THE CLUBHOUSE: Behind the scenes at Clonmel RFC where Denis Leamy started his coaching career and players – including an Irish born Philippines international – aren’t paid for a very noble reason

Clonmel RFC’s home ground is known affectionately as Ard Gaoithe.

‘It means high wind and it’s always windy up there,’ Phil Corby, a stalwart of the ambitious Tipperary club for half a century, explains.

‘The town of Clonmel is more or less in a valley. The club is on the northside of the town. It’s elevated. Now, it’s not hurricanes but there is never a calm day out there.

‘Every club wants to make their home a fortress. About 20 years ago, we built a stand. It holds about 410 people, give or take. 

‘That has made a huge difference as well. On a wet day, most people will stay undercover and some guys are traditionalists. 

‘They will lean over the fence the same as they always did. And not all of them are young fellas, I might add as well!’

It’s been a whirlwind few years for the club. Founded in 1882, Clonmel finally achieved senior status in 2019. 

Rugby in Tipperary is experiencing a bit of a boom at the moment. Clonmel is one of three clubs from the county, along with Nenagh Ormond and Cashel, who are competing in the AIL these days.

This afternoon, Clonmel host Dolphin on their home turf. They have made a bright start to Division 2B South, beating Monkstown 33-28 up in Sydney Parade on the opening weekend of the new campaign.

Clonmel will be marked men this season. 

They won the division last season, by virtue of beating Bective Rangers in the playoff final, but there was no promotion on the back of the IRFU restructuring Divisions 2B and 2C into League 2BN (North) and League 2BS (South).

They will quietly fancy their chances of going one better this time around. 

And the club owes a great debt to a former Munster legend, who walked through the doors of the club and changed the entire mentality and culture of the setup.

GAME CHANGER

When Denis Leamy was forced to call time on his stellar career at the age of 30 due to a hip injury, he went straight into coaching with Clonmel. A proud Tipp man, he soon began to make waves. He surveyed the scene, saw a big catchment area and rich potential. When a two-time Heineken Cup winner speaks, people listen.

‘He brought a winning culture to the club. That year, we won the Munster Junior Cup for the first and only time,’ Corby recalls.

‘Under Denis, we won the Munster Junior League three times. He’s from Cashel. A lot of the players knew him personally because he wasn’t that old when he retired.’

Leamy, who made 144 appearances for Munster and won a Grand Slam with Ireland, had a huge impact. He has since gone on to greater things in the coaching game, first with Leo Cullen’s Leinster and now as defence guru with Munster.

Clonmel proved a fruitful apprenticeship and Leamy wasn’t afraid to dish it out to the players either.

‘I’m in a public space at the moment and I couldn’t repeat the language which was used when things went wrong!’ Corby laughs, taking a phone call while on holiday in Lanzarote.

‘A nice guy. I knew him before he came in to coach… I played against his father many years previously and I was friendly with him.

‘Denis came in and when he became full-time coach, he kicked ass. It was his way or the highway. That was it. It’s amazing. The fellas we thought wouldn’t have taken to that type of discipline… they actually did.

‘He’s still well received at the club and highly respected because of what he put into it.’

LOCAL HEROES

Like every amateur rugby club, player retention is a constant challenge.

‘The team is chiefly local. The fathers have played and the sons have followed suit,’ Corby explains.

‘A case in point. My youngest son is actually playing with Midleton. He got married and moved to Cork. It was just impractical to travel up and down three times a week.

‘For him, every match is an away game for him, even in Clonmel.

‘We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to hold on to a lot of our own, both out of the secondary school and Rockwell college, which is only about 10 miles away.’

Clonmel is a proud club which has produced some notable players in the past.

 Rory Moroney was an accomplished centre and won a Triple Crown with Ireland in 1985. 

Dave Foley, who made 68 appearances for Munster and won two Ireland caps before carving out a career with Pau in Top14, came through the ranks. 

As did former Ireland women’s international Niamh Briggs.

Long before he became a fan favourite with Ulster, Sean Reidy, the hardy Kiwi backrower with a grandfather from Kerry, wound up on Clonmel in 2011 after he got a construction job down the road in Cahir.

‘We had a coach from New Zealand, Hogan Chapman. A very good coach. He made contact with Sean and he ended up playing a season with us,’ Corby says.

‘He contributed greatly to both the rugby side and the social side. He was excellent. He was one of those real New Zealanders. 

‘He wasn’t outstanding at any one thing, but he was good at everything.’

A few years later, Reidy signed for Ulster on the back of his performances for Counties Manukau in New Zealand. He would make 150 appearances for the province and win two Ireland caps under Joe Schmidt. He is still fondly remembered around the clubhouse in Clonmel.

SONIC YOUTH

Fergal Buttimer is a passionate Clonmel clubman. After stints as a referee and as underage coach with the club, he became director of rugby in 2019, the year when the club progressed into the AIL ranks.

