so... I started playing rugby

sickpuppy

shoutman wrote: »

It's great that all these junior clubs are getting loads of players, do people think that senior clubs have a reputation that makes it harder for new players to join up?

At Clontarf we do get regular new players, but no where near the numbers of other clubs like Stillorgan, at J4/J5 I think we only have three new players, two of whom haven't played before.
We still struggle to get more then 25 at training.

The fact Stillorgan only have junior clubs and therefore make an effort to recruit new players helps i think.
In my expericence senior clubs really couldnt give a shyte about junior players.
Maybe Tarfs focus has been on buying the best talent in the Ail this year and the j4s j5s have been neglected?
Playing you guys tommorow in a J five game.
Senior clubs would be seen as clannish and cliquey id say too.

delta_bravo

I play for a club that has their senior team in the AIL1 and we recruited a good few players this year, 10 i think. Some were friends of players, others were new recruits.

Goodluck2me

karmabass wrote: »

Well Mike - don't know if you were playing today but UCD shoved Stillorgan's heads up their arses in the scrums until your guys went uncontested after about 15 minutes - let the mocking of UCD's prowess in the front-row cease!

lol, i went down to this as one of my mates started in the front row for UCD. He hadnt played in 4years so it was good for both of us.

The hill is everything in thornfield as it showed once again, I think from Stillorgans perspective you guys need to work on two things.
- Intensity in the tackle area (too many guys walking into contact/ lying into rucks)
- Composure in the 22, you guys spent 30 mins in UCD 22 and I think only scored one try.

Any of you guys play? Your #8 with the scrum cap was the standout player of both teams imo. Decent game.

remus808

Goodluck2me wrote: »

Any of you guys play? Your #8 with the scrum cap was the standout player of both teams imo. Decent game.

To be fair, he probably only stood out so much by being on the wrong side of every single ruck.. it was ridiculous :pac:

2nd Row Donkey

Luckycharm wrote: »

2nd row Donkey I see you got promoted to Section A how does Tallaght feel about that?

tallaght feels very positive about it!

The "A" team has some fine players all over the park and no real weak link if you ask me. (I'm on the "other" team )

Goodluck2me

karmabass wrote: »

To be fair, he probably only stood out so much by being on the wrong side of every single ruck.. it was ridiculous :pac:

PM me your name, I probably know you? Ill probably be out training/helping out with you guys again soon.

eeyore2502

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

tallaght feels very positive about it!

The "A" team has some fine players all over the park and no real weak link if you ask me. (I'm on the "other" team )

Both teams are working very hard, section A is going to be tough but looking forward to a busy season with two teams this year.

Luckycharm

Goodluck2me wrote: »

lol, i went down to this as one of my mates started in the front row for UCD. He hadnt played in 4years so it was good for both of us.

The hill is everything in thornfield as it showed once again, I think from Stillorgans perspective you guys need to work on two things.
- Intensity in the tackle area (too many guys walking into contact/ lying into rucks)
- Composure in the 22, you guys spent 30 mins in UCD 22 and I think only scored one try.

Any of you guys play? Your #8 with the scrum cap was the standout player of both teams imo. Decent game.

I played in the centre captain for the day - took over the kicking!! Our team like yours I guess had alot of Newbies (to rugby) with alot playing their 1st game so were extremelly disjointed. Wind was a huge factor in the game - we played last weekend - again alot of changes and did improve but as you say it is definetly a work in progress.

WithCheesePlease

I've gotta say I'm kinda disappointed that this tread has petered out!

Luckycharm

WithCheesePlease wrote: »

I've gotta say I'm kinda disappointed that this tread has petered out!

I am not sure the original poster has been at too many trainings recently!

Goodluck2me

Luckycharm wrote: »

I played in the centre captain for the day - took over the kicking!! Our team like yours I guess had alot of Newbies (to rugby) with alot playing their 1st game so were extremelly disjointed. Wind was a huge factor in the game - we played last weekend - again alot of changes and did improve but as you say it is definetly a work in progress.

Great to see Stillorgan going well, I follow them as I have a lot of interest in seeing the junior side of rugby flourish. Its great to see the effort the club as a whole are putting in.
You got the second kick, the first kick was a shocker! The hill more so than anything is a huge difference on that pitch!

tHE vAGGABOND

I made **** of my finger at the weekend (while making a cameo during an excellent J5 win over Marys), so will be out for 6 to 8 weeks..

