Any word on the Academy?

[BuckRogers]

So many questions and, whilst I would consider myself relatively well informed, startlingly few obvious answers.

[Kofi Annan]

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[BuckRogers]

45,000 participants should be the absolute base target for Colonel Bluff. Club figures are pathetic.

[Nightsoil]

Believe there's 260 kids on the UR programmes - that's going from a post of Rooster's back in June though. I have zero knowledge on the numbers and rely wholely on what others say and google.

Tried to find some past reports to see whether there's been growth or a fall in club numbers - small fall since 2006/07 - http://www.irishrugby.ie/images/content ... RepWEB.pdf

[Cockatrice]

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kofi… based on those figures am I correct in reading that UR are already at over 36,000 registered players if so someone better advise the LT to use the correct figure.. It would appear that we had 27,000 players of all ages in 2011 so in three years UR have increased the pool of those playing rugby in the Province by 9,000.

The figures seem to suggest that the youth/school age groups are doing very well. Will this in turn likely see the rejuvenation of clubs around the province as these players continue playing into adulthood?

[Cockatrice]

45,000 participants should be the absolute base target for Colonel Bluff. Club figures are pathetic.

buck….. if your interested apparently 42,000 is the number which research shows we need to achieve in order to field an INTERNATIONAL standard team on the pitch…

[Kofi Annan]

Leinstets school and age grade is staggering compared to ours.

[BuckRogers]

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kofi… based on those figures am I correct in reading that UR are already at over 36,000 registered players if so someone better advise the LT to use the correct figure.. It would appear that we had 27,000 players of all ages in 2011 so in three years UR have increased the pool of those playing rugby in the Province by 9,000.

The figures seem to suggest that the youth/school age groups are doing very well. Will this in turn likely see the rejuvenation of clubs around the province as these players continue playing into adulthood?

What, if anything, is being done to encourage school leavers to link up with local clubs? I know some clubs are very good at inviting school leavers up to dinners to meet with players, coaches etc but the emphasis is always on the clubs to make contact either with the schools or directly to the players themselves.

The branch should be encouraging or requiring that local club coaches get into catchment area schools to make a bit of a pitch for any interested parties. Obviously this might sound a bit basic and players will have prior loyalties to existing clubs through friends or family but a lot of guys simply don't. They've picked up rugby in school and have no dad, brother, cousin involved in local club Rugby:

If coaches/clubs don't make the pitch they are living on a bit of a wing and a prayer with regards to getting players in the door..,especially those in the junior divisions.

[Nightsoil]

Leinstets school and age grade is staggering compared to ours.

In terms of a percentage of the population, every other province's playing numbers are staggering compared to ours.

[Fly Half]

Where Ulster lose out against the other provinces is simple - there needs to be a root and branch rethink regarding the Ulster Schools Cup. Kids leaving school now have no connection to clubs or any reason to get involved with them. There are only two or three schools capable of winning the USC and we wonder why there aren't the numbers of players coming through into the club game?

At Munster and Leinster they aren't afraid to have schoolboys playing with and against men at clubs, so they have far more nous and develop as players earlier.

[BuckRogers]

Not that simple. Leinster have a huge, absolutely huge, emphasis on the LSC, arguably more so than we do up here.

I remember being at school and playing the likes of Marys and Belvedere amongst others in November/December and any time you beat them, or even got close, you're expectations for the Cup rose a little.

There is nothing wrong the the SC per se but there is a lack of connect between the schools and club game. Don't listen to the myths about Methody lads sickened by weights etc. The big Leinster schools would shame ours in terms of their professionalism and attention to 30/40/50 boys between the ages of 16 and 18.

What perhaps is lacking here is the number of boys at 16 that drop off the radar completely because 2nd/3rd XVs either are treated as Gannon fodder or don't have enough games through out the season.

If that's the case and they maybe only get Wednesday games why not actively encourage them to go down the local club for a Saturday run out with their U-18s?

[Dave]

We should be allowed an extra NIQ based on those figures.

[Fly Half]

What perhaps is lacking here is the number of boys at 16 that drop off the radar completely because 2nd/3rd XVs either are treated as Gannon fodder or don't have enough games through out the season.

If that's the case and they maybe only get Wednesday games why not actively encourage them to go down the local club for a Saturday run out with their U-18s?

... because their schools actively discourage them by threatening them with a ban - unlike Leinster and Munster.

It is high time clubs were allowed to enter the "Schools Cup" and forge alliances with local/small/'non-rugby playing' schools. It will never happen of course because the clubs are populated with "old school" dinosaurs and they wonder why they're becoming extinct!

[Big-al]

Has he developed the elite pathway structures?

If so where are these players? Why did we have to sign two dirt trackers from Leinster?

Probably still being developed.

Not being glib here - an elite pathway structure relies on getting a potential player young and providing them with the best support all the way through. I'm guessing ideally you want to get to them when they're 16, if not earlier. Lets say 16 here. Most rugby players, particularly the forwards (which is the real issue here) will only start making an impact on the first team at the age of around 21. So, we're talking five years here. I believe people are dating the improvement and restructuring of the pathway with Brian McLaughlin moving to take up a role there - that's three years ago.

I am probably off on the fine details but the logic is obvious - improvements made to elite pathway structures will only bear fruit after you've given players time to go through them, and that hasn't happened yet.

Surely then the current irish schools side would have more than 5 players from Ulster involved then?

[Columbo]

Night soil , okay we are three years into the programme with McLocks coaching the kids, how many have we playing at age grade and being encouraged below, to say the same in Leinster

In the U20 warm-ups, Ulster had 11 players who featured - Leinster had 14, Connacht had 5, Munster had 4 and there was one Exile. So actually that looks pretty decent.

Is this part of a wider trend? I don't know - just 5-7 in the Irish Schools team (per above posts, I don't have any personal knowledge there) certainly sounds low. As an aside, I saw on another messageboard that Hylands (full-back?) got good mentions..