IRFU PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR David Nucifora has signed a three-year extension to his contract, keeping him with the union until the end of the 2021/22 season.
Five years on from his initial appointment, the Australian has proven successful in his role at the top tier of Irish rugby with increased movement of Irish players between provinces and the emergence of serious Sevens teams signalling progress.
The42 reported last week that the 57-year-old was set to re-commit to the IRFU for the period beyond Joe Schmidt’s tenure as head coach.
Today’s statement from the IRFU also credits Nucifora with progress in the player development pathway and talent identification in overseas-based Irish-qualified talent.
IRFU CEO Philip Browne said: “David has delivered across a huge number of areas in that regard and Irish Rugby is in a better place for the experience, leadership and passion he has brought to the role. We are delighted that he has agreed to continue this important work over the coming years.”
Nucifora made time in the statement to outline future projects.
“Over the coming months we will see the culmination of a number of years work on a couple of very important projects,” said the Australian.
“Irish Rugby’s High Performance Centre in Abbottstown will come on stream during the summer and another significant piece of infrastructure – a centralised player data management platform that ties together all of the disciplines that support Irish Rugby from the start of the Elite Player Pathway through to the National Team will be in place ahead of the new season. “
He added: “One of the next big challenges will be to ensure that the IRFU’s competition and development structures support the ambitions of young players wishing to pursue an elite pathway in the game. This will involve greater alignment of the programmes in both the performance and participation pathways.”
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Vincent Debaty, unreal support running from the prop, amazing run as well Nakaitaci ..
100% best try. I reckon the effort probably took a year off his life.
Love that he immediately had to go off. He literally gave everything for the try. And was forced back on. Unbelievable. What a day.
Agree 100% Vincent ran at some pace, and scored a crucial try. What a fecking legend the next time he is in Limerick the pints are on me!!!
Magic stuff. Is that Nigel Owens in the background saying “every game should be like this”? And they were singing a cracking rendition of Swing low when the move started. Love the six nations.
I’m still dancing at the crossroads, the wifi isn’t great.
Great tries great day. But a try saving tackle by Jammy won it for us. Never been a Heaslip fan but he earned his corn yesterday.
Great article. We’ll done on compiling the list!
Great line from Owens after the Debaty try ‘Every game should be like this’
Leonardo Sarto for Italy in the last minute! Went from needing 28 points to 21, which was massive psychologically. Bravo sir!
Thanks for sharing. Live in USA for last 5 years but still a huge fan. Was following text commentary on Saturday. These are great times for Irish Rugby. We should cherish them.
And then this
The Irish, French and Italian ones.