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so... I started playing rugby

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    #452
    delta_bravo
    Registered Users Posts: 4,567 ✭✭✭delta_bravo


    cronin_j wrote: »

    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

    Till Thursday

    Are you talking about league games? There hasnt been one walkover in the league this year and the only team we played that had low numbers were Malahide who brought 14. Two teams, Clondalkin and North Kildare only entered the league very late because 1 team pulled out and another moved up to J4 so its understandable if they have difficulty getting a team as they wouldnt have had much time to prepare a team.


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    #453
    FishFood
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭FishFood


    What are the J5 teams like this year, who is looking likely to contest for the league win this season? Terenure are looking strong from what i have seen so far.


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    #454
    Rugger7
    Closed Accounts Posts: 47 ✭Rugger7


    delta_bravo wrote: »
    Are you talking about league games? There hasnt been one walkover in the league this year and the only team we played that had low numbers were Malahide who brought 14. Two teams, Clondalkin and North Kildare only entered the league very late because 1 team pulled out and another moved up to J4 so its understandable if they have difficulty getting a team as they wouldnt have had much time to prepare a team.

    Are you talking about J5? coz Clondalkin had a J4 team last year and continued it to this year.


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    #455
    mikedragon32
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,939 ✭✭✭mikedragon32


    delta_bravo wrote: »
    Are you talking about league games? There hasnt been one walkover in the league this year and the only team we played that had low numbers were Malahide who brought 14. Two teams, Clondalkin and North Kildare only entered the league very late because 1 team pulled out and another moved up to J4 so its understandable if they have difficulty getting a team as they wouldnt have had much time to prepare a team.
    It was North Kildare on Saturday gave a walkover to SRFC.

    I'm not aware of any other walkovers. Are they posted up on the LB website as such?


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    #456
    castie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 3,807 ✭✭✭castie


    Think the ref actually logged the score of the game rather than the walkover for that match. As it says nothing about it.


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    #457
    sickpuppy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 955 ✭✭✭sickpuppy


    cronin_j wrote: »
    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

    Cronin J gotta pick you up on a few inaccuracys here regarding teams the j 5s we have played not having squads to play us only North Kildare last weekend could not field a 15 they had eleven players but still gave us a game after conceding the points.

    Since the start of the season we have played Cashel Barnhall,Clontarf twice,
    St Marys Clondalkin and AIB all these teams had full squads.

    Also if you think that a j 5 player never having played rugby or with very limited fitness could just walk onto a j 4 or j 2 team your mad the intensity is much higher and scrums are contested.

    The only reason i can play 80 mins now is cos of uncontested scrums and im still bolloxed.

    Since the start of the season many j 5 players have gotten promoted on merit if your good enough you will get picked for j 4 and beyond possibly.

    I dont myself get involved in politics but know some players are carrying a lot of injuries which flare up after a match and hence they may miss training.

    I think the way your post whether intentional or not has had a dig at the club which i think is very unfair most clubs wouldnt give a flying fcuk about j5 and beyond
    yet we have 3 different coaches Doddsy Niall Karl and great help from Ger Pops senior players like Mick Kirwan and Tom Treacy tonight helping the j 5 possibles.
    These guys are a great help and dont get paid for it.
    See ya Saturday think Malahide have a nice dry pitch heres hoping.


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    #458
    mikedragon32
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,939 ✭✭✭mikedragon32


    That's a little harsh, but I see your point.

    In fairness to Cronin, it can be hard as a newbie to a club to understand why some players don't seem to train as frequently as others but still get their place and in fairness to SRFC, it's not nearly as bad as other clubs (I know from experience).

    At J2 level the pace is much faster than J4 or J5 and it's much more physical, so if the firsts aren't always there, there is generally a good reason. Consider too that some players have committments preventing them from training on Tuesdays, but you can sbe sure they're hitting the gym or going for runs instead. I don't think anyone playing firsts is there out of some sense of favouritism. For the J4 & J5 it's as much about who is known to the captains and coaches. We are in the position that we have so many new recruits this year that it's nearly impossible to know who everyone is, so you really need to let your game do the talking. If you train well and stand out in the practice games on Thursday nights you will be seen.


