LYIT play Gloucester Academy

LYIT Rugby broke new ground again last weekend. After a very hard season which saw them make the All Ireland College Q/F’s for the first time they went on a well deserved end of season tour. Unfortunately the players who hoped for a nice relaxing tour where disappointed because their tour match was against Hartbury College which is the home of the Gloucester rugby academy.
The boys were a bit over awed at first by the high quality facilities and the BBC being there(They were interviewing the Gloucester coaching staff about their match against Munster in the Heineken Cup) LYIT started pretty slow conceding two soft early trys. After that the players composed themselves and steadied the ship with some hard tackles and great work in the rucks. The pack started to win some turn over ball with flankers Paul Neary and Declan Savage causing lots of damage. The front row of Flanagan, McGill and Allen began dominating in the scrums and with the half backs, Declan Gallagher and Alex Quinn using the LYIT possession well LYIT started to get a into Hartbury territory. Hartbury then put up a massive defence display to not concede before half time.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half it remained tight with both teams cancelling each other out before the experience of Hartbury started to dominate and as the LYIT boys tired Hartbury ran in 3 more trys to win.
It was a great learning experience for LYIT to play a professional academy and Hartbury have been invited over next year for a return game.

LYIT Rugby in All Ireland Quarter Final

This Wednesday the LYIT Rugby team will travel to Co. kildare for their quarter final All Ireland clash with Maynooth. The players have done extremely well to reach this stage in the Irish Colleges structure. This comes as a result of good commitment to training and fixtures by the players and coaching staff. The team has been supported and coached by IRFU Ulster Branch YDO, Shane O Neill.
The first year that have joined this year are new to the game and have integrated well with the previous year’s players, many of who play regular rugby with Donegal Town and Letterkenny Rugby Clubs.

This is the 3rd year that the IRFU Ulster Branch have been involved in the development of the LYIT structure which has brought many new and old players into the game of rugby. This development has recently been highlighted by the Irish Colleges staff who are pleased to see the continued professional support and further development of college’s rugby in the North West of Ireland. An emphasis follows the IRFU strategic plan to increase participation in the game by developing the sport in all areas of the community.

As well as the development of the playing side, the IRFU have also been involved in offering certified rugby courses to the students on the Sports Development Courses. This year, is the second year of the coaching development in which over 40 students have gained a qualification at Intro to Rugby, Mini or Foundation level, thus highlighting the commitment of the IRFU to developing the game at colleges level.
All the best to the boys on Wednesday as they fly the flag for the LYIT and Donegal Rugby!