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Irish Daily Mirror
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
The grown-up kids from the rest of Leinster's 12 County Army are on the march
Sam Prendergast made his Ireland debut last November, started his first Six Nations game in February and is expected to be named on the Lions panel on May 8. Jamie Osborne, Jimmy O'Brien, Will Connors and, now, Diarmuid Mangan look like they will play a major role on Ireland's summer tour. It is becoming clear that the county in the self-styled 12 County Army that is rising is Kildare and after that Wicklow where, following the emergence of James Culhane, Leinster could start a complete Garden County back-row of Jack Conan, Connors and Culhane. Leinster attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal was a 2010 New Zealand U20s World Cup winning out-half and captain and has a 'then and now' perspective on young players. Northern hemisphere rugby folk have often moaned about bone-density and the physical strength of the South Sea Island youngsters and their perceived built-in wish to throw the ball around. And now ANZAC rugby is spending this decade, noting not so much the narrowing size gap but trying to teach the disciplines and regimen associated and as practised across the northern hemisphere, not least by the Leinster Academy. 'Here at Leinster and in our senior squad now, the physicality, the size of our athletes is similar to New Zealand,' says Bleyendaal in a nod to the 12 County Army's notional 'farm boys'. 'It's just back home with the rugby population as it is, there are a lot of islanders who can be bigger or have a different skill set. 'The way youth is encouraged to throw the ball around, it's always that way, it's just part of growing up, but remember there is not much competitive touch rugby played. 'I think it's definitely evening out and you are seeing New Zealand trying to mimic a lot of the underage structures in Ireland now, where there are more competitions involved on this side of the world, which gives players at a young age more of that professional environment as they are going through. 'New Zealand wasn't always like that but is going towards that stage.' Sure Blackrock. St Michael's, Gonzaga, Belvedere, and the Dublin private school set have been given credit in newspapers as diverse as The Guardian and the NZ Herald for the rise and rise of the Leinster Academy, But the truth is places such as Kilkenny and Roscrea College, Naas, Enniskerry, Edenderry, Mullingar, Dundalk, Carlow and myriad other rugby's clubs' mini-rugby programmes are now back-boning the roll out. It is school and clubs such as these that have become a major contributor to the world's most admired academy. Enniskerry's James Culhane, who plays No8 today against the Scarlets, is making his 14th Leinster appearance but aged 22 he has already played No8 for Emerging Ireland, against Argentina last October. 'It's so important that we try to expand as much as we can, that it's just not Dublin where rugby is centred, because there is so much talent everywhere around Leinster,' he says of Leinster's future. 'It's just important to try and give everyone an opportunity to express that. Bring as many people through as you can.' He is one of four Wicklow players, along with Connors, Conan and Cormac Foley, that have been used in the first team this season. 'I'd never think of myself as different or anything like that, even if I did come through the main school system with Blackrock College. 'You're so proud to play for your school. It almost feels like the World Cup when you're playing in the Leinster Schools Cup. 'But I would have played for De La Salle RFC as well, that would have been the early part of my development in club rugby. 'But I wasn't thinking anything beyond that, it was just you love playing rugby with your friends. 'I was also playing GAA with Enniskerry and soccer with Enniskerry, Wayside and Cabinteely but that stopped over the summer of fourth year as I'd to concentrate on my Leaving Cert 'I was only really brought into a Leinster set-up at Leinster U20s maybe, I guess, because I was kind of injured in fourth and fifth year and really selected just coming out of school.' Not surprisingly there are those who contend Culhane's development had far more to do with DLSP on the Dublin-Wicklow border than an uninspiring Blackrock College team that suffered the ignominy of a first round Leinster Schools Cup defeat. Concurrently, Culhane has been able to watch similarly-aged, similarly-profiled Kildare tyro Mangan move one step ahead of him, being called up to Ireland squad training last February. 'Diarmuid has developed his game really well and he was always a huge talent. He probably thought he'd be playing more back-row this year. 'But he has really taken on that role well, taken the opportunity this year, was obviously in an Irish squad there in the Six Nations campaign. 'I don't know, maybe I'll be a second-row yet, who knows!' Mangan's Kildare cohorts Prenderast, Jimmy O'Brien, and Jamie and Andrew Osborne have also been making — different but notable in each case — breakthroughs this season. If Geordan Murphy, Tadhg Beirne, Will Connors and Cian Prendergast are to be considered Kildare prototypes and this quintet makes for a current crop, it seems they are just in the vanguard, as there is so much more coming. 'Yeah,' says Mangan, 'I was chatting with Jimmy O'Brien yesterday, we had breakfast and there were four lads from Newbridge College who could be pressing for the Academy next year, that's huge for the school. 'Because before that, it would have been just Jimmy and then myself and Sam. 'Clearly, Johnny Murphy's done a lot of good work there in terms of how competitive they've been over the last few seasons and getting to cup finals and semi-finals and it's huge for the school. 