Dear Parents, Friends, and Alums of Princeton Rugby, During the recent spring break, the Princeton Men’s Rugby team went on its 4th fully customized Developmental Rugby Tour hosted by the professional club Connacht, located in Galway on the west coast of Ireland.
Galway is renowned for its beauty and charm. As Lonely Planet writes:
“Brightly painted pubs heave with live music, while cafes offer front-row seats for observing street performers, weekend parties run amok, and more.
Galway is often referred to as the 'most Irish' of Ireland's cities, it's the only one where you're likely to hear Irish spoken in the streets, shops and pubs.”
Connacht is one of the 4 professional clubs in Ireland together with Munster, Leinster and Ulster. Connacht is currently top of the Pro 12 League and 5 of their players play on the Irish National team.
The Princeton/Connacht Rugby Developmental Program was originally started 6 years ago by Richard Lopacki and Nigel Carolyn. Nigel runs the Connacht Rugby Academy, which trains young up-and-coming rugby players to become professionals. Nigel is also Head Coach of the Irish U20 National team. In addition to Nigel, Mossy Lawler and Ambrose Conboy, Connacht’s Elite Player Development Coaches from the Academy, led all our sessions addressing topics and skill sets to help us all improve our rugby structure and confidence.
As you can see below, the trip was a massive success in both rugby learning and in our appreciation of the sights and cultural activities in Galway during the week of St. Patrick’s Day. With such a successful tour completed, Princeton Men’s Rugby is now looking towards next year’s tour - planning has already begun and we are exploring South Africa as a possible 2017 destination. Thank you to everyone for doing so much to help us make our 2016 Ireland tour possible.
Following the very successful nine day long, 24 hours a day “Dash to Dublin” winter fundraiser, the club raised the money to take 33 students, one Trainer and two rugby coaches for a 7 day rugby tour of Ireland. Enduring freezing winds and two major snow storms, the team cycled 3,230 miles (the distance from Princeton to Dublin) on a stationary bike set-up outside the main entrance of the Frist Student Center. Molecular Biology Professor Richard Baker remarked “I was really amazed, every night on my way back from class there was someone on the bike, rain or snow, this was a great example of the team’s character and self-belief”.
Day 1 - The team flew out to Ireland Saturday Afternoon March 12th from Philadelphia airport, embarking on a 16 hour journey that consisted of two flights and a two hour bus ride from Dublin to Galway. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and quickly settled into the famous Kinlay Square Eyre Hostel recently rated as the best Hostel in Ireland. There, we were greeted by hospitable receptionists who encouraged us to come down and interact with others in the hostel. That night, most of the team went down and sang songs, played on the guitar/piano, and generally had a great time- the receptionist even took pictures of, as he described, “such a vibrant and lively environment in the lounge.” Day 2 - We started bright and early by walking over to the Connacht Rugby’s Sports Ground where we were greeted by Ambi Conboy and Mossy Lawler, our two Connacht Rugby Academy Coaches. On the pitch work was followed by video analysis. Lots to learn!
Still a bit jet-lagged, we spent the rest of the day settling in to Galway. Rookies (There were 23 on this tour!) were given their assignments- they had to 1) cook dinner for the entire team later this week, 2) create an individual tour song for the tour-end competition, and 3) participate in a scavenger hunt that sent them every which way through the cobbled streets of Galway
Day 3 - On the third day, our team was back training with Connacht’s coaches. We worked on tackling and breakdowns in the morning session, and then defense in the afternoon session. Our guys even seemed to have the stamina to manage some post-training shopping. Many teammates purchased an “unofficial tour jersey” from one of the many the sweater shops in Ireland- well over 20 teammates bought these jerseys- a picture of a couple of them is attached here Also on another note, “Seamus”, our tour mascot traditionally carried everywhere on tour by the youngest member of our team, ended back into the hands of last year’s tour rookie Mark Tamakloe. For the rest of the week, he, William Banes, and Andrew Slade would take care of Seamus.
