FORMER MUNSTER LOCK Ian Nagle — man of the match in their 2010 win over Australia —looks to be on the verge of a shock return to professional rugby 18 months after taking a break from the game.
Nagle, currently preparing for next week’s Cambridge-Oxford varsity match alongside Welsh international Jamie Roberts, is now a student in the illustrious MBA business course at Cambridge.
But a handful of offers from some of the top professional clubs in Ireland and England have 27-year-old Nagle prepared to make his comeback at the end of the college year.
It is believed that London Irish and Worcester Warriors are keen, while closer to home Munster, Leinster and Ulster have expressed an interest.
Before being accepted to the UK’s top college this September, Nagle worked in Washington DC with the aim of a future career in a venture capital firm, but despite being frustrated with his progress as a rugby player, he’s ready to give it another shot.
“I know I’m fortunate. Every reason I took a break from rugby was a positive one. I got to have a say in the break – it wasn’t enforced,” said Nