Meanwhile back at the ranch

Not every Leinster and Munster rugby hero can get to Croke Park tomorrow. Some – such as their junior counterparts – will be wading through the mud to keep their passion for the amateur game burning brightly. DIARMUID O’FLYNN met some of them.

From the renowned Tipperary rugby enclave of Kilfeacle, from an almost equally renowned rugby family, Ger Luby was delighted – for the 2009 interpro junior rugby series, he would captain Munster.

“Did you get a call from Paul?”, his father, Johnny, an ex-Kilfeacle president, asked; “From Paul?” Ger replied, nonplussed, not making the connection in time, setting himself up for the follow-up.