Skerries

yeah that is

curious but like Ericsson is an interesting one he was handed alongside JJ Kenny was handed a contract around this time last year on the back of him brought in for pre-season he's from Skerries he played for club which were Belvo and got spotted in the AIL and kind of brought into Leinster as a late developer and he's a seven but they're picking him at eight because of an injury crisis there or well injuries plus Jack Conan's not available and And suddenly you've got a bit of a Sean O'Brien prototype there.

He looks really, really low to the ground, but hard to bring down, nuggety.

And he looks like a real player for them.

We will get on to the explanation of it once we have 2B South done as well.

But the teams in Division 2B North in 26-27 are Ballyclare, Sligo, Clare Valley, Malahide, Enniskillen, Rainey, Malone, Banbridge, Skerries and Navan.

My goodness gracious me, that is going to be A tough, tough league.

Ballyclare will have a new head coach in Louis Ludic that is there in place.

Well, three divisions if you take Enniskillen, but...

Yeah, exactly.

But in terms of this league, there is a little bit of the unknown here, but the likes of Malahide, Skerries and Navin will not have really any familiar foes in the Ulster teams, but like we don't have a clue which it would be or 2A, it is going to be.

we know it we know it's going to be physical in division 2b but it is going to be very interesting to see on the basis that a lot of these teams would have played against each other in ulster senior league or ulster senior shield that they will now be playing against each other uh for a second time uh before christmas and then a third time after christmas

They've talked about it non-stop and that's a tough one but for us we want to challenge that next group.

I read a piece today that said they've kind of been in an island at fifth and way better than those below and way better or maybe not quite at the teams above and that was we wanted to be able to get into that last 15 minutes and if we didn't win it wasn't because of Rugby IQ and again I want to go back to that of how special it was but for me amazing being here my friends and family amazing to bring it back to Skerries who I hope will ignite their own women's rugby program and they still got some work to do there but it was brilliant to go out but we had a job to do here so it was just, for me personally, it was the exact same work week but I did say to them to pack rain jackets and it hasn't rained once so I feel like I need to get the trust back with the group a little

bit.

Thanks Emile, well done.

While the Ireland head coach is keen to add depth in the next two months, he may be reluctant to change too much this week – with the USA on paper being the strongest of Ireland's opponents in this window, eighth in the world rankings.

The Eagles are in the early stages of a rebuild under their new head coach, Irishman Jack Hannity, the Skerries native who coached Canada to Olympic seven silver in Paris in 2024.

And our thanks to Neil Tracy for that preview.

Before it stages, the Rugby Tala Stadium will be the venue for tonight's League of Ireland Premier Division game between the title holders Shamrock Rovers and Watford.

Um, and in the rugby...

Like, it's funny because we went out to train in the rugby club, and my brother Tom, I've one brother, uh, so I introduced him as the, you know, our club, our club liaison officer for, for, for Skerries Rugby Club, oh, and he's also my brother.

Uh, and it ju- it kind of showed the small worlds, uh, thing.

Uh, but, um, he, you know, him and I are, we look s- k- I don't know, some people say we're kind of alike.

Uh, so that was, that was quite funny.

But, uh, it was, it was just like, it w- they got to walk around my...

I'm, I'm from a very small, small town, so I made them [laughs] not made them, but, uh, but we went to the gym that my old coach owns and then we went down into my hometown of Skerries, and everybody, uh, I divided them up into their mini teams and they went to, like, different coffee shops and they had to rate them, 'cause I said, "One of the thing, one of our jobs, Eagles, is to, to decide what the best coffee shop is in Skerries." And, like, even then, like, people were stopping them and, and, and just seeing how cool it was and, and, and kind of going like, "Ah, I think, I think that coach is from Skerries," or whatever.

And those things are really cool, but then, uh, we got to train the club and, and they, uh, you know, there's so many old photos and they were, they were looking, they were certainly looking for me.

I found it really, really tough.

And even in Skerries, you know, there was many a morning there on a Saturday, you're running from here to Balbriggan and no car would pass you.

Like it was, you know, just darkness the whole way.

You know, and couldn't really do the runs at the weekend, the long runs at the weekends, because you got the kids and they're doing activities and all that sort of stuff.

But once you take off your coat and just get settled into enjoying the tropical experience, you'll be fine.

So we used to go there because my dad, though he lived in Skerries once he married, he grew up not far from there.

So we've been going there since we were very young.

So anyhow, back to my Caribbean family.

Well, this family came to stay in Skerries for a couple of months because one of the children had some lung problems.

So it was recommended that they come to a temperate climate for a couple of months.

And so my mother knew the lady who owned the house that this family from the Caribbean were going to rent.

And that's how I got the job.