Enfield Ignatians RFC
Club News
Ignatians Host International Training Session
Photos courtesy of Ian Fussell
ENFIELD IGNATIANS continue to expand their horizons and they emphasised the point by hosting the club's first international rugby training session, when 25 UK-based members of the Cypriot national squad were put through their paces at Donkey Lane last Sunday (January 29), writes Jonathan Landi.
Currently top of European Group 2D with an unblemished record of five wins in as many games, ambitious Cyprus have further British sessions planned ahead of their next pool game against Bulgaria in April, including a return trip to Donkey Lane in March.
Ignatians' players, Christo Kasabi, currently the island's second-most capped player, and centre Sam Emery, one of the new faces, were among those that attended the session supervised by national coach Paul Shanks.
He said: "We had good numbers and I would like to thank Ignatians for their hospitality. We had players come from South Wales, Doncaster, Mansfield, Derby, East Sussex and Manchester attend the session, which consisted of a mixture of basic fitness tests and ball drills. We were also able to assess the form of some of the new recruits.
"One of the next steps is to ascertain the availability of the players for the games, and the aim is to win our remaining three fixtures, which also take in games against Greece and Finland, and gain promotion to a higher European group.
"Some of the games call for meticulous planning, and the away fixture against Finland is a case in point for the pitches can be frozen in May, which means that there is only a small window of opportunity as regards playing the game which is in June. We will also be playing in an international sevens tournament in Poland in May: the week before the Greece game."
"We may been a fledgling rugby nation but we have raised a few eyebrows along the way, although it can be something of a logistical nightmare getting all the players together for squad sessions granted that squad members are dispersed in a number of different countries."
Paul Shanks has been part of the Cyprus set-up since the island first emerged on the international scene in 2007. He became the national coach in 2009, and the impressive results of 16 wins in 17 games very much speak for themselves.
ENFIELD IGNATIANS continue to expand their horizons and they emphasised the point by hosting the club's first international rugby training session, when 25 UK-based members of the Cypriot national squad were put through their paces at Donkey Lane last Sunday (January 29), writes Jonathan Landi.
Currently top of European Group 2D with an unblemished record of five wins in as many games, ambitious Cyprus have further British sessions planned ahead of their next pool game against Bulgaria in April, including a return trip to Donkey Lane in March.
Ignatians' players, Christo Kasabi, currently the island's second-most capped player, and centre Sam Emery, one of the new faces, were among those that attended the session supervised by national coach Paul Shanks.
He said: "We had good numbers and I would like to thank Ignatians for their hospitality. We had players come from South Wales, Doncaster, Mansfield, Derby, East Sussex and Manchester attend the session, which consisted of a mixture of basic fitness tests and ball drills. We were also able to assess the form of some of the new recruits.
"One of the next steps is to ascertain the availability of the players for the games, and the aim is to win our remaining three fixtures, which also take in games against Greece and Finland, and gain promotion to a higher European group.
"Some of the games call for meticulous planning, and the away fixture against Finland is a case in point for the pitches can be frozen in May, which means that there is only a small window of opportunity as regards playing the game which is in June. We will also be playing in an international sevens tournament in Poland in May: the week before the Greece game."
"We may been a fledgling rugby nation but we have raised a few eyebrows along the way, although it can be something of a logistical nightmare getting all the players together for squad sessions granted that squad members are dispersed in a number of different countries."
Paul Shanks has been part of the Cyprus set-up since the island first emerged on the international scene in 2007. He became the national coach in 2009, and the impressive results of 16 wins in 17 games very much speak for themselves.
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