THE IMPASSIONED CELEBRATION said it all. A few days before getting his Leaving Cert results, 18-year-old Ruadhán Quinn scored a try on his first senior appearance for Munster. His delight was well-earned.
The big back row won the Munster Schools Senior Cup with Crescent back in March and has gone straight into the Munster academy after finishing school. Quinn is one for the future but he’s already making an impression with Graham Rowntree’s senior squad.
His barnstorming finish against Gloucester in last Friday’s pre-season friendly at Musgrave Park came on the end of a mazy run by impressive scrum-half Paddy Patterson, with Quinn underlining his power by barrelling through two tackle attempts.
Ireland U19 international Quinn was one of a few youngsters to shine during Munster’s first outing under new head coach Rowntree.
Academy wing Conor Phillips had some sharp touches, showing hints of the class he has demonstrated with Young Munster RFC and the Ireland 7s team. Another alumnus of Crescent College, the Limerick flyer has lots of potential.
There was a dynamic, eye-catching first senior outing for academy lock Edwin Edogbo too, the towering 19-year-old bringing explosive power from the bench.
Edogbo came through Cobh Pirates RFC, featured for the Ireland U18s, and now plays with UCC in the AIL. He spent much of his first year in the academy sidelined after an Achilles tendon rupture but is now back looking big, fit and strong.
Young second rows Cian Hurley and Eoin O’Connor started the game, while academy back row Daniel Okeke and academy out-half/fullback Tony Butler also got on against Gloucester.
The Munster production line has started to churn out excellent young players in recent years and it looks like there are many more to come for Rowntree’ senior team.
Munster’s new attack coach, Mike Prendergast, has been impressed since returning from France for the start of this pre-season.
“One of the aspects that I’ve noticed is their willingness and ability to learn,” said Prendergast. “They are good students of the game. It’s something that was quite visible when I arrived in here.
“They ask good questions. Maybe at times, they’re a bit shy in front of a group to ask it but they’ll come into your office or meet you in the corridor and they’re not afraid to ask how I want to improve for each position. From that point of view, definitely very impressive.
“We saw a couple of those names [on Friday] and a few more in behind. That’s what we want – we want to build our depth chart effectively. Having those young boys in at the moment, we train quite quick but you don’t see a huge difference between them and maybe some of the inter-provincial players.”
Munster’s young guns will hope for more opportunities this Friday against London Irish in the province’s second pre-season friendly, with the start of the URC season now three weekends away.
With the province’s Ireland internationals back training after their summer breaks, Rowntree and co. may have a strong hand to choose from early on in the URC campaign but it remains to be seen exactly how early the internationals are allowed to play.
“Step by step, they’ve been integrated over the last couple of weeks but in terms of when their first game is, we’re not fully sure,” said Prendergast.
“It might come down to individuals, we’re not fully clear on that yet.”
