By Barry Redmond and Liam Daly

Things are very exciting these days at Naas Rugby Football Club in Fournaughts during the off season with IRFU Tag Rugby as there is only a few weeks to go before the competitions finals.  Every Thursday evening at 7.30pm in Naas RFC there are over 300 players enjoying Tag Rugby as it’s popularity continues to grow.

Tag Rugby is proving to be a great way to get out and keep fit over the Summer. It is a non-contact rugby style game and no experience or special gear is necessary. The teams are mixed with both men and ladies playing together.

For the screaming supporters there’s the Tag Café Bar, serving refreshments, burgers, hot dogs, teas and coffees.  Just turn up, enjoy the sunshine and have fun watching the games.

There are 16 mixed adult teams who are split into two levels; ‘intermediate’ or ‘higher’ and who have been playing in two groups since the end of May, with the semi finals scheduled for Thursday 14th July and the finals on Friday 22nd July. The two group levels are made up of enthusiastic teams of guys and girls with great team names like ‘The Wheelbarrows, ‘Guten Tag’, ‘Sugar Taggies’ and ‘Faketantastic’ with some well known local faces involved including our Kildare Rose; Claire Walsh and Munster and Ireland Rugby International; Johne Murphy.

After six rounds of matches to date and one more round to play before we progress to the semi-finals & final stages the current ‘Intermediate’ division table leaders are ‘The B Sharps with John Hennessy’ on 12 points and ‘No Woman No Try’ in second place with 9 points.   In the Higher division the ‘Tomahawks are leading on 10 points but are being closely chased by ‘The Old Spice VII’ in second place on 9 points.

You can keep up to date with all the Tag Rugby action at Naas RFC by logging onto; http://www.irishrugby.ie/tagrugby/wheretoplay/leinster_naas_rfc.php.

The IRFU Venue Manager for Tag Rugby is Liam Daly of Naas RFC, and this competition is part of a number of summertime activities at the club which also includes the Naas RFC Summer Rugby Camps.  There are a limited number of spaces left on the summer camps, which are aimed at boys and girls aged from U7 years up to U17s and all camps commence on Monday 15th August and end Friday 20th August 2011.   Contact Kevin Greene of Naas RFC on 086 2692400 for further information and application forms on these summer rugby camps or you can log onto http://www.naasrugby.com/ for further details.

The regular rugby union season begins again this coming September and the clubs membership numbers have grown significantly in recent years, helped by the great success of Ireland and Provincial players such Jamie Heaslip, Fionn Carr and Geordan Murphy all of whom played all of their underage rugby at Naas RFC.  These players are all great ambassadors for the club and can often be seen at the club supporting the youth and underage teams on a Saturday morning.

With the Rugby World Cup coming up this Autumn, numbers of new players are expected to increase compared to previous years, when training begins in September.  Boys and girls from U7 years are very welcome to come along. Contact David McKeown (Youths Chair) on 086 3894286 for more information.

Tomahawks Team!!!

The head coach is a little out numbered!!!