Irish players find a home in ‘County Coogee’ with Sydney club Randwick

News flash from Australia. For all the apparent doom and gloom around the fall of the Wallabies, the struggles of their provincial sides and Rugby Australia discarding the Melbourne Rebels, no less than in Ireland, club rugby appears to be alive and well. And the connections between the two have never been stronger.

A day with the world-renowned Randwick club, adjacent to Coogee beach, last Saturday confirmed all of this. Coogee is home to the Irish diaspora in Sydney the way Croydon is in London. Depending on the time of the year, the Irish might account for 15 to 20 per cent of the local population, hence its local moniker “County Coogee”.

And game day at Randwick’s Coogee Oval which, as the banner on the entry gate says, is the “Home of the Galloping Greens” is indeed a full day. The quadruple-header, as it were, begins with Randwick 4s v Sydney University at 10am, continuing through 3 v 3s and 2 v 2s before culminating in the Randwick 1s v Sydney Uni 1s in the Shute Shield at 3pm.

You wonder why the Irish clubs don’t do the same. They mightn’t have the numbers for a four-match billing, but even a double-header between the same clubs, concluding with an AIL firsts game, perhaps kicking off at 3pm as well, would only enhance match days.

Admittedly, it also helps when its 20 degrees on a sunny winter’s Saturday and there’s a firm grassy pitch. Even so, the teams hang around this quaint, picturesque ground, which is also home to the Randwick Petersham Cricket club, after their games, thus building to a nice atmosphere in front of 2,000 or so committed, community-based fans.

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A chunk of the Oval ground is halved to make for a more intimate and natural square-shaped pitch, which is lined by apartments and trees, three stands or coverings on the same side as the dressingrooms, and an unclosed, temporary stand on the opposite side.

Some players double up by perhaps starting one game and “benching” on another. The Randwick 3s feature Paddy Fox (a back three player with Navan), Ed Brennan (Clontarf backrower), Alex Molly (Old Wesley centre), Darren Brady (an eight with Virginia in Cavan) and Nick Quirke (a Greystones centre).

In the Randwick 2s’ team are Emmet Burns (a UCD prop, once of Connacht), Mick Courtney (a Clontarf centre) and the Terenure outhalf Callum Smith.

The latter was a massive part of Terenure’s historic AIL triumph in the 2022/23 season after joining from Malone, and although unable to placekick due to a foot injury, is the game’s standout player, scoring a try in their 52-28 win.

Smith isn’t playing for the firsts primarily because the promising James Hendren, contracted to the Waratahs, is continuing his education at outhalf.

Smith’s sometime half-back partner Alan Bennie played for Sydney Uni in that 2s game as well and would have benched for their 1s but for a slight niggle. Their 1s also have Declan Moore, a former hooker with Ulster and Munster.

Randwick's banner at the Coogee Oval in Sydney.

Maintaining the strong Terenure theme, the Randwick 1s, coached by the former Leinster player Shaun Beirne, feature prop Campbell Classon and lock Mick Melia, as well as the Old Wesley number eight Matthew Bursey.

The strength in depth is superior to Irish clubs, but the standard of the Shute Shield and AIL Division 1A looks similar, if different in style.

The former is less structured. When Randwick fullback Brooklyn Hardaker gathers a missed Sydney Uni penalty in his own ingoal area, he runs to his own 22, but rather than clearing the ball he opts for a chip. It doesn’t come off but there’s no chastising him from the sidelines.

Hendren glides in for one try, and outside centre Hamish Comonte for another, in an important 40-17 win for Randwick which moves them above Sydney Uni into sixth, the last playoff place, after 13 rounds and five games remaining.

The glue for this group of temporary exiles is Conor Pender. A passionate rugby man, he’s hung up his playing boots after starting out playing mini rugby at Terenure, returning there with the under-20s and seconds while also winning a few AIL caps. His grandfather, Michael Pender, captained Terenure many moons ago.

Among the crowd is Omar Hassenein, the Dublin-based former head of the Irish Rugby Players Association, who has been filling the same brief for the international equivalent. He renews acquaintances with former team-mates from Randwick’s Grand Final triumph in the early Noughties.

There’s a trophy for nearly every match, which on this day is presented by Simon Poidevin, aka “The King”, having been part of eight winning finals of the 11 in which he played.

The Randwick rugby manager, his preferred title as opposed to director of rugby, is Andrew “Bowie” Bowman. He played a season with Old Belvedere at the same time as Michael Cheika and David Knox first pitched up in Leinster. By coincidence, Bowman points to Knox walking across the pitch into the distance after watching from his perch on the stand side underneath a tree that Knox calls the “indigenous umbrella”.

Bowman was also part of that Shute Shield team in 2000 and although Randwick sadly sold their clubhouse, meaning all their memorabilia has been stored away, he believes the club is in a great place, with their strong Irish connection serving as an integral part.

The Randwick 1s after their game against Sydney Uni.

“There’s a big Irish contingent in the location and in the club. County Coogee is well and truly alive. We’ve got a team song that’s been around for 50, 60 years, which is McNamara’s Band. It’s an old Irish folk song.”

It was adopted after Randwick toured Ireland in the 1960s and, right on cue, the players’ rendition is aired through the speakers from the dressingroom before they emerge.

Classon believes the standard of rugby between the AIL 1A and the Shute Shield is very similar. “The calibre of players is higher. They all are in shape. They’re all looking after their bodies and good athletes, because the weather’s so good. That makes a big difference. But they’re not as structured, so their detail isn’t as high, I would say, when it comes to the scrum. It’s not as detail-focused as Terenure.”

Melia, who has been with Randwick a year longer, jokes: “When we heard in Terenure that we had a new prop called Campbell Classon, we thought he would be a big scrummaging South African tighthead, not a ball-playing loosehead from Donegal!”

They and other Irish rugby players, especially those in their late 20s, moved to Australia for a life-enhancing experience, and playing rugby gives their week structure, keeps them fit and maintains their bond.

Colm de Buitléar is also close to playing again after overcoming a torn Achilles tendon.

“It’s a good Terenure contingent, and we all stick together. I don’t think you get that in any other club,” Classon adds.

“I think the camaraderie we have is amazing. It’s amazing that the Irish connection here in this club. It’s always been there, and it’s stronger than ever. Randwick even wears green, and they sing McNamara’s Band.”

Melia has another motive to keep playing: “My old man’s junior vice-president in the club. So he’ll be president I think, in 2027 or ’28. To be honest with you, it’s nearly the only reason that I keep playing over here. Every season, I go, but I keep going, and I need to play once more for Terenure.”

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