The Peters (Ryan & O’Neill) in Irish Student Rugby League Kit
Our trials began back in March In NUIG and from there, we were invited back to the next trial in Ashbourne. After three trials, skills sessions and fitness work we were selected on the 20 man squad for the 2015 International Student Rugby League Four Nations Tournament.
The tournament is held every summer and this year we were the host country. The games were played in the Carlisle Grounds, Bray Wanderers stadium. We played three games against Wales, England and Scotland in a week so it was fairly intense”.
“Two weeks before the tournament we were brought into camp in Dublin where we spent the day running through tactics and brushing up on skills. The main purpose of this was to familiarise ourselves with each other and to get to know our teammates.
Being away from home for the week and a half was tough but it also gave us an idea of how a professional rugby team live.
We began the tournament with narrow defeats to Wales and England. The Wales game was particularly close and we probably didn’t give ourselves a chance going into the game in the first place. We panicked close to their line and that bit of experience we were lacking let us down. We finished off the week on a high with a win against Scotland and Peter Ryan even managed to get himself a try!!.
We both won our first Ireland caps during the week and hopefully it’s the first of many, who knows. We just want to thank friends and family and especially AIT Sports Department who gave us massive support over the week, we are extremely grateful.