Rugby Wasps off to butt heads in Ireland

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2015 (3821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Garry Nicholson is as excited as any of the 17 Winnipeg Wasps players heading for the club’s 50th-anniversary tour of Ireland later this month.

The touring team’s manager, longtime player and coach and Manitoba Rugby Union Hall of Famer knows when a good time is on the schedule and staring him in the face.

He’s been around a few pitches and pubs in the world.

Nicholson sees the big picture beyond the four international matches that are scheduled. How else would he see things, given his 43-year commitment to his sport and his club?

“We have a young team for this tour,” Nicholson said. “When they come back from an overseas tour like this, they’re locked into their sport and these are the guys who will be leading the charge in the years ahead.”

When it departs April 24 for its Dublin starting point, the Ireland tour will be the storied club’s 12th to a global destination.

This anniversary tour has been in the planning phase for two years. The 17 competitors will be among a group of 59 headed to the Emerald Isle.

Previously, the Wasps have ventured to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Hawaii in addition to their regular travels about Canada.

This tour, put together by an Irish company specializing in just this sort of rugby experience, will be the sixth for Nicholson himself, giving him enough experience to know it’s bound to be the best of both worlds — rugby and traveling.

“We kind of fell in love with that and the tours kind of came fast and furious,” Nicholson said.

Why Ireland this time?

“We knew that the guys would have a good time there,” he said. “They’ll soak up some of the culture. We have a lot of young guys in the club right now and we know that going to Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales, the rugby culture is strong. You know you’ll be playing clubs that have been there maybe 100 years. There’s no sun and surf. There will be a dinner after the matches, a few speeches, a few songs but it’s mostly about rugby.

“They have the clubhouses. They have the culture. They know how to host. It’s a way of life and it’s a pretty special thing.”

The team has four scheduled matches — in Cork April 26, a pair in Galway, April 29 and May 1, and in Naas, May 3.

It will also be blessed with a couple of training sessions with coaches/specialists from two of Ireland’s four provincial professional clubs, one April 25 in Dublin with officials from Leinster Rugby and another April 27 in Cork with direction from Munster Rugby.

The Wasps’ traveling party won’t be confined to pitches and stadiums, having plenty of flexibility to enjoy Ireland. There are options to attend an Irish professional league game and events like a tour of southeast Dublin’s 50,000-seat Aviva Stadium, the re-imagined Lansdowne Road Stadium and Ireland’s major rugby venue; Dublin’s Croke Park, the Gaelic Football mecca; Limerick’s Thomond Park, the home of Munster Rugby; landmarks such as the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle and the Cork Gaol; the Jameson’s Irish Whisky factory and the Guinness storehouse.

The team has been preparing with indoor practices throughout the winter but has been outdoors in recent weeks, its focus on the tour and the upcoming 2015 Manitoba premier division schedule, which begins upon their return.

And prior to that, fundraising for the tour has been ongoing for two years, including the usual golf tournaments, booze draws, sponsorship and merchandise sales enhanced by fun stuff like socials and something called a “Dead Celebrities” party.

Blended with that, the Wasps have even managed to come up with three $1,000 bursaries for younger members of their traveling team to help offset some of the costs.

“Rugby is the culture, it’s the language (in Ireland),” Nicholson said. “It’s about the tremendous stories and the people you meet there. We’ll have our games, and those will be the most important things. Everything will revolve around the games.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca