After a few years of inactivity at international level, the Irish Defence Forces rugby team will take on the RAF U23s later today at the Curragh, ahead of a massive match against the French Army rugby team on March 8th.
It's the first game that Ireland will play against the RAF since 2011. Ex-player turned manager and forwards coach Commandant Rory McCann is treating both matches as a testing ground to see what level the team are currently at.
Now, Commandant McCann is confident they are building towards a good core group of players from a broad range of AIL and junior rugby clubs, that will once again regularly compete in international matches having last played the likes of the RAF, Royal Navy and the French Army in 2012.
The match against the RAF U23s will see a mixture of the RAFs U23 and development squad take part and will give McCann a good idea of where they currently are ahead of the match against the French. There will be another international with the senior RAF team this year as well.
The Irish Defence Forces have a rich history of playing France over the previous few decades, with McCann saying their victory over the French in 2003 set the tone for a number of big victories over the likes of the RAF over the next few years.
Commandant McCann and his management team, which is made up of ex-players from the Defence Forces team, are confident that with more regular matches the side will return to former glories once again.
The games against France will take place the same weekend that Ireland play France in the Guinness Six Nations in Dublin. The curtain raiser to the double header in Monkstown on March 8th kicks off at 12pm, it will see female members of the Defence Forces come together with members of the An Garda Síochána women’s rugby team to take on the French Army Women’s team.
The men’s match will kick off at 2pm and all the teams will come together before the French sides fly home and take in the Women’s Six Nations match in Donnybrook on Saturday evening.
