Season-defining game as Naas welcome Queens this Saturday
Scrum half Tadhg Brophy will play an important role of Saturday as Naas welcome Queens to Forenaughts in Division 1B of the AIL. Photo: Naas RFC.
Nass welcome Queens to Forenaughts this Saturday afternoon in what could be a season-defining game for the Kildare club.
Head Coach Johne Murphy sees his side come into the game second-from bottom, one point adrift of the safety zone, where Blackrock College currently sit.
It has been a difficult season for Naas in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League, winning just four times in their opening 13 games. Their opponents, Queens, are rock bottom of the table, 12 points off Naas, with the Belfast outfit's solitary win of the season coming in November - against Naas.
Rathangan native Murphy spoke to The Kildare Nationalist ahead of the game, fully cognisant of the importance of the game, especially considering Naas's final four fixtures after this weekend are against the top four teams in Division 1B - Highfield (4th), Dublin University (2nd), Old Wesley (1st) and Instonians (3rd).
“It's kind of a big one, I suppose,” Murphy said. “It doesn't secure us away from relegation, but what it does - if we were to win - that puts us back in the hunt, with other fixtures going on elsewhere, to get above maybe one or two teams and then be in the fight for the last four games.
“So, if we can win on Saturday, then everything should be in our own hands.”
One of the most consistent performers this season for Naas has been scrum half, who has come a long way as a player since joining the Leinster Academy at the beginning of the current season.
“Tadhg was on the Irish U20s, didn't get offered a contract, then went on the Sevens last year, had a great year,” Head Coach Murphy said. “He was offered a couple of Academy deals throughout Ireland and ended up signing for Leinster.
Another Kildare man playing his trade, he's from Oldkilcullen there, and a real nine that you love to watch, because he's always sniping, and always movement - an all action nine, and a great young lad.”
Murphy is a major proponent of the AIL and what the league offers in terms of pathways into the four Irish provinces.
“There is a rejig coming in 18 months’ time, but I do think the AIL is probably David Humphreys’ (IRFU Performance Director) toughest one to get right with there being so many stakeholders involved," Murphy said.
“It could potentially to go semi-professional, like the Super 6s in Scotland, some clubs in Wales, and then obviously it would be at the level of lower Championship and National 1 level in England, all which are semi-professional.
“That creates a number of problems: one geographically, not all provinces would be represented if they had an eight to ten-team league at the top that was semi-pro. There's also issues around player movement within that, job security, the ability for a guy who is working, do they have the capabilities to train up to the level that's needed? And then you also have the exchequer issue with the sportsman tax break that professional sports people get in Ireland.
“So, it's a very difficult one with so many stakeholders and so many problems to resolve, but I do think if they could unlock some type of league like that, it would also breed a coaching pathway for people as well.
“I think it is difficult to get right and it's probably one of David's biggest ones to try and resolve, to create that, and to broaden that funnel for players coming through schools and youths.
“You look at someone like Jerry Cahir this year from Lansdowne; he wasn't picked up in Leinster, knuckled down, went to Lansdowne, and played. There's a number of guys as well from when I coached the Irish Clubs; Eric O'Sullivan - played for us, went to Ulster, wasn't contracted, ended up getting capped for Ireland.
“So, these players will surface more and more and more; it's trying to broaden the funnel and give guys the best opportunity, because everyone develops at different stages and different periods in their life and some guys might not hit their straps until they’re 24 or 25; and just to make sure that the door is never closed on whatever pathway that they're in."
