This year’s Aviva Mini Rugby Festivals have been launched today by the sponsor and by La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O’Gara.
Six camps, with over 2,000 participants, will take place across the country with festivals taking place in Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster across two weekends in April, before the National Festival takes place at Aviva Stadium, the Home of Irish Rugby, in May.
This year’s Aviva Mini Rugby Festivals will kick off with a girls-only camp this Sunday, March 27th in Cill Dara RFC, with 20 girls’ teams expected to participate.
Bangor RFC in Ulster and Old Crescent RFC in Munster will then play host to provincial festivals on Saturday, April 9th and Sunday, April 10th respectively, before De La Salle Palmerstown FC host the Leinster provincial festival on Saturday, April 23rd, with the Connacht edition taking place at Galway-Corinthians RFC on Sunday, April 24th.
This year sees the return of Aviva’s Mini Rugby programme to the festival format.
Last year, it was replaced by the Aviva Mini Rugby Virtual Skills Hub, also with O’Gara.
Next month’s Aviva Mini Rugby Festivals will see 15 U-10 boys teams and five U-12 girls teams in action, at the National Festival on Sunday, May 22nd at Aviva Stadium, where hundreds of Ireland’s future rugby stars will achieve their dream as they get the chance to play on the famous pitch.
“At Aviva Ireland, we understand the importance of supporting the development of our kids today to ensure a brighter tomorrow,” said Aviva Senior Sponsorship Manager, Lisa Bergin.
“While it was great for Aviva Ireland to work alongside the IRFU last year to deliver the Virtual Skills Hub at a challenging time for parents across the country, we are thrilled to bring the Aviva Mini Rugby festivals back to clubs across the country this year.”
“We look forward to seeing what skills will be on show across the four provinces over the coming weeks and can’t wait to welcome hundreds of children to the Home of Irish Rugby, Aviva Stadium, in May.”
“I’m delighted to be an ambassador for this year’s Aviva Mini Rugby Festivals,” added O’Gara.
“Throughout my playing career, I was always thankful to the coaches at the grassroots level who laid such solid foundations for me to progress as a player. The Aviva Mini Rugby programme provides coaches at our grassroots clubs with the supports they need to deliver quality coaching to their children – coaching that will stay with them for years, on and off the pitch.”
“It is also fantastic to see the country’s youngest players given the chance to mirror their heroes by playing at Aviva Stadium for the first time, which will only fuel their dreams of playing for Ireland.”
