TIM SCHMIDT, THE son of Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, has joined Toulouse’s espoirs side for the season.
The 20-year-old scrum-half is living in the French city of Toulouse as part of the Erasmus programme, this being his third year of a four-year degree in International Business and French at UCD.
Schmidt is a former Leinster U18, U19 and U20 player who came through the ranks in Terenure College, before playing with Terenure College RFC upon leaving school.
An intelligent halfback and a popular figure at the club, Schmidt helped Terenure’s U20s to a McCorry Cup trophy last year.
Having moved to Toulouse for the academic year, Schmidt has been brought on board by Toulouse’s espoirs set-up and has been playing for them in the national French U23 league.
Schmidt was at scrum-half again for Toulouse in today’s 28-24 win over Clermont, an important result after a difficult start to the season for the espoirs side from the la Ville Rose.
Alongside Schmidt in today’s matchday squad was Daniel Brennan, the highly-rated son of former Ireland and Toulouse forward Trevor Brennan.
Brennan, a 125kg prop, signed a two-year espoirs contract – similar to a development deal in Ireland – with Toulouse back in June, when he was still only 17-years-old.
Brennan has come through the Toulouse underage set-up and played for France at U17 and U18 levels, captaining the national team at the latter level.
Also featuring alongside Schmidt for the Toulouse espoirs this season has been Navan man Conor Farrell, who captained the Ireland Under-18 Clubs team last year.
The 19-year-old back row is also a student of UCD, having studied International Commerce, and has been snapped up by Toulouse to feature in their espoirs squad.
Navan RFC product Farrell featured for the Leinster U19s in last year’s inter-provincial series, and has also played club rugby with Lansdowne FC.
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