|
|
Carn teen joins kiwi rugby academy
25.03.10
Report by
Inishowen Independent
THE Six Nations has just ended, but for one local
rugby player, an adventure of an altogether
different hue has just begun. Hours after Ireland’s
Triple Crown hopes were dashed by Scotland,
Carndonagh teenager Paul McCarroll embarked on the
rugby trip of a lifetime – a six month stint in a
top rugby academy near Hamilton in New Zealand.
Standing 6 ft 6 inches, and weighing in at 17 stone,
the 18 year-old cuts an imposing figure as he ducks
into the Century Bar in Carndonagh last Friday night
to talk to the Inishowen Independent. The bags are
packed, and he’s just counting down the final hours
until his journey to the Southern Hemisphere.
A second row forward, McCarroll first played rugby
in St Patrick’s Boy’s School in Carn when Jonathan
Llewhellin, Donegal rugby development officer,
introduced the then 11 year-old to tag rugby.
Llewhellin continues to play a massive part in
Paul’s career; he was instrumental in helping
McCarroll get a place at the prestigious academy.
Paul immediately got a taste for the game, but
endured some setbacks before finally making setting
out on the road that saw him selected for Donegal,
regional and then Ulster youth squads. |
“I was 16 when I first
tried out for Donegal but didn’t make it,” he
recalls. “It was the best thing that ever happened
to me. It made me more determined than ever to come
back. I don’t know if I’d have given the game as
much if I had got onto the county squad at the first
attempt.”
Playing with Carn Community School, and also
Letterkenny Rugby Club and later City of Derry,
McCarroll fought his way first onto regional
development squads and then the Ulster Youth squad.
“I was in the squad with Ulster, |
 |
but never made the
matchday 22,” he reflects ruefully.
“The Ulster Youths was a massive step up from
playing under-age with Letterkenny and City of
Derry,” he acknowledges. “It was far faster and even
more physical than senior rugby with Inishowen.
Tackles were made a full tilt. I’m 17 stone and 6
foot 6 inches tall, but some of the fellas I was
playing against were 19 and 20 stone and very
athletic with it. The hits were ferocious.”
“From what I gather, the game in New Zealand at club
level will be similar to the that kind of level
here, but it will be played at an even higher pace.
Here, players might kill the ball and try to slow
the game down, but in New Zealand they never want to
give away penalties. It’s almost against the culture
of the game. It leads to very high scoring games and
it should be fun to play in it.”
With a good Leaving Cert behind him (he hopes to
study either medicine or physiotherapy when he
returns in August), he is on a year out and is
determined to give the next six months his very best
shot.
“My mother’s heartbroken that her last son is
leaving the nest,” he smiles, “but the family all
know it’s something that I want to do and they’re
more than supportive.”
Swapping Moss Road for the rugby-mad Waikato Region
on New Zealand’s North Island is part of McCarroll’s
continuing rugby education. It’s something he’s
clearly relishing.
“The boys here at home have been taking bets on how
many bones I’m going to break, but the big thing for
me will be getting up to the speed of the game in
New Zealand,” he says. “I’m not used to that.
Everything will be done at high speed over there.
That’s why I want to move to the back row when I
return, I’ll be doing a lot of speed development
work over there. Every part of my conditioning and
fitness will be worked on.”
Having left the U18 ranks, this season he has played
in the second row for Inishowen in the Magners
Junior League. The increased physicality of the
adult game has been a challenge, but he has
appreciated the opportunity of playing against more
experienced players.
“My opponents are all more experienced than me and
one of the things I will need to continue to
concentrate on is keeping my head,” he says. “The
big thing was the physicality of the adult game.
There are ex-Ulster players and ex-Ireland
internationals playing in our league and that can be
quite tough, but you learn a lot from playing
against them.”
The game, too, is evolving, and McCarroll is
determined to make the most of it. It’s becoming
faster and harder hitting. Long held notions of
donkeys lining out in the second row are becoming
redundant.
“In the Ulster set up, we were told that the era of
the donkeys in the second row is gone, and that we’d
have to have good hands and good feet,” he says.
“The way the game is going, it’s going to be more
like five back row players in the pack in the
future. As a flanker you make more physical tackles
and helping the backs because back row players are
better on their feet.”
“All Black Brad Thorn runs in tries from 20 metres
out, outpacing centres,” McCarroll says by way of
example. “That’s the way the game is played out
there. And it’s the way it should be played here.
And to be fair, that’s the way it’s moving. When I
was at the Ulster sessions, if a prop couldn’t run
the 100m in a set time, he was dropped pretty
quickly because he wasn’t going to be suitable to
the game as it’s evolving.
Stephen Ferris, who has established himself in the
Ireland team over the past two years, is someone
Paul admires.
“I’d love to play No. 6,” he says. “Ferris plays
there. He’s a great ball carrier and brings a great
physical element to his game. I’m a second row
player who wants to play in the back row.”
Although he visits the gym three or four times a
week, he’s concerned at strength being prioritised
over skill as rugby continues to adapt to the
professional era.
“The focus on strength and conditioning is a big
part of the game now, but that isn’t necessarily a
good thing,” he reckons. “At professional level now,
there are more athletes than actual rugby players.
Brian O’Driscoll has been the best player in the
world for the last ten years because he’s got an
amazing rugby brain. But the French centre Mathieu
Basteraud is 20 stones and is just a battering ram.”
One thing that does please him is the progress made
by Inishowen Rugby Club, for which he foresees great
things as their under-age section starts to produce
adult players in the coming years.
“John Merritt has done an outstanding job – he is Mr
Inishowen Rugby,” McCarroll says. “Stevie Griffiths
has been a big help as coach. And the players, like
Brian Nally, have been very helpful too. And so many
people are putting in great work coaching kids as
young as U6 and U8. We have squads at U13 and U15
and it will be great to see them move up the grades
and progress to adult level.”
“The work done by Mark Spencer at Carn Community
School has been crucial too,” he continues. “His
school teams are the best in Donegal and I can
definitely see in the near future Carn being able to
enter Ulster schools competition. The standard of
rugby keeps getting better and better and his
coaching really is top class.”
The next six months will give McCarroll a glimpse of
life as a professional rugby player.
“Of course I’d love to play the game professionally,
if I could,” he says. “It would be a dream. Many of
the graduates of the academy move on to play at a
high level at club or representative level in New
Zealand. When I come back, I’ll definitely be
getting involved with my college team. After that,
who knows?” |
|
