Wanderers
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Back: R.A.Brophy (President 1972/73), W.Bornemann (Coach), K.McGowan
Standing: J.Hayes (Coach), J.Flynn, P.Byrne, A.Bourke, V.Cosgrave, H.Dale, Dr. J.D.Clinch (President 1973/74), E.O’Rafferty, D.O’Brien,
C.Lawson, B.Freer, F.Metchette (Team Manager), G.E.Benn (Hon.Secretary)
Seated: C.Scaife, L.McDermott, J.O’Gorman, T.Doyle, M.K.Flynn (Captain), G.Culliton, D.Rowell, J.A.Brady, A.McLennan
Front: R.Fox, R.McGrath, A.H.Ensor, D. Lewis
Eoin Sheriff also took the time to speak to us, saying, “I’ve
been involved with the club since preseason of the 2018/19
season, so just over eighteen months now. I suppose I’m a bit
of a rugby anorak, so a club with a history as rich as Wanderers
was always going to attract me. But history aside, there are big
plans for the future of the club and there are lots of people
working extremely hard to make those plans become reality.
The opportunity to be a part of it all was probably the thing
which I found most attractive.
The All Ireland League schedule is quite long, attritional
and at times stop/start, so one of our biggest challenges as a
coaching group is keeping things fresh and challenging for the
players. We want lads to want to look forward to training. We
want lads to be challenged, we want lads to be stimulated and
most importantly we want lads to enjoy the environment. At
the end of the day we are an amateur club so we want guys to
look forward to getting out of work and coming to training.
In terms of the most rewarding aspects of being a coach, I
think seeing growth throughout the season is high on the list.
That could be an individual working on certain aspects of his
game and developing it throughout the season or it could be
collective growth in our team attack shape, defence or set piece.
Every coach aims to improve a side so it’s rewarding when you
see improvements in the areas you’ve been working on.
The whole place is buzzing at the minute. It’s obviously the
150th anniversary of the club so there is a great energy around
the club with lots of events taking place. There has been a rise
in playing numbers across the board and there has also been
a big rise in the numbers of people coming out to support on
match days. Hopefully we can harness all that energy now and
continue to kick on.
The season so far has been positive. We are currently sitting
top of the league, but it’s an extremely close division so we
are fully aware that there is a long way to go. Tommy Ellard
(Attack Coach) and Luke O’Dea (Strength and Conditioning
Coach) have both put in a lot of work in their respective areas
and that has really stood to us in finishing out some close
games. It’s a very competitive division with lots of one score
56 Issue 89
games each weekend so (despite the cliché) we are very much
taking things one game at a time.
From day one of preseason the goal has been to gain
promotion. We have seven regular season games left and what
happens in those 7 games will determine if we have achieve
our goal or not. However, as I said earlier we are very much
taking things one game at a time, so all of our focus at the
minute is solely on Malahide this coming weekend.
In Ireland we are blessed with so many talented young
players but there is an alarmingly high drop off rate at U20
level. We have struggled with our U20s side this year but we
have a strong plan in place to really develop this side of our
club going forward. A strong U20s side makes a club self-
sufficient so in many ways the U20s are the most important
team in any club.
We have been lucky enough to have a few younger players
break into our squad this year and its great working with them.
I think creating an environment which allows these younger
players to develop is the most important thing when helping
with the transition to senior rugby.
I think it’s important to allow these lads to express
themselves and if they make errors to learn from them in
a positive environment. Young guys tend to play with less
fear and the longer they can hold on to that the better in my
opinion. There is nothing worse than seeing young players
playing within themselves out of fear of making mistakes.
There are big plans in place to develop the club over the next
five years, both on and off the field. There are plans underway
for the development of a new, state of the art clubhouse which
looks incredible, so that would be great if we can get that over
the line. As I said earlier, we are putting a huge emphasis on
our U20s structure so ideally in five years time we will be a
lot closer to the top table of Irish rugby than we are currently
and have a team which contains a large portion of former
Wanderers U20s players.
But for now, hopefully we can launch the next five years by
bringing some success to the club on this, its 150th anniversary
year.