So you wont see me at training until January

sickpuppy

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

I made **** of my finger at the weekend (while making a cameo during an excellent J5 win over Marys), so will be out for 6 to 8 weeks..

So you wont see me at training until January

Very unlucky joe was it a break? or dislocation?
surely wouldnt stop you doing some running? :pac:
see ya soon

tHE vAGGABOND

Its broken, got 2 pins put in it yesterday to hold together..

Thank god we did not try and pop it back into place on side of pitch - would have really made a mess of it

I don't run when able, so this is just the excuse I need to really do feck all

delta_bravo

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

Its broken, got 2 pins put in it yesterday to hold together..

Thank god we did not try and pop it back into place on side of pitch - would have really made a mess of it

I don't run when able, so this is just the excuse I need to really do feck all

What position were you in the marys game? I was on the other side

Mark1916

Got talking to a few Marys players after the J5 game, they had a lot of praises for Stillorgan they did say the back line is quite good and that they didnt really get a chance to run at the Marys backs during the game as the pack gobbled up the ball but never the less impressive win for stillorgan!

castie

As far as I know cronin is out with a back injury from a scrummaging session a few weeks ago. So that may explain his lack of posts.

2nd Row Donkey

castie wrote: »

As far as I know cronin is out with a back injury from a scrummaging session a few weeks ago. So that may explain his lack of posts.

I thought he was a flanker, how does a flanker injure himself in a scrum, sure all they do is rest up against the props!:D

Hurry up and get back Cronin this thread has died a death!

Tefral

Luckycharm wrote: »

I am not sure the original poster has been at too many trainings recently!

Ya missed three in total. 2 of them I had late site meetings at work. (one of them was to Landsdowne road, which i must say is quite impressive. Would love to have the money for a corporate box)

I have attended a few training sessions that i totally forgot to write about here.

Ill get back to regular posting i promise.

Overall though, i have been enjoying myself, i did suffer a back injury that gave me a fright but it was all muscular not anything serious. It was down to poor technique rather than anythign else, which further shows that if you do what your taught, you wont get hurt. The training in the dark took a little getting used to, shadows get cast with the lights and sometimes you dont see the ball until its nearly bashed you in the nose. So the reactions have gotten better soley out of fright ha ha

2nd Row Donkey

Yeah, training in the dark is difficult when it comes to the ball handling drills/skills.

You'd think with all that practise of catching the ball in 30% light conditions would mean even better handling skills in proper daylight but it seems to have the opposite effect :rolleyes:

Maybe we should train like those ninja warriors in "Batman Begins" where Christian Bale learns to "fight in the dark when you cannot see your enemy"

slingerz

The thread is dying resurrect it!!

WithCheesePlease

So cronin_j, were you training last night???

sickpuppy

He was training tonight getting stuck in well so im sure a fresh report is on route.

Tefral

As Mick said i was at training tonight. Bitter night to start off with but once the running started it was grand.

Seem to be alternating between flanker and second row now. I would prefer second row actually as getting involved in scrums is always fun. Training last night consisted of a lot of line out training. We were short a hooker to throw in the ball a couple of times so I stood in to throw the ball. Was laughing at Mike dragons calls. Penis1 ha ha. Anyway getting stuck into the ruck then taking the ball and giving it to the scrum half.

We then played a match between ourselves, the scrums were uncontested which in my opinion is a load of Shi*e as no one learns anything from that. I got a few hammer balls and a few pick and goes so I was well happy to make a good bit of ground for the team.

Its much easier now to slot into a place when on the pitch, seems to come a little more naturally anyway from if you recall my complete disillusionment at the start.

We are playing a match against St. Marys on Wednesday which im looking forward to.

2nd Row Donkey

cronin_j wrote: »

Seem to be alternating between flanker and second row now. I would prefer second row actually as getting involved in scrums is always fun.

Welcome back Cronin

I'd try and stick to flanker while your young and fit... there'll be plenty of time to drop back into second row when your older and not able to get around the pitch as much as before..

