The Irish Rugby Football Union have appointed four Provincial Talent coaches to support the identification and development of talented underage players in Ireland. The appointments are part of an ongoing strategic investment in the Player Pathway which is being driven by the IRFU’s High Performance Unit under Performance Director David Nucifora.
The four Provincial Talent coaches are Colm Tucker (Connacht), Trevor Hogan (Leinster), Mark Butler (Munster) and Michael Black (Ulster).
David Nucifora, IRFU Performance Director, commented on the appointments and the role that the Provincial Talent coaches will play, stating: “Their role is an investment on the IRFU’s behalf into the game to make sure that we are working across all areas of the game to identify the best talent.
“There is one talent coach appointed per province and they will be working with the domestic rugby staff looking at kids from the age of 15 and 16 and to ensure that we have the best structures in place to be able to identify talent and bring that best talent into the development pathways. These coaches will then be mandated to help manage that talent through the pathway.
“We are trying to make sure we are as efficient as we can possibly be in the area of talent identification. A lot of the onus will be in the areas outside of the traditionally captured areas of talent.
“The Schools system is an obvious area of where we know where the talent is and we will continue to work with them but the role of the Provincial Talent Coaches will be to work closely with clubs and other schools where rugby is not the main sport to make sure that we are actually identifying more potential talent that we can bring into the pathway to broaden the talent pool.
“It’s a really exciting addition to our staff on the ground and something that I believe is going to add value over time for Irish rugby.”
Provincial Talent Coaches
Connacht – Colm Tucker
Colm has been working full-time as a Coach Development Officer at Connacht Rugby since May 2015. Previous to joining Connacht, he was head coach of UL Bohemians in the Ulster Bank League for four seasons and previous to that he held the head coach position at Shannon RFC.
Leinster – Trevor Hogan
Trevor is a former professional player who represented Leinster, Munster and Ireland. As a coach he helped Nenagh Ormond achieve promotion to Ulster Bank League Division 2A and has coached a number of Dublin underage club and schools sides.
Munster – Mark Butler
Mark has been working with Munster Rugby’s underage representative teams since 2010 and has held the head coach role at both Thurles RFC and Cashel RFC (Ulster Bank League). Since 2015, Mark has held the position of head coach for the Ireland Under-18 Tri Nations squad.
Ulster – Michael Black
Michael is a former international referee who has been responsible for the delivering the underage representative rugby programme in Ulster Rugby since 2013. He was responsible for team services, management and operations for Ulster Under-16s up to the Ulster Ravens.
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