The Swarm in Ireland

Swarm in defence

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The Rochdale Swarm created history last weekend when they became the first English Tag Rugby League side to play in a tournament in the Republic of Ireland.

The competition itself was held in the small town of Bruff just south of Limerick, with the Swarm being one of over twenty teams entered.

The arrival of the Swarm had been making waves over the Irish Sea with features in the Limerick City newspaper The Leader as well as various Tag Rugby websites. Tag Rugby is big news in Ireland with over 10,000 registered players compared to the Tag Merit League which the Swarm play in with less than 500!

The rules of Irish Tag though basically the same as English Tag i.e. 6 tackles, play the balls, acting half backs etc. but they have a couple of subtle differences which would frustrate the Swarm all afternoon, the major one being in Irish tag you can’t dive for the line to score a try, this led to the Swarm having no less the 6 tries chalked off over the afternoon.

From arrival to departure the Swarm were treated as royalty with nothing being too much trouble for their hosts. On the first night a welcome party was laid on in Clancy`s bar in Bruff town centre with the towns first ever Rugby Union international, John "the bull" Hayes as star guest who brought along Munsters Heineken Cup which was put given to the Swarm to look after for a few hours! Very trusting the Irish! The party came to an end at "silly o`clock" as one of the Swarm players christened it.

The Saturday brought the Tag festival with the day starting with an impromptu game of touch rugby between the Swarm and some of the local Irish players. The Swarm giving the Irish players the run around and giving the Rochdale team a false sense of security for the proper competition in the afternoon.

The Swarm split in to two teams for the event with an over 35`s team and the young guns. To make up the required number of women in the sides a dozen Irish girls joined the Swarm ranks to bulk out the squads.

The Swarm performed with great credit and possessed far greater handling skills then their hosts but a lack of pace and failed to grasp the subtle differences in the rules meant neither of the Swarm teams troubled the silverware.

After the playing part of the festival was finished the Swarm players tried out the Bucking Bronco and Sumo suits. It was decided that Ziggy Ahmed was the best at Bucking the Bronco as he was the only one to stay on.

The presentation followed with Bruff Rugby Club presenting the Swarm with a plaque to commemorate their visit and in return the Swarm gave them a Hornets shirt and Swarm pennant.

The post Tag party then kicked in until the day after!

The Swarm have already confirmed they will return to Ireland next year and several Irish sides coming over to Rochdale to return the favour.

The Swarm have already confirmed they will return to Ireland next year and several Irish sides coming over to Rochdale to return the favour.