Rugby country growing as Munster tyros shine

Fineen Wycherley’s dad is from Skibbereen, his mum from Bantry. Neither are what Micheal O Muircheartaigh would call traditional rugby strongholds but the Irish game’s heat map is showing up more red than ever in places long considered beyond the code’s accepted heartlands.

Wycherley’s debut in the second row for the Irish U20s against Scotland last week is proof of that.

The Munster academy forward came to prominence as part of the first Roscrea side to claim the Leinster Senior Schools Cup in 2015, but his education began back home on the Beara Peninsula after his dad and a few others founded the Bantry Bay RFC underage section.