Ray D'Arcy DID play "a bit of rugby"

In our latest Roots & All feature, Robbie Doyle from Cill Dara RFC tells us about another rugby playing D’Arcy from Leinster…

Our past club captain, Today FM broadcaster & Kildare Town native, Ray D'Arcy, proves the doubters wrong on his past rugby-playing career!

Ever since Today FM broadcaster & Kildare Town native, Ray D'Arcy, mentioned a few years ago on his radio show to his then guest, Brian O'Driscoll, that he played "a bit of rugby," he has been subject to constant (albeit good-natured) ridicule from his friends, workmates and listeners to the show. No more..

After the Leinster squad's training session in Ray's old club, Cill Dara RFC, last Friday, the legendary Brian O'Driscoll was asked into the club bar where he was shown the board listing past club captains since the foundation of the club in 1976. There, listed in the 1986/87 season, was the name "R. DARCY."

Drico was immediately stunned and humbled by this revelation (sort of...) and graciously allowed a photo record of his discovery to be made for all who doubted Ray's past prowess on the rugby pitch.

We in Cill Dara Rugby Club, however, have long known the truth that Ray was indeed once our club captain and a decent centre in his day, renowned and feared by opponents for his defensive ability. So lift your head up Ray, and forever more say: "I didn't just play a bit of rugby, you know. I was once actually the captain of a rugby club!"

Many thanks to Nicola Cross - NC Photography - for taking the photographs on the day.

Click here for the Cill Dara RFC website

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Stade and Racing tremble at the sight of …Cill Dara RFC!

DIARY OF A YOUTH COACH by Robbie Doyle - Part 2 (click here for Part 1)


After a 3a.m. (yes…A.M.) departure from the club, the touring party of 36 children and 18 adults arrived in Paris and made it through passport control without any fuss. This was the big worry when you have to escort other people’s kids out of the country. Outside Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, we had the first of a multitude of head counts that took place over the weekend.

As this is a rugby blog, I hope I’m not being either too brief or too disparaging to the French by quickly summarising our non-rugby activities as follows: Eiffel Tower; head count; restaurant; head count; Versailles; head count; EuroDisney; head count, and so on and so forth. You get the picture… Priority number one was to bring everybody back in one piece. Losing a child at Lansdowne Road is one thing but an absent player in Paris would be a nightmare. Thankfully, it didn’t happen.

Interspersed between the non-rugby activities were some wonderful moments of hospitality at the host club, CA Orsay Rugby. They are wonderful rugby people who really appreciated the effort made by us to get there. They gave the Kildare boys a chance to taste French cuisine and, while initially there was a longing for chips with everything, curiosity and hunger prompted them to try the pâté, salads, baguettes, duck, Toulouse sausages and, for the brave ones, escargots. Somehow, I can’t see the last one catching on a post-match meal in Cill Dara!

And so to the tournament...

Although there were 80 teams competing at different age groups over the two day festival, the under-13 event had 17 teams broken into four groups and was an all-day event beginning at 10 a.m. and carrying on until late afternoon. The French call their U13 grade, “Benjamins”, but I’ve no idea why. Never thought to ask either.

We entered two teams in the competition with one being the perceived stronger of the other. This was the cause of much debate among the coaches as it likely does in every club. When competitive rugby kicks in, the cruelty of assigning players to A and B teams comes into focus. We are blessed with a large squad but can only put 15 players on the pitch at any one time. Players are understandably disappointed, especially just after coming through the non-competitive, mini rugby ranks. It’s a big discussion point and I’ll come back to it again.

So, with two Irish teams registeredalong with fifteen French teams, the format was decided by the organisers. Matches were to be 9 minutes in duration on half a standard pitch. Five-person scrums were non-competitive with the remaining six players lining up in the backs (it was very much like the U11/U12 laws we employ here).

When we had a chance to look at the draw for the group stage, two names hopped off the page - Stade Francais and Racing Club de Paris. This is without even mentioning the regular winners and tournament favourites, RC Massy Essonne.Gulp…We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

The first of the Cill Dara teams found the going tough and were unfortunate to draw Massy in their group. Nonetheless they played with great heart and determination in every game which would later prompt the tournament organisers to choose them from among the 80 teams present for the competition’s coveted ‘Fair Play Trophy.’ Having lost more than they won, their heads were down at the end of the day but it’s amazing how the award of a trophy can change a group’s dynamic. It was a relief for us coaches too as we didn’t want any child going home with unhappy memories of such a unique rugby experience.

The other Cill Dara team performed really well and came through their group as the top second-placed team in the tournament, having lost only to the mighty Racing. This qualified them for the quarter final of the competition’s top tier and a crack at the so-far unbeaten, R.C.P.XV. The Kildare boys raised their game to a new level and won by a single try. This was apparently a huge shock judging by how the losing French coach gathered his distraught players in a circle and admonished them for losing to an Irish team on French soil. It was bizarre and a little unsettling to watch 12 and 13 year-olds get up from a coach’s talk in tears. Thankfully not a sight I’ve ever seen in Ireland, nor hope to.

