Excitement builds as Leinster rugby stars come to Longford

The four time Champions Cup winners bring the full squad to CPL Park this Thursday, August 25 in preparation for the start of the 2022/23 United Rugby Championship season.

Longford are one of three clubs the province are set to visit. The open training sessions forms part of a province-wide tour that Leo Cullen’s squad will undertake this week. While many of those sessions will be behind closed doors, the Longford day offers a chance to meet with Leo Cullen, his coaches and players.

Longford RFC get the team for the whole day, while the following day (Friday, August 26) the panel are split between Kilkenny RFC and Athy RFC.

Longford RFC President, Donagh McDonnell, said: “It's a great privilege to host Leinster for their only full team open training session this Thursday. This is the first open session by the provincial side in three years. We are expecting a large crowd and there is great excitement building in anticipation of the visit. We are looking forward to accommodating as many rugby fans as possible.”

Commenting on the visit, Leo Cullen said: “We have all missed the opportunity over the last few years to get out and about and to just meet people, to meet our supporters. That connection between us, as a team, and the supporters is crucial and we have missed that.

The Leinster coach continued: “Whether that be visiting our clubs and our schools, or meeting people at games or at open training sessions, there has been a lot of missed opportunities due to Covid. It was important for us as a group and as an organisation to get back to our communities and to see people again and it was also important for us to go to them.”

Leo said the team are looking forward to the sessions: “They are three great clubs with huge passion for the game and deeply rooted in their communities and we look forward to seeing as many kids and parents as possible over the two days in CPL Park, in Foulkstown and in the Showgrounds.”