'But it's huge for the county as well because, say, Nass rugby club where I am from are very competitive in AIL 1B as well and that's massive because for young lads coming through, seeing your team playing at the top level of AIL, it's kind of what you want to be involved in.' Whatever about the numbers, what about the quality of this rising group; having namechecked Emerging Ireland, Ireland A and Ireland so far, we could be talking Lions this summer when it comes to Sam Prendergast. Mangan has been watching Prendergast, from Suncroft to Syria and back, for close up for 20 years. 'I have known him since I was maybe four or five years old, our dads were both in the Army working with the UN in Syria, so our families would have been very close and have a good connection and we are, obviously, the best of friends. 'When we would be over at his house for barbecues and stuff when we're younger, we'd always be playing on the green. 'I've got three brothers and there was himself and Cian so we'd always be playing tag rugby, soccer, Gaelic. 'And our rugby journey up through the ranks has been very similar in terms of playing at Newbridge College together, leaving school, Ireland U20s and stuff like that.' He has watched Prendergast arrive and make his mark at Leinster and Ireland. 'What he's done over the last 12 months is unbelievable, he's so calm and so able to take things in his stride and I think it's a testament to the character that he is. 'His skill level is just unbelievable. He's always had that kind of knack for skill, you can definitely see it now, he's able to kick off both feet, his range of passing is unbelievable so he's had those skills. 'I see his rise at the moment, how hard he works. It has given me huge belief and confidence that it's achievable and it definitely drives me along as well. 'Obviously, because I know him so well, we can chat so normally, we can bounce things off each other and that's been really helpful and in terms of me as a forward and conversations with him around kinds of shapes and stuff around the park and kind of what he kind of wants. 'So it's class to be able to play in these games with him and it feels kind of so natural. It's unbelievable when you kind of take a step back and kind of realise this is something we would have a chat about when we were 15/16 and it's happening now.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
Irish Independent
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘I was in a back brace for six months' – Leinster's James Culhane overcomes litany of injuries in time for season finale
Today at 21:30 James Culhane could never be accused of not putting his back into his sporting dreams. It is just three years since the latest talent from the perpetual Leinster back-row conveyor belt threatened to storm the citadel, awarded a pro deal after just eight appearances, as well as appearing on the first of two Emerging Ireland tours.
Irish Examiner
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
James Culhane: 'I think it's so important that it's just not Dublin where the rugby is centred. That we try to expand as much as we can'
When he was progressing through the ranks of schools, provincial and international rugby over the past few years, rising Leinster prospect James Culhane didn't have to look very far for the perfect source of inspiration. A native of Limerick, Culhane's father Paul was a talented rugby player in his own right. In addition to featuring in the Munster Schools Senior Cup with St Munchin's College in the Treaty County, the elder Culhane captained the Ireland U21s as well as the Irish Universities side. His son James followed in his footsteps to an extent when he was skipper of the Blackrock College side that won the Leinster Schools Junior Cup in 2018 and he was a virtual ever-present when the Ireland U20s won a Six Nations Grand Slam four years later. Throughout this time, Culhane Sr was always on hand to provide guidance to the bustling back-row if it was ever required. 'He's been a huge influence, my Dad. He'd be one of my biggest heroes and he loves seeing me do well. Whether it's in rugby or my engineering degree [in UCD], but he has obviously been a huge mentor for me,' Culhane remarked ahead of Leinster's United Rugby Championship clash away to Scarlets tomorrow evening. Yet despite receiving his education in a south Dublin school that won their 72nd Leinster Senior Cup title only last month, Culhane's home village is actually Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow. He is one of a number of players from the Garden County in the Leinster squad with Josh van der Flier (Wicklow Town), Jack Conan (Bray) and Cormac Foley (Newtownmountkennedy) also being included amongst this particular cohort. The eastern province's head coach Leo Cullen – like Culhane, a former Blackrock College student - is another Wicklow native. There is also a healthy Kildare contingent within the Leinster senior squad that is spearheaded by the likes of Sam Prendergast, Jimmy O'Brien and Jamie Osborne, and Culhane acknowledged it is vital the game in the province is spread right across the 12 counties. While Blackrock College had a massive part in his development, Culhane also credits the De La Salle Palmerston club in Kilternan – located a little under four miles from Enniskerry - for first introducing him to rugby as a youngster. 'I think it's so important that it's just not Dublin where the rugby is centred. That we try to expand as much as we can, because there is so much talent everywhere around Leinster. It's just important to try and give everyone an opportunity to express that. Bring as many people through as you can,' Culhane added. 'I did come through Blackrock and everything, which was part of the school system. I would have played for De La Salle as well, that would have been the early part of my development in club rugby. 'I played a lot of both. You talk about Sam [Prendergast] and [Diarmuid] Mangan as well, they went to Newbridge. I think it's good to play both club and school, and get experience from both.'
Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Leinster's James Culhane hoping for a change of fortune to consistently deliver on his talent
James Culhane may at one point have watched a black cat walk across his path from right to left – left to right is lucky apparently – spotted a single magpie, spilt salt, broken a mirror, and perhaps inadvertently witnessed many more harbingers of bad luck. It might explain his ridiculously unfortunate injury profile that dates to his teenage years. There are invariably two conversation topics when chatting to the talented 22-year-old Leinster backrow, his prowess on the pitch and his resilience in the face of periodic setbacks that might have broken players of lesser character. He's got a lovely sense of gallows humour that's evident in his assertion that 'this will last a long time', when asked to discuss his injuries. Culhane explained: 'The worst one was in fourth year [in Blackrock College]. I started getting really bad lower back pain, got a scan and [it revealed] a stress fracture in my L5. They weren't really sure if it was genetic from when I was born or if it had developed over time. 'I was in a back brace for six months to let it heal. Then they re-scanned me, and the same defect was there, so it was pretty much genetic from when I was born. That had me out for about 11 or 12 months, pretty much all of fourth year. READ MORE 'I came back in fifth year and I was healthy but, unfortunately, we got knocked out in the first round of the Senior Cup by Gonzaga, so I didn't play a huge amount of rugby. Sixth year was okay. 'In first year in the [Leinster] academy I injured my ankle and had ankle surgery. Then the year after I obviously had that bad injury in Galway' (a reference to a torn hamstring and fractured shoulder suffered in the same match). 'I've probably had about three surgeries in two years.' The fact that Leinster gave him a professional contract on a, relatively speaking, slim body of rugby – 16 appearances since making his debut against Cardiff in 2023 – speaks volumes for the esteem in which the 22-year-old is held by the coaches. It's not as if they're taking a punt. When Ireland won an under-20 Grand Slam in 2022, Culhane was voted the Six Nations player of the tournament on the back of several brilliant performances. Even then, he couldn't shrug off a medical jinx as he spent a month in hospital with a severe kidney infection. He was nominated for RTÉ's Young Player of the Year. Emerging Ireland vs the Cheetahs, October 2024: Skipper James Culhane makes ground. Photograph: Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart What's immediately obvious in watching him is his athletic prowess honed by a cross pollination of sports growing up from mini rugby in DLSP, through school, Gaelic football with Kilmacud Crokes and playing left back for Enniskerry, Wayside Celtic and Cabinteely soccer clubs. He was selected for the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa last year and captained the team in their final game against the Cheetahs. His return to the country recently with Leinster didn't quite meet the same success, as he was concussed five minutes in that first game against the Bulls. Breaking into Leinster's backrow requires not only a set of disparate qualities but also the capacity to play right across the unit. 'Yeah definitely you can't really be one dimensional, you can't just be able to play number eight, you have to play seven and six, especially when you're trying to break into a team,' said Culhane. 'It's important. If you're breaking into a team, you're probably starting on the bench, and you have to cover many positions, so it is so important to be versatile. I've been working on how I'm viewed as a player by the coaches, so they don't see me as one type of player you know.' Part of that process includes picking the brains of his team-mates. Culhane continued: 'I think Caelan [Doris] especially and Josh [van der Flier] they're just very easy to talk to, they've so much knowledge and they're willing to give it to you as well. 'I have been asking them a lot of questions about how they approach the game, especially around the contact area and ball carry and just that element which is especially important for my position. 'It is taking that opportunity when you get it, especially when you're involved with the team of internationals. On the weekend I was delighted to be playing with just so much talent around me, and the way they play elevates your game as well. When you get an opportunity to get your way into that team, you take it.' Culhane certainly honoured that goal in the victory over Ulster, 25 tackles, one turnover and leading the team in successful carries. It's more than the metrics though; his effectiveness is just as easy to spot with the naked eye. Top of his wish list: consistent game time.