Day 4 marked the 1870 Cup game against the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG).
A founding member club of the IRFU in 1874, NUIG RFC is one of the strongest university rugby teams in Ireland fielding multiple teams.
The Club has top class facilities for training and competitive matches located at Dangan on the main University campus. The University boasts a state of the art gym and physical conditioning facility at its Kingfisher Club. The University also operates a Sports Scholarship program aimed at attracting talented sports men and women to the University and the rugby club has several players on rugby scholarships.
Over the last few seasons players from the USA, Spain, France and Germany have played for the Club. While the Club is based on campus, and represents the University, it is also open to players who are not students.
2016 marks the 142nd year of university rugby in Galway and the 1870s Cup is played for annually between NUIG and visiting college teams. This clash marked a game between two of the world's oldest rugby clubs: NUIG RFC was founded in 1874 and Princeton University RFC in 1876.
Princeton arrived at the NUIG pitch after taking a 45 minute scenic walk - along the way, we passed by the NUIG campus, the National Cathedral, and the Spanish arch.
The B-side started things off against NUIG, playing an exciting match against the NUIG reserve side. Afterwards the PURFC A-side faced off against the NUIG A- side in a full 80 minute game. While the Princeton B- and A-sides did not prevail against such experienced opponents, the 22-0 score in the A-side match did not reflect the intensity or the commitment the side displayed.
As is the universal custom of rugby, the NUIG folks displayed incredible hospitality throughout the rest of the day. They provided rides back the hostel and treated the team to over 30 pizzas in the post-match celebration. Jerseys were traded and Richard was presented with a plaque to commemorate the occasion and in return he gave NUIG a Princeton University Banner. The camaraderie was something that we all will remember as the spirit unique to rugby around the world.
Day 5 was St. Patrick’s day! The boys had a much-needed rest and an opportunity to take in the local culture. Most of the boys toured around Galway and explored the area. Others traveled to Dublin for the day and went to Trinity College to visit the famous Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a beautiful illuminated manuscript containing the four Gospels of the New Testament written in Latin and dating back from 800 AD. Day 6 was quite the eventful day! We started out with rugby training on the fields at Salthill, right next to Galway Bay. We were unable to use the Sports Ground pitch since the professional team had come back to town. After lunch we returned to the Sports Ground where we had to say good-bye to Ambi. That night was the much-anticipated rookie dinner! Nothing short of amazing. Appetizer: Loaded Baked Potato Nachos Entree: Spaghetti and Meatballs Desert: Brownies.
We owe special thanks to Andrew Shofner, who led the entire rookie class to cook this meal, which symbolized the bonding that occurred among all the players during this incredible week.
Day 7 had one last practice in the morning where we said goodbye to Mossy, who helped us tremendously throughout this week. We worked on phases, breakdowns and defensive setups to end the Rugby learning from this tour.
After the final practice at Connacht, many members of the team went to visit the Cliffs of Moher, a beautiful landmark in part of west Ireland. Others participated in various activities such as cycling, fly-fishing, cliff-diving, etc.
On day 8, most of the team started to pack and finished last minute sightseeing in Galway before the final team dinner and the late bus trip to the airport in Dublin.
Our end of Tour Dinner was located in a local restaurant, and served great platters such a chicken curry, house salads, as well as Irish potatoes and cabbage. It was also a very memorable evening as 23 rookies sang their prepared tour songs and Richard presented valuable prizes to those whose songs or other tour accomplishments showed special merit. Mark Tamakloe, for example, was given Seamus after an entire week of caring and nurturing for him.
Alex Dominguez relaxing after a job well done – Ireland 2016 Tour Leader and 2015/2016 Club President – Thank you from all of us to Alex for all the planning and organization. And that was our tour! We backtracked our way to Philidelphia, and headed straight back to Princeton. Thank you to all for providing such an amazing opportunity for the team. Finally a big special thanks to our great coaches Richard Lopacki and MC Laubscher who always do so much for us!