same
Of all the talent that has emerged from the rugby hotbed of Leinster in recent years, it is one of the province's women's players whose story is perhaps the most fascinating. Aoife Wafer, one of the breakout stars from an improving Ireland side, no longer has designs to play club rugby in her home country, having on Thursday been unveiled by Harlequins. Her rationale for joining England's Premiership Women's Rugby is simple. 'I want to test myself and I want to be the best in the world,' Wafer tells Telegraph Sport at Twickenham Stoop. 'Coming to the environment at Harlequins will help me to do that.' Having been named in World Rugby's 2024 team of the year and won Six Nations player of the championship for 2025, Wafer is the most exciting overseas recruit to the PWR since the arrival of United States superstar Ilona Maher at the start of the year. Her exploits on the international stage have transformed her into a standard-bearer for Irish women's rugby and have earned her admiration from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll. What a year it's been for Aoife Wafer 🤩🏆 Full Interview here ➡️ #GuinnessW6N #GuinnessPOTC @IrishRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) May 19, 2025 🗣"You want to have that individual's respect." 🗣"They inspire others to improve their game." Brian O'Driscoll outlines his admiration for Aoife Wafer and her ambition to be the best player in the world. #Rugby @BankOfIreland #NeverStopCompeting — Off The Ball (@offtheball) April 22, 2025 Deceptively mobile and a powerful weapon off the base of the scrum, Wafer topped the charts for carries and made a staggering 424.7 metres in this year's Six Nations – a tally that surpassed many back-three players. But it was her polished performance against New Zealand last autumn – when Ireland stunned the world champions – that left a lasting impression on Harlequins head coach Ross Chisholm, who describes the 22-year-old as 'world class'. Even Wafer's trademark red scrum cap has made her something of a cult heroine in her homeland. 'When we were down at Musgrave Park in Cork [ against England during the Six Nations ], there were kids asking me to sign red scrum caps,' she says. 'It's the coolest feeling and it's only going to get bigger with the World Cup being so close to Ireland.' The scrum cap was Wafer's vehicle for acceptance at her childhood club, Gorey RFC, where she started out as a six-year-old on the boys' team. 'Little Aoife thought it would hide her hair,' she says, laughing. 'I had bright blonde hair down to my backside and I thought wearing a scrum cap would hide it because then maybe the boys would treat me the same. Obviously my hair hung out the back of it so they could all see it anyway! 'It's quite tough at that age. They don't want to pass you the ball because you're a girl. They don't want to tackle you because you're a girl. But once you score a few tries they're like, 'God we don't want girls scoring tries – just tackle her!' It's gas. Once the lads got on board, they were my biggest supporters. 'When I started making the likes of Leinster Under-18s or Ireland Under-18s, some of our games started being streamed. My late grandmother, Cathy Wafer, would watch all the games and having a red scrum cap was an easy way for her to pick me out on the pitch. So wearing it now is a way of honouring her.' 💪 Aoife Wafer doing Aoife Wafer things 🤩 #GuinnessW6N @IrishRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 20, 2025 How proud her late grandmother would have been to see her further her career at a club that have been trying to lure her for the past year. Earlier this month, Harlequins flew Wafer over to south-west London to secure her signature and film promotional content. A drone specialist was even hired to capture her 'unveiling' video at the Stoop and come September, Wafer will be housed in one of the cottages in Guildford owned by the club. In the context of a sport that is still loss-making – the salary cap of the league will be pushed up to £255,000 next season – it is both serious and doubly impressive. An approach this innovative is yet to be mirrored across the women's club game in Ireland, where the Irish Rugby Football Union's historic neglect of women's XVs rugby has resulted in the country playing catch-up with the Rugby Football Union's world-leading Red Roses and PWR. While Wafer is not the first Irish player to join the PWR, her move could lead the IRFU to start haemorrhaging more home-grown talent because of its strict contracting policy. The union currently reserves contracts for players – 37 were signed up last season – who are based in Ireland. With Wafer's deal running until the end of the World Cup, should she then get injured whilst playing or training for Harlequins, the responsibility to cover the medical costs falls on the club rather than the union. Should others follow in her footsteps, there could be parallels with the RFU's own talent drain to France in the men's game. So does the IRFU's policy need a rethink? 'There's good things and bad things about it,' says Wafer, diplomatically. 'It was a difficult decision for a lot of different reasons, my family being the main one. To test myself against some Red Roses will only better me as a player. Who knows? In a few years, what Ireland plan on doing is really exciting. They're planning on potentially contracting players to the provinces. Who knows, I could be back at Leinster and be contracted to be a professional there with my home province.' One thing she will be packing in her suitcase is her tin whistle. Wafer is a talented musician, who also plays the traditional flute, the uilleann pipes and the classical flute. 'When you're in the midst of a campaign, it's like an escape,' she says. 'I love it. When we were over in Canada last year for WXV, the girls would go shopping and I'd stay in and play a bit of music. It's like bringing a bit of Ireland with me everywhere I go.' As someone already being lauded as a generational player, Wafer will be looking to hit top notes next season.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ireland's Wafer named as player of Women's Six Nations
Ireland forward Aoife Wafer has been named as the Women's Six Nations player of the championship for back row earned 41% of a fans' vote, emerging as the winner from a shortlist of four other players nominated were England wing Abby Dow, France second row Manae Feleu and Scotland back row Evie 18,500 votes were cast, with Wafer edging out Feleu by just 333 finished as the joint-second highest try scorer in the Six Nations with four tries - matching the most by any forward in the took her tally to 12 tries in 15 caps for addition, she made 70 carries, the most by any player, covering 424.7 metres and beating 17 defenders - the second-highest total for a 22-year-old's performances helped Ireland secure third place in the was also named on the team of the tournament alongside team-mates Neve Jones and Aoife Dalton. 'Inspiring the younger generation' Commenting on her award, Wafer said: "It means the world to me because I want to be the best in the world, and I want my name up there with those Irish women's rugby stars; I feel that this award is a little step towards that."It's huge for me but also for our team; it really shows how much we have done in the last two years and how much we are growing. This trophy is not just mine: it's for the team, it's for my family. It's more so for them than it is for me."It's great to be nominated and win this trophy, and hopefully this can inspire the younger generation to pick a rugby ball or to pick up any sport."Ireland will next be in action when they play World Cup warm-ups against Scotland and Canada at the start of face Japan, Spain and New Zealand in Pool C of the World Cup in August and September.
