Ireland students head coach Carl de Chenu is excited to bring the Student 4 Nations to his home town of Bray in County Wicklow, just south of Dublin. “I’m really looking forward to the event this year. Bringing the tournament to Bray ha generated real interest in the local community and the facilities really lend themselves to a tournament of this standing. The Irish team are looking really well and I’m so proud of everyone involved for their efforts. Each year we improve and I’m confident this year will be our best yet. We’ve a strong squad and had excellent competition for places. It’s also a good challenge to face lads who are raised in the game and play week in week out and we can learn a lot in a week”
The tournament visits Bray and the town has embraced rugby league. There is a buzz since the rugby posts went up in the historic Carlisle Grounds, home of Bray Wanderers football club and the reaction on local social media has been great. The support from RLI title sponsors McGettigan’s has made it all possible and all teams will stay in The Royal Hotel beside the club.
Speaking ahead of the event RLI director Richard Egan said “I’m looking forward to a bright future for RLI in Bray. The support has been great and the stadium looks really well. I’d like to thank all involved from McGettigan’s and The Royal Hotel and especially Bray Wanderers. I can’t wait for the games to start and then build on this for the future. It seems right that our first event is our Students who are the future of the game, and Carl and John have done a great job in preparing the team and I wish everyone involved all the very best. I’d also like to welcome the teams from England, Scotland and Wales and hope you all enjoy a great and memorable week here in Bray”
The Irish students started open trials around the provinces in March and then selected a train on squad which has trained over the past few weeks including winning the McGettigan’s 9 aside tournament. There has been great interest from new players to the game and a great input from the Under 19s squad from last year. Some of the players involved only started playing rugby league a few months ago and they join some experienced guys who tasted success when the Ireland amateur team won last years Celtic Nations amateur tournament.
It’s an exciting time for RLI as the senior team will this year face Belgium, Serbia and Malta using domestic talent in order to grow our local players. There will then be the European Championship is October/November and players from these competitions will get chance to play with professional players.
RLI hope that the people of Bray come out in force to see the games and admission is free. The Belgium game is on Sunday 12th July also in Bray.
All six games of the University Four Nations will be held at Carlisle Grounds, Bray (just south of Dublin).
The full schedule is as follows:
Sunday June 14
2.00pm –Scotland v England
6.00pm – Ireland v Wales
Tuesday June 16
2.00pm – Wales v Scotland
6.00pm – Ireland v England
Friday June 19
12.00pm – England v Wales
4.00pm – Ireland v Scotland