After more than a century in existence, they had finally hit the big time and Clonmel seemingly had the rugby world at their feet.

‘Then Covid hit,’ Buttimer explains.

‘There was very little rugby and the whole team nearly retired. The nucleus of that team packed it in. 

‘They were all in their late 20s, early 30s. Three or four of the older lads hung around, but the rest of them retired.’

Pat O’Connor, the brilliant head coach who led the club into AIL, was lured to Shannon, with former Connacht and Munster out-half Ian Keatley stepping in. 

The club were facing a major rebuild, with a talented, but inexperienced senior squad.

They would survive a relegation playoff (winning 41-34 on aggregate over two legs) with City of Derry, preserving their senior status, in 2022.

Clonmel would then make the AIL Division 2C playoffs the following year, with a raft of former players arriving back through the gates of the club.

Buttimer’s son, Henry, returned from a stint with Garryowen and was named captain at age 22. (Success runs in the family, as Buttimer’s daughter, Beth, recently won her first cap for the Ireland women’s team against Japan in Galway a few weeks ago.)

The current playing group is packed with lads who came through the underage ranks.

‘Of our squad of 54 which won the division last year, only eight of that group didn’t play their minis with Clonmel,’ he explains.

‘Of that eight, five of them; their parents all played their rugby with Clonmel. They’re Fethard lads. Their parents would have played at Clonmel before Fethard was formed. It’s very much a homegrown club.

‘We’ve strengthened in a few spots but, most importantly, we’ve held a good squad together, which is really important.

‘Our captain is 23. The average age of our squad last year was 22, so they’re a very young team on the up.

‘We have a very good coaching ticket. Pat O’Connor, who brought us up to senior level, then went to Shannon and brought them up from Division 1B to 1A. He’s a very, very good coach.’

There are some big characters in the current team. Sean Sweetman, who is on the bench this afternoon, has been doing video diaries on YouTube, bringing viewers behind the scenes on match days. It’s well worth a watch and subscribe.

’He’s always in the middle of it, with the camera stuck in people’s faces, but he does it well,’ says Buttimer.

Sweetman has a great back story. The frontrower is Clonmel born and bred, but his mother hails from the Philippines, opening up an avenue into international rugby. 

Last year, he lined out for the Southeast Asian nation, which is currently ranked 43rd in the world rugby global standings, against Laos and Singapore. 

A few of Sweetnam’s Clonmel team-mates even made the long trip to Bangkok to see him win his first Test caps.

Clonmel pride themselves on their local talent, but they have supplemented their squad with a few overseas gems.

Fijian prop Jason Monua arrived in 2022 and has become a cornerstone of the pack, while powerful South African lock Gerrit ‘Gerry’ Huisaman, who has represented Eastern Province in the Currie Cup, was another shrewd signing. 

AJ Thomas, a flying wing from New Zealand, is also on board.

‘A young guy. He’s 21. He’s a farmer. He’s over milking cows for the season,’ says Buttimer.

‘We don’t pay any players. When we went senior, we decided you buy into what we’re doing or you don’t at all.

‘Now, I’m not saying we don’t give people perks. The guys that have come over here, such as Jason and AJ, there’s a house that the club rents. 

‘They get a room in that and we help them get a job, but there’s absolutely no paying players because it’s a slippery slope that you can’t come back from.

‘We made a decision and the players have all bought into it. There’s a few other lads we would love to get home. We have Adam Maher playing for Cork Con. Cathal Kelly plays for Old Wesley. Zac O’Loughlin plays for UL Bohs.’

TIPPING AWAY

There are promising things happening in the underage setup. Clonmel was named minis section of the year at the recent Munster Rugby awards. 

CAMIDA, a logistic company based in Clonmel, came on board as sponsors of the youth academy, which focuses on developing players from U13 rights up to U18s with specialised on-field and strength & conditioning sessions. 

It’s clearly working. The women’s programme remains a work in progress.

Clonmel’s success is all the more remarkable, given that the town has traditionally been a gaelic football stronghold in a county with a rich hurling history.

‘There was a huge amount of Gaelic footballers in the team which got us promoted,’ Buttimer, who now serves as the club’s PRO, notes.

‘I’d say half the team were Gaelic footballers, so pre-season was challenging because half of them were still in the middle of the GAA season. But that’s changed a lot in recent times.’

There are good vibes around the club. The foundations are solid and there is optimism that Clonmel can go from strength to strength in the years ahead.

‘Our minis are still very healthy. We’ve got 200-plus kids up here on a Saturday morning and a lot of volunteers,’ Buttimer adds.

‘There’s a lot of effort and a really good general committee that holds things together.

‘We’re in a good place. We’ve got some planning gone in for a new gym and then we’ll be upgrading where the current gym is into new changing rooms. We’re hoping to have it down for the start of next year.

‘It’s good. We’re not in any debt, which is really important. It’s in good shape. People want to be around here.’

It should be no different ahead of kick-off today.