Despite Ireland's significant absence from the Rugby World Cup final, Clanwilliam Rugby Club in Tipperary had a reason to celebrate last weekend. The Clanwilliam first team received top training from Ireland and Munster flanker, Anthony Foley, in a specialist training session, provided by 6 Nations sponsor The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS).
Clanwilliam entered the promotion by creating a link from their own club website to the Official RBS 6 Nations website. Throughout last years Championship, RBS encouraged clubs to link to www.rbs6nations.com by rewarding one lucky club, picked at random, with a training session from an international player from one of the six nations to share their skills and experience. RBS plan to repeat the competition for the 2008 tournament.
Foley was hugely supportive of Clanwilliams opportunity:
Having trained at Clanwilliam with Munster on a couple of occasions last season, it was great to return to the club to give the first team a helping hand in their game. Local clubs are so important to the success of the sport in Ireland, so it is great to see a sponsor like RBS giving such an opportunity to a small club like Clanwilliam. Hopefully the guys will take something useful from the session and go on to have a great season.
Clanwilliam Club Chairman, Morgan Mooney added:
Clanwilliam FC is a local club that is full of enthusiasm for the game. I hope the whole club will benefit from Anthonys club and international experiences. It is a fantastic opportunity for all those involved and we cannot thank RBS enough.