A semi-final against “that” Massy team was next. The skill level displayed by the French boys in the semi was breathtaking and belied their U13 status. Passing moves that straddled the length of the pitch. Ball moved around like it was a hot potato. Despite keeping the score to 0-0 until the final three minutes, bravery and tenacious defence was not enough and Massy scored two late tries to gain a place in the final against Racing.

These two finalists were a step above anything I’ve seen at our grade in Leinster but something that we could easily aspire to. The match ended in a draw and the winner’s trophy was shared.

The day was not over for Cill Dara however as we now faced the host club, CA Orsay, in the 3^rd/4^thplay-off in front of a partisan crowd. Despite conceding the first score, the Irish boys fought back and scored two fantastic tries, including one that had French flair written all over it. The sound of the final whistle prompted an Irish pitch invasion and generous applause from the French spectators in the stand.

So the Cill Dara RFC Under-13’s came home from the Orsay Tour with a bagful of wonderful memories and two French trophies to add to the Under-13 Leinster Plate they won in May. More importantly, they proudly represented their club, their province and their country with distinction. Let’s hope the bonds form as a squad carries on into next season. We do lose some of our players to rugby-playing schools in September but more about the pros and cons of that particular rule in my next post…(part 3 next Wednesday)

Robbie Doyle is the head coach of the Cill Dara RFC under-13 squad. An ex-player with Bective and Co. Carlow, Robert refereed for ten years in Leinster, three of which were spent on the IRFU Referees Panel. Now coaching youths and minis in his local club, Robert hopes to continue in the game as a coach, progressing as far as possible. He is also a freelance historical writer in his spare, spare time.

© JL Pagano 2012

France - by Hook or by Crook

Please welcome Robbie Doyle to the HoR2 team...this is the first in a series of posts he'll be penning for us titled "Diary of a Youth Coach".

It is said that every great motion picture should have a “hook” - an opening that gets the audience to sit further forward in their seat anticipating something special for the movie’s duration. In the industry, it’s called “the promise of premise.”  

When I was asked to write these series of articles for ‘Harpin on Rugby,’ I fretted about having such a “hook” for the reader of my first post but then along came George Hook. Before you all moan about the use of such a lame pun, let me explain...

I have been coaching kids in a rural rugby club for the last 6 years. Like most coaches at this level, I was dragged from the group of onlooking proud parents at their child’s first training session to help out.  Next minute, I was head coach of a bunch of six year-olds! And, guess what? Best thing I was ever “volunteered” for.

Fast forward from U7’s, through the mini’s section and into the first phase of youth rugby at U13 level. What a rush! One minute, it’s teaching kids to pass backwards and run forwards; the next it’s front-row binding and defence patterns. But where’s the hook, I hear you ask?

In April 2011, we were invited to play in a rugby festival in Orsay, a small town about 25km outside Paris. That suburb was looking to twin with our town on an official basis and the rugby fraternity on both sides of the sea also wanted strong linkages to develop between clubs. The incoming U13 coaches were delighted to accept such an invite but it would be a big task to raise funds and organise the safe carriage of 30 or more kids out of the country. Happily, we had an enthusiastic bunch of parents who also decided they were willing to take up the challenge.

What followed was a year of race-nights, car washes, bag packs and weekly duty on the club shop as we scrambled to raise as much of the funds as possible. We had received a very competitive price from Irish Rugby Tours Ltd. and the promise of help on the French side so we knew our targets early on. By May of this year, and with most of the organising committee suffering from fundraising fatigue, we were ready for the final stages of the trip.

A successful campaign in the U13 Leinster Plate kept us training almost up to departure but I wanted to mark the occasion of this unique venture by holding a tour jersey presentation night, something that is traditional for many rugby tours abroad. George Hook is strongly linked to the travel agent we were using (father of…) and no better man than himself to invite to the club for such a ceremony.

If I was slightly worried before about how the 12 and 13 year olds would react to their perception of a grumpy old man, my fears were quickly allayed as the Newstalk presenter immediately honed in on his and the children’s common passion - rugby. He spoke to a room full of players and parents about the friendships and bonds that are formed in team sports but most especially in rugby, a sport that has a place for children of all shapes and sizes.

This is probably what makes it unique in team sports. Every player can be found a position on a rugby team - the large, the small, the fast & the “less” fast. The room hung on George’s every word & his talk set the tone for the trip.

And so, it was off to Paris with a bunch of teenagers and almost teenagers, preparing to take on the best that Parisian youth rugby could throw at us. Were the kids nervous? Not a chance. Was I? Hell, yes… This wasn’t going to be a like a Sunday morning trip to play a neighbouring U13 team. As a novice coach, into the great unknown I went.

Coming soon : Part 2 - Stade Francais and Racing tremble at the sight of …Cill Dara RFC!

Robbie Doyle is the head coach of the Cill Dara RFC under-13 squad. An ex-player with Bective and Co. Carlow, Robert refereed for ten years in Leinster, three of which were spent on the IRFU Referees Panel. Now coaching youths and minis in his local club, Robert hopes to continue in the game as a coach, progressing as far as possible. He is also a freelance historical writer in his spare, spare time.

© JL Pagano 2012