Back row players tend to get a lot more action too 'cos they get to the breakdown first (unlike us second rows who are usually at the bottom of the last ruck or still bound into a scrum 'cos the back row forgot to call "break" before they dashed off to the next breakdown :mad::mad:)

shoutman

Clontarf J4 and J5 are playing Mary's on saturday,both at home. I'm injured so will look to report back with some observations to you.

slingerz

cronin_j wrote: »

As Mick said i was at training tonight. Bitter night to start off with but once the running started it was grand.

Seem to be alternating between flanker and second row now. I would prefer second row actually as getting involved in scrums is always fun. Training last night consisted of a lot of line out training. We were short a hooker to throw in the ball a couple of times so I stood in to throw the ball. Was laughing at Mike dragons calls. Penis1 ha ha. Anyway getting stuck into the ruck then taking the ball and giving it to the scrum half.

We then played a match between ourselves, the scrums were uncontested which in my opinion is a load of Shi*e as no one learns anything from that. I got a few hammer balls and a few pick and goes so I was well happy to make a good bit of ground for the team.

Its much easier now to slot into a place when on the pitch, seems to come a little more naturally anyway from if you recall my complete disillusionment at the start.

We are playing a match against St. Marys on Wednesday which im looking forward to.

I have to get back into training now soon, bit of a dose when your new and the start has been curtailed due to GAA commitments

delta_bravo

cronin_j wrote: »

We are playing a match against St. Marys on Wednesday which im looking forward to.

Unfortunately you are not. Pitches are too wrecked after recent rain and training so its not on im afraid

shoutman wrote: »

Clontarf J4 and J5 are playing Mary's on saturday,both at home. I'm injured so will look to report back with some observations to you.

Did you see the J5 game? Some ending! What team are you on?

Tefral

Tuesday 10th November

As usual turned up for training around 7, togged out and carried as much tackle bags out from the “clubhouse” as possible. Walking out in complete darkness I could feel the ground move under my feet, without seeing the ground beneath me I could tell the sod was completely torn off. Walking to the goal posts in the training pitch under the light I could see the pitch suffered over the recent heavy rain. I thought to myself this will be fun.

Started up with the usual game of tip to get the muscles working and the blood flowing, after this we proceeded to do running, stretches and sprinting. The short burst sprinting has got infinitely easier for me, however the longer running hasn’t. To be honest my knees get sore from dislocating them a couple of years back and secondly I don’t have a whole pile of endurance fitness. Tell me to run into someone and ill do it all day though.

After this we split into our respective groups, I have been noticing that on Tuesday nights (traditionally the fitness night) a lot of players from the j2, and j4 squad don’t really come out, however there is over 30 J5 players showing up every training session.

We did some skill and tackling training, I love this stuff now, before it used to sap so much energy but now, once ya go to ground with the ball all you want to do is get straight back up and make the hard yards. I’m still getting used to the driving from below idea but I must be getting it right now as its effortless to drive back even the largest of players.

We did a warm down of some passing training which quite frankly took me ages to get the hang of, but in the end I mastered it (sort of anyway because I know each training session is a learning curve) Fidel (the J5 captain) then went on to get us to play a match for a few mins after everyone else went in (J2, J4) this few mins nearly ran to be 20mins long until we were forced to stop with Fidel being injured. The intensity even after the hour and a half was still there.

There are a lot of players rearing to go and to be honest, these lads that show up week in and week out and still don’t get a game should be replacing those that don’t bother to show up, I think to be honest the upper teams are taking their positions for granted and with that many players just hanging around showing up every week day in day out, the lads that don’t go training should be dropped. Especially since so far most of the teams we have played in J5 cant even field a full team in opposition to us, that even makes the situation in our squads even more deplorable in my opinion

When i got home i went for a shower and i think half the field has now washed down the drain pipe, I walked in the door and the Girlfriend just split herself laughing at me, i took a look in the mirror and looked like a coalman. Im delighted with how things are panning out with the training and again have no regrets about starting to play this fantasic sport.

Till Thursday

2nd Row Donkey

ah, the old "tuesday night flu" is alive and kicking in stillorgan too! - Every club is the same.

At my previous club we had a few players who drove down from Dublin to train twice a week (a 4-hour round trip twice a week not to mention the petrol costs) and then play again on saturdays

.. then every couple of weeks a couple of really good players would come out of the wood work for a handy home game and these guys were dropped like they were leapers - what a joke.

Anyway rant over