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The price for customers who do not register for My UPC will be an extra €3.50 per month. 156691 UPC Press Emerald Rugby FP Jan 14.indd 1 24/01/2014 14:26 CONTENTS www.emeraldrugby.com FEBRUARY 2014 IRELAND Squad Profiles: 2014 24 Ireland 6N Squad We profile the players who will lead Ireland’s assault on the 2014 RBS Six Nations 2 General News 30 XV to The latest news from around the game watch in 56 Club & School Notes 2014 The latest news from clubs & Schools 10 6 Nations - Some will be more familiar Opportunity for all Alan Solomons looks at the opportunities names than 60 Provincial News that present themselves as we head into others but we The latest news from the Irish Province’ the Six Nations. put together the plus London Irish. top XV players to watch in 2014 14 Saint André - 34 The Butterfly effect Feeling the heat Bernard Jackman takes a closer look at Aidan McCullen looks at this well known the French offering as we kick off the phenomena and how it applies to Rugby. 2014 Six Nations. 48 Strength & 16 Backrow or Lock 36 Are Wales staring Conditioning Get your S&C training right for playing into the abyss? Rugby and avoiding injury Sean Holley looks at the mass exodus of top talent out of Wales. In light of the Regions and WRU public spat, where do Wales go from here. 50 Club Focus This month we focus on Thomond RFC as they make progress with Youth & Senior developments. 40 Heineken Cup With Ulster and Ireland’s Iain Henderson Pool review there is no doubting his considerable As Leinster, Munster and Ulster secure 52 Womens Rugby Six Nations squad update plus the latest stock. We speak to the Belfast man. their place in the Knockout stages, we reviews from the womens game look back at the Irish teams performance 20 Briggs - On top of in the Pool stages of the 2013/14 Heineken Cup. 55 Rugby Business Eye the world This month we look at the Agents End We catch up with the Womens world Game. player of the year, Ireland’s Niamh Briggs. 45 Ulster Bank League John Dickson brings us right up to speed with developments in the Ulster Bank League after the mid-way point. 68 The Rucker Rantings and ravings from Ireland’s biggest supporter Competitions are open to all readers (over 18’s where stated) except employees and their families from Extreme Publications, Emerald Rugby printers, and companies associated with the competition. Only one entry per household is permitted. No purchase necessary. All prizes must be accepted as offered, there will be no cash alternative or ex- change. In the unlikely event of a match being cancelled or a prize being unavailable Emerald Rugby reserves the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value. No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed in the post. No correspondence will be entered into and no entry will be returned. The editors decision is final. FEBRUARY 2014 EMERALD RUGBY 1 EDITORIAL: GENERAL NEWS Editors Note CORRESPONDENCE 32 The Slopes, Craigavon, County Armagh, N.Ireland BT63 5NT A belated happy new year; and what a good year it’s been thus Tel (ROI) 048 3834 4333 far. Three out of four Irish provinces qualify for the knockout Tel +44 (0)28 3834 4333 stages of the Heineken Cup and Connacht put in the perfor- Twitter: @Emeraldrugby mance of the season by beating Toulouse in France. All this Facebook: facebook.com/emeraldrugby off the back of an impressive Guinness November series put’s EDITORIAL Ireland in a very favourable position going into the RBS Six Editor: Manus Lappin Nations. Email: [email protected] The Wolfhounds comfortably dispatched the England Saxons in their Tweets: twitter.com/Emeraldrugby opening game of the campaign, meanwhile the IRFU have announced that Canterbury will be the new kit sponsor until 2020. With all of our top players committing to play ADVERTISING their rugby in Ireland, it’s a great time to be an Irish rugby supporter. Sales and Marketing Director: Emma Lappin Tel (ROI) 048 3834 4333 Tel (NI) 028 3834 4333 This is in stark contrast to what is happening in Wales as the Welsh Rugby Union and Email: [email protected] Regional Rugby Wales try and sort out their differences. All the while their top players Advertising Sales: Frank Quinn abandon ship. Advertising Sales: Aine Lavery Advertising Design: Cormac Doyle Two notable exceptions to that rule are Alun Wyn Jones who has decided to turn down overseas offers and stick with the Ospreys, and Wales skipper Sam Warburton who has DESIGN & LAYOUT become the first Welsh player to take up a central contract with the WRU in the hope Creative Director: Malachy McDaid that he can remain playing his rugby with Cardiff. GrafXpress Email: [email protected] Bizarrely Warburtons decision was met with hostility from some sections of the Welsh SUBSCRIPTIONS rugby public who accused the flanker of siding with the WRU in the Club versus Coun- Subscribe online at www.emeraldrugby.com try battle. In reality Warburton was trying to secure his future while remaining in Wales Email: [email protected] to play his rugby. How anyone can abuse him for that is beyond me. CONTRIBUTORS One would imagine, as is the case in Ireland, it’s in the best interest of Welsh Rugby to Alan Solomons Conor Kelly have the best players playing in Wales where supporters can see them in action on a Frank Quinn Trevor Johnston Aidan McCullen Adam Redmond regular basis. If the WRU want to pick up the salary bill of key players, I fail to see how Eric Millar Dermot Keyes that is anything other than a huge positive for the club who will essentially get free John Dickson Bernard Jackman use of a fantastic player. The most sickening part of this very public spat between the Union and the Regions is, players are being treated like pawns and perhaps that is why so many of them have voted with their feet. SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Jim Stitt Matt Geraghty Bums on seats are the solid currency of any professional sports team. The crux of RRW Pauline McFeran Ken Redpath problem is, the Regions have failed to engage sufficient numbers of rugby supporters Conor Keown Cliff Barr Cliona Quaide Andrew Hogan in their local communities. Attendance figures at Regional games makes grim reading especially when compared with attendance on this side of the Irish sea. Some would have you believe it’s the RaboDirect PRO12 that is the problem. But that argument just PHOTOGRAPHY doesn’t stack up, it’s the same product in Ireland as it is in Wales yet over here, where Sportsfile (www.sportsfile.com) the provinces have done a fantastic job engaging the local community and growing Dickson Digital the supporter base, the RaboDirect PRO12 is booming. The sooner RRW look inward, Jim Stitt the sooner they will be in a position to resolve their issues. DISTRIBUTION Newspread, WNS, Direct Distribution. As the schools senior cup competitions get into full swing we sit down with a young man who was on the losing end of a schools cup final.