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    #459
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    Hold on a minute lads, ye are reading waaay too much into this, to clear some things up - Firstly it wasn’t a dig at the club intentionally or otherwise, in fact quite the opposite and secondly this mention of “politics” is something you have mentioned and not myself. In fact I would stay clear of that as much as possible as it would hinder my learning of the game, would only serve to alienate myself from my team mates, and most importantly of all ruin my enjoyment of the game.

    Ill make it quite clear, I’m only doing this as a hobby, nothing else, I couldn’t care less if I never played a match for the club, I turn up, do what I’m told and go home happy. That is all. I have said time and time again, probably against what most people are there for I’m there mostly for the training not the matches, I have ruled myself out of a few matches because on weekends I’m not about. I am around for the Malahide match this weekend and got picked, if I come on ill play 100% to my ability and then go home. If you go back to my first post you will see that I’m doing this to get fit, get out of the house a bit more and also to help me settle into my working life in Dublin since I have moved up.

    And with reference to the other teams not fielding a team against us, I played in two friendlies where they had to borrow players from us, i didnt mean just league games.
    There was also mention of “favouritism” and the likes above which is also something I had not mentioned. I did however mention some players might be taking their positions as a given, I stand by that statement. I didn’t say J5/J6 players should be going into J2 Squads either, in fact I have been watching the J2 players training and even in the tip they are playing much better rugby than the rest of us. However there are also lads on the J4 team that even have caught the eye of the J2 players (take Shanes email this morning) so the option is there. I’m well aware how these things work even as a newbie to the game, I can see Mikes point about the lower team members having to get used to coaches to get picked alright though, but it doesn’t seem to be the coaches that pick the teams??

    Anyway to training. (Thursday 12/11/09)

    Went down at 7 to the pitch, I knew after the last couple of days rain the training pitch would be in tatters, and it was. Makes for good balance training though I think, I noticed it’s harder to step and change direction which helps the dexterity training I think.

    We paired off into our groups again and separated the training. We did 2 laps of all the pitches which I just about finished before having a heart attack. We went from there into lineout and general match training, covering balls, scrums which we played non-contested. Some of the back line lads are very quick and made it tough for the opposing side (mostly forwards). There was a puddle in the middle of the field which I thought Henry was going to drown in at one stage ha ha. We finished up with a match against the J4 squad which was tough going, a lot of intensity there; everyone wants to try their hardest which is great to see.


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    #460
    dogsbollix
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭dogsbollix


    cronin_j wrote: »
    Tuesday 10th November
    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.

    If there was a game planned before it got rained off it's not like players are "hanging around" with no games in sight.
    Why don't you approach someone in the club - a captain, coach or someone and tell them your views rather than posting it on boards.
    cronin_j wrote: »
    Tuesday 10th November
    I couldn’t care less if I never played a match for the
    You'll get more out of it if you play matches and the club might get something in return. Games are what it's all about.


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    #461
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    dogsbollix wrote: »
    If there was a game planned before it got rained off it's not like players are "hanging around" with no games in sight.
    Why don't you approach someone in the club - a captain, coach or someone and tell them your views rather than posting it on boards.

    Hold on a second, this thread was started by me to show what i was going through since starting rugby, quite frankly i feel i should be allowed post whatever i want as this is what is going through my head at the time. Secondly, i'm not using this thread as an axe to grind against my club, if you knew me you'd know i have no problem telling someone what i think, so i wouldn't be hiding behind this thread hoping someone from the club might see it, id say it to them, and plus the very essence of Stillorgan is that all of them are approachable hence the massive numbers in training, it is a members club after all so im sure they would have no problem anyone airing their views, so its not like id be afraid to say it to them.
    dogsbollix wrote: »
    You'll get more out of it if you play matches and the club might get something in return. Games are what it's all about.

    That maybe quite right and i have made more of an effort to make myself available to play. Again all this is a learning curve for me so im taking one step at a time at my own pace.


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    #462
    toomevara
    Registered Users Posts: 5,772 ✭✭✭toomevara


    Cronin_j, dogsbollix, enough.


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    #463
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    Tuesday 17/11/09

    Made it down to training for ten past seven, no rain thank god, was very very cold though; there was a wind that would slice through ya.

    Thankfully a game of tip started up until doddsy (coach) called us to the line for stretches and warm-ups. My hamstrings took ages to loosen up and I had a tight calf muscle all night, couldn’t bend down my foot properly. Still it didn’t really hinder me.

    We did some passing drills to increase speed of passing and technique. Went straight from there to the other pitch for sprinting, the cold air was ripping the lungs out of me as I gasped for breath. Doddsy was keeping a watchful eye and made sure we were using the correct technique.

    From here then we went on to attacker and defender drills. 4 posts were setup and the attackers run to the bottom post and loop back into the middle while the defenders did the same so that we met in the middle, you had to pass the ball off before you got tackled, once or twice you had to run on your own which ment you either had to dodge the defender or take the tackle and hopefully not go to ground. Once or twice a back would be the defender so it was easy enough to keep going through them. Got tackled a few times and was trying to remember the correct way to fall. It was great fun, you were doing a lot of running but because you were so busy tackling or dodging you didn’t feel it till you stopped.

    We then went on to ruck training, where pods of four would go to tackle the bags, one would run with the ball, 2 would blow over and 1 would bridge, our scrum half would take the ball and then pass it to the number ten who would start it all again.

    No rain last night meant I wasn’t as destroyed as before, I was wrecked after it though all those hits sap a good bit of energy.

    Till Thursday.


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    #464
    2nd Row Donkey
    Registered Users Posts: 9,698 ✭✭✭2nd Row Donkey


    cronin_j wrote: »
    Went straight from there to the other pitch for sprinting, the cold air was ripping the lungs out of me as I gasped for breath. Doddsy was keeping a watchful eye and made sure we were using the correct technique.

    Pardon my ignorance.. but your coach was watching your sprinting technique?!?!

    Tell us more...


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    #465
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    2nd Row Donkey wrote: »
    Pardon my ignorance.. but your coach was watching your sprinting technique?!?!

    Tell us more...

    I think thats my fault the way i wrote it.

    I ment as in the trainer was watching us running to make sure we did the distance and also noticed that when we got tired our arms werent moving a fluidly as they should so he just pointed out this would tire us out further.


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    #466
    castie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 3,807 ✭✭✭castie


    Dont be giving away all the secrets :o


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    #467
    slingerz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,249 ✭✭✭slingerz


    Well how has the weather affected ye're training? is it all googles now instead of scrumcaps


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    #468
    Jams O Donnell
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭Jams O Donnell


    I can't believe I only just found this thread. I started about in Stillorgan about a month after you cronin_j! I'll give you a shout if I see you down the fortress tonight so.

    EDIT: Or not. Goddamned rain flooding everything.


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    #469
    sickpuppy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 955 ✭✭✭sickpuppy


    Jams training cancelled floods of course in case you not on mailing list


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    #470
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    Training off tonight unless we all wanted swimming lessons:D


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    #471
    FridaysWell
    Registered Users Posts: 1,173 ✭✭✭FridaysWell


    cronin_j wrote: »
    Training off tonight unless we all wanted swimming lessons:D

    No offence to any of the Stillorgan lads but I was up near Bird Avenue just a wee while back and your talking about floods???!!??
    Will ye get up outta that :D

    That pitch(s) are perfectly playable! Lazy old people :P


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    #472
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,325 ✭✭✭Tefral


    FridaysWell wrote: »
    No offence to any of the Stillorgan lads but I was up near Bird Avenue just a wee while back and your talking about floods???!!??
    Will ye get up outta that :D

    That pitch(s) are perfectly playable! Lazy old people :P

    Got the email and then a text so i sauntered off home. Would have been better training as i was stuck in traffic by eastlink over the stupid o2


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    #473
    2nd Row Donkey
    Registered Users Posts: 9,698 ✭✭✭2nd Row Donkey


    We had training tonight.. the pitch has been in ruins for the last 3 weeks.. a complete mud bath but we still had 25+ lads out tonight training like dogs even though there's no game this weekend.

    .. hopefully it will pay off!


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    #474
    hobochris
    Registered Users Posts: 2,164 ✭✭✭hobochris


    Went back to my old club after nearly 7 years, having not done so much as a jog down the road in those 7 years. It was good to see some faces from the u16's are still in the seniors.

    As for the training we warmed up and spent about 40mins doing drill's with the bags and then a mini match to finish off.

    As usual everyone was very friendly and apparently I wasn't doing to badly for 7 year out.


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    #475
    mikedragon32
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,939 ✭✭✭mikedragon32


    FridaysWell wrote: »
    No offence to any of the Stillorgan lads but I was up near Bird Avenue just a wee while back and your talking about floods???!!??
    Will ye get up outta that :D

    That pitch(s) are perfectly playable! Lazy old people :P
    We don't own our pitches/training ground unlike most of the old boy clubs, so we don't get to decide if the pitches are fit to train on.


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    #476
    thebossanova
    Registered Users Posts: 234 ✭✭thebossanova


    mikedragon32 wrote: »
    We don't own our pitches/training ground unlike most of the old boy clubs, so we don't get to decide if the pitches are fit to train on.

    Well maybe a bit of proactive canvasing in CUS could change that with them not having a recognisable club that guys go to after their school career. Maybe build up a good relationship with the school, get some benefits out of it.


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    #477
    tHE vAGGABOND
    Registered Users Posts: 6,687 ✭✭✭tHE vAGGABOND


    Well maybe a bit of proactive canvasing in CUS could change that with them not having a recognisable club that guys go to after their school career. Maybe build up a good relationship with the school, get some benefits out of it.
    Wow, thats a great idea..

    How did no one ever think of that before :p


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    #478
    2nd Row Donkey
    Registered Users Posts: 9,698 ✭✭✭2nd Row Donkey


    mikedragon32 wrote: »
    We don't own our pitches/training ground unlike most of the old boy clubs, so we don't get to decide if the pitches are fit to train on.


    Same situation for us... which is just pants.

    We ended up training with the emerald warriors at their grounds a few weeks ago as a result.


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    #479
    thebossanova
    Registered Users Posts: 234 ✭✭thebossanova


    tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »
    Wow, thats a great idea..

    How did no one ever think of that before :p

    Sorry I was just trying to contribute as MikeDragon32 seemed like he was having a dig at old boys clubs, which Stillorgan could be if they started a trend with CUS students. If you guys are already 'canvasing' then fair play, I just don't remember getting any info on yous when I was in CUS.


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    #480
    mikedragon32
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,939 ✭✭✭mikedragon32


    thebossanova wrote: »
    Sorry I was just trying to contribute as MikeDragon32 seemed like he was having a dig at old boys clubs, which Stillorgan could be if they started a trend with CUS students. If you guys are already 'canvasing' then fair play, I just don't remember getting any info on yous when I was in CUS.
    We do have a good relationship with CUS, our head coach is on the CUS coaching staff too, so I'm sure there is awareness amongst the lads. Our problem is we have no underage set up and given the numbers we have to training for our J2, J4 and J5(and 6) teams, there's no way we'd have the facilities to cope with underage right now.

    I wasn't saying we have a bad relationship with CUS at all, merely pointing out that because we use their grounds we don't have a say in whether or not the pitches can be used. That's just the way it is.

    Tallaght and Parkmore are in the same boat at the moment with the weather as it is...(no pun intended)


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    #481
    FridaysWell
    Registered Users Posts: 1,173 ✭✭✭FridaysWell


    But do ye not own the pitch off to the side, behind the church?
    How you can even play on that beats me! Its horrible, theres holes and ruts all over the place! And the posts are all rusty, and don't give that statisfying 'ping' when the ball bounces off it! But then again the CUS pitches aren't great to play on either. . . Muds real sticky and heavy.
    If I was you Stillorgan lads, I'd look into trying to get a pitch and little training area out in UCD. They've got alot of land I hear being turned into sportsturf. . .:D


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