The Ryan route to success

MUNSTER has always taken pride in producing its own. Indigenous talent has been the bedrock of its success, and while a vibrant club game once provided the raw materials for the first generation of professional players, the provincial Academy is now viewed as the direct route to professional ranks.

Talent is spotted and targeted at an early age, a thorough identification process in place throughout the province which commences with players aged 14.

Below Academy level, the players would have been monitored in both the Schools and Youths systems, but the success of the game at youths level has grown immeasurably. Schools rugby was traditionally seen as the main provider of talent to the senior side, but a sign of the times is the fact that the four Academy nominees for the 2009 John McCarthy Award at this year’s Munster Rugby Awards have all come through the Youths system.