Munster Academy Benefits From Greencore And MRSC Support
The new Greencore partnership with the Munster Rugby Academy was launched last Saturday at an event for Academy members, parents and staff in advance of the Munster v Ulster RaboDirect PRO12 clash at Thomond Park.
The partnership with Greencore will focus on a number of initiatives in areas such as nutrition, culinary expertise, business mentoring support and work experience for Munster Academy players. The Academy will also be supported by a newly established Patrons Programme.
The Patrons Programme comprises of ‘Founder patrons’ who support two Academy players each, and ‘Academy patrons’ who support one player each for the duration of their involvement.
The Academy, which is central to the sustainability of Munster professional rugby, has produced some of Ireland’s leading players since its inception including Keith Earls, Conor Murray and Munster captain Peter O’Mahony.
It has also proved a productive pipeline for emerging young players such as Simon Zebo and JJ Hanrahan.
Meanwhile, the Munster Rugby Supporters Club has yet again shown how important the role of the 16th man is within Munster Rugby, having now contributed 900,000 euro to the Greencore Munster Academy over the last number of years.
The latest contribution of €;140,000, which includes the proceeds from the Giant Draw, assists with the development of the Academy and also provides funding to Munster Rugby for various projects such as the squad’s gym facilities, video analysis equipment, flags on matchday and much more.
This year has seen the likes of Shane Buckley and Johnny Holland and graduate from the Academy into the senior programme with both players now on Development contracts.
Jennifer Kiernan, MRSC Manager, said: “The Supporters Club is extremely proud to play their part in the development of our future stars and we would like to thank the members for their continued support in making this annual contribution to the Academy possible.”
Peter Malone, Munster’s Elite Player Development Manager, is very thankful to the Supporters Club for the funding over the last number of years.
“Once again the MRSC has helped keep the development pathway going. Their vital funding allows us to adopt a multi-faceted approach to player development – mental skills, nutrition, lifestyle management as well as our strength & conditioning and rugby programmes,” he explained.
“The players currently in the Academy will be the players representing Munster in European ties in two to three years’ time, just like the players who have come through the Academy and are now representing Munster so well – players like Duncan Casey, James Cronin, Ronan O’Mahony, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray.”
He added: “I think we have a good number of promising players coming through the Academy system as seen by the numbers of players involved in the Ireland Under-20 and Under-19 squads this year. This is an indication that we will have a few stars coming through in the next few years.”
Commenting on the Munster Academy’s summer plans, Malone outlined: “We run a very heavy programme for our Academy over the summer. They will be in camp for three weeks and then training between Limerick and Cork for the rest of the summer.
“It is our chance to work the players at a very high level, as when they get back to college we have to manage their college load as well.”
#PlayYourPart by joining the MRSC’s Red Army today. To join please click here.