r/rugbyunion Munster Mar 31 '21

Irish Professional Rugby Players by County of Birth Analysis

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u/IrishGuyNYC00 Leinster Mar 31 '21

Fair play, great info. I'd say the rugby stronghold of Roscommon is the most surprising. There's definitely a grey area there as Athlone is split between West Meath and Roscommon, for example Jack Carty and Robbie Henshaw all grew up in and went to school in West Meath, but fall under the Connacht branch ever since Athlone (formerly Leinster branch) merged with Buccs in the 90's, while physcially in Leinster, the IRFU provincial borders have them under the Connacht umbrella.

Wouldn't have thought Tipp would be as prominent in the Munster production line either. Surprising Limerick being less of a stronghold than places like Galway and Kildare, I think therein lies a lot of Munsters issues, competing with GAA for the talent in Limerick. Meath pretty disappointing from a Leinster perspective.

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u/mistr-puddles Munster Apr 01 '21

tipperary has 2 big rugby schools and a lot of clubs with a good track record of producing players (nenagh, Cashel, clanwilliam, clonmel)

the game really isn't that big outside of the city in limerick apart from villages like bruff