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Ulster quick off the mark to tie down record-breaking Irish sprinter

Ulster have landed themselves a 100-metre flyer in schools sprinter Aaron Sexton (Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images for IAAF)

Flying back three sensation Aaron Sexton will make the full-time switch from athletics to rugby, having recently broken the Irish Schools records for both the 100 and 200 metres. 

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Sexton is already a familiar name in rugby circles, as he was Ulster A’s top try scorer in last year’s Celtic Cup, touching down seven times in six games. 

The Bangor Grammar School pupil also featured in Ulster’s pre-season friendly versus Gloucester and was the 2017 Ulster Schools’ player of the year. Six-foot one-inch Sexton, who turns 19 in August, checks in at 88kgs.

Another exciting back three prospect, Conor Rankin, will join the academy from Campbell College, where he was a pivotal figure in the side that won the 2018 Ulster Schools’ Cup.

Tom Stewart, recently honoured as Ulster Schools’ player of the year, is another player joining the academy following a stellar schools career where the Belfast Royal Academy hooker captained Ulster at under-18 level.

Highly rated Irish-qualified centre Hayden Hyde will make the move from English Premiership side Harlequins to Ulster, following in the footsteps of Kieran Treadwell and Sam Arnold. Hyde has already represented Ireland at under-18 and under-19 level.

Following a year in the sub-academy and a season’s experience in the All-Ireland League with Banbridge, prop Callum Reid has been awarded a full time place in the academy. Reid represented Ulster A in the Celtic Cup last year and was part of the Ireland under-20 Six Nations Grand Slam winning team.

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After an outstanding season last year which saw Ulster academy players contribute no less than 111 appearances across the Guinness PRO14 and Heineken Champions Cup, nine players who started the year in the academy have gone on to earn upgraded contracts – Robert Baloucoune, Angus Curtis, James Hume, Angus Kernohan, Michael Lowry, Zack McCall, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole and Marcus Rea.

Ulster academy manager Kieran Campbell said: “Last year was a really successful season in terms of the contribution academy players made at senior level, which is ultimately what we are here to do – develop players of the requisite quality to represent Ulster and Ireland.

“We still believe there is significant opportunity to grow again this year and we are excited about the new batch of players joining our programme. 

“Each year we are driving increased standards so I congratulate those who have been awarded a place in the academy and look forward to seeing how they develop into the future.”

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WATCH: Episode one of The Academy, the six-part RugbyPass documentary series on how Leicester Tigers develop their young players

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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