An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September / October 2023 www.military.ie/magazine 16 | 4TH MILITARY RUGBY WORLD CUP BY COMDT RORY MCCANN T he Defence Forces Men's rugby team have recently returned from competing in the 4th Military Rugby World Cup. The previous competitions were held in 2011 (with the British defeating Fiji in the final), 2015 (where Fiji claimed the trophy) and in 2019 (where Fiji again won the trophy). For 2023, France were hosting the competition and preparations commenced in late 2021 and the application was made through J7 to the DOD for approval to travel. The Defence Forces rugby committee began making preparations for the tournament and rebuilding the squad after the impact COVID had on training and matches. During 2022, the DF men's side travelled to the UK to play the RAF Development team and played An Garda Síochána in the annual Gordon Wood Trophy. Preparations stepped up significantly in 2023 with the nomination of the coaching and back-room staff of the competition. Capt Philip Dowling along with Capt Derek Farrell and Capt Billy Henshaw took on the coaches' roles, with Comdt John Quinn as the team manager. The backroom team was complete with BQMS John (Maxi) McDonald, Cpl Dave Brannigan and Pte Brian (Hopper) McGrath as the kitmen and Pte Jonathan Angland as the physio. The team was facilitated in the background by the DF Rugby President, Brig Gen Rossa Mulcahy and chairpersons Lt Col Damian Carroll and Lt Col Jayne Lawlor. The final part of the leadership team was the announcement of the team captain to which the honour fell to Cpl Donal Liddy who has been a stalwart of the team for the last number of years. The draw for the groups was held on St Patrick's Day in France. Twelve countries had agreed to participate in the competition – France, Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, Fiji, South Africa and Georgia. Ireland were drawn in a group with New Zealand, Fiji and Uzbekistan! This was certainly the group of death! This group did not deter the coaching staff and a plan was hatched to ensure that the squad was as prepared as they could be. Unfortunately, South Africa were unable to travel and were replaced by Tonga. The tournament would consist of 3 groups of 4 teams with the top 4 ranked teams after the group stage competing in the Championship Competition, the next 4 teams would play in the Trophy Competition and the final 4 teams would compete in the Challenge Competition. During the preparations, the Defence Forces took advantage of the numerous contacts within the Provincial Set up to learn from the best in order to prepare for the competition. The coaching staff visited Leinster Rugby to shadow them in their preparation for a URC match and to observe how this preparation is done at the highest level. This was arranged courtesy of Jim Bastic, who left the DF and is now the Kit Man for Leinster Rugby. The squad conducted a training session on the new 4G pitch in Connacht and received a very informative talk from Andy Friend, the Director of Rugby for Connacht. The squad also had the opportunity to train over 2 days in the Munster High Performance Centre in University of Limerick. From a playing perspective the Defence Forces had warm up games against the Leinster Juniors, An Garda Síochána (on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Gordon Wood Trophy, played in Ballina Killaloe RFC) and in April they travelled to France to play a French Military XV. This match proved to be an excellent learning experience for the relatively young DF team. Here they were exposed to the differences between club and military rugby!! The last item to get sorted prior to departure was the kit and DF Rugby would like to thank J7 for their efforts in securing the training and travel kit for the squad. The team were provided with enough kit to ensure that they were properly kitted out for the 3½ week tournament. The logistics for a competition like this were no small feat and could not have been done without the assistance of a lot of personnel including, the DOD, D COS Ops and Sp, ACOS, D Transport, D J7 and D J4 (especially the Travel and Sub section) and the Defence Forces Rugby back-room staff. The competition commenced on the 16th of August 2023 with the opening ceremony in Pontivy. All twelve nations were addressed by the Mayor of Pontivy and the President of the Brittany Regional Rugby League.Once the formalities of the Facing down the NZ Haka Idris Rqibi putting in a hit against Uzbekistan Ire v Australia

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