The rugby season at City of Derry Rugby Club kicks off this weekend with a “UK City of Culture” All Ireland Youth Tournament @ Judges Road which will be contested by teams from Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster. The teams from outside Ulster coming to Derry are from Skerries in North Dublin, Creggs in Roscommon and UL Bohemians from Limerick.
These teams are coming by invitation from City of Derry RFC and the City as a thank you gesture to those clubs who were the only Rugby Clubs who came north regularly throughout the troubles. They are bringing over 300 players, Coaches, Family Members and Supporters to the City for the weekend. They will enjoy a Civic Reception and a Tour of the Walls on Friday afternoon and will all meet later and enjoy an evening together at the Brunswick Moviebowl.
The Tournament on Saturday morning will have two sections for Under 13’s and Under 15’s and it will be played on a Round Robin basis with each team playing three games. The last time this All Ireland Youth Tournament was run was during the Clubs 125th Anniversary Year in 2006 and the winners of both age groups on that occasion was UL Bohs. The Limerick Club will once again be sending two strong squads but they will not get it their own way especially at Under 15 level with Skerries sending the current Leinster Champions at that age group.
City of Derry Rugby Club will be hoping for a big showing from their two squads. The Under 13’s are coached by Pat O’Hagan who took them to the Bowl Final last season where they were narrowly defeated by Monaghan. The Under 15’s are coached by Alastair Millar and his charges had an outstanding season last year and they were in contention for league honours right to the end and lost out narrowly in the Semi Final of the Cup.
The Youth Tournament gets under way at 11am and will be followed by the first home outing of the Season for City of Derry RFC 1st XV when they play Omagh in a friendly and the Kick off for that game is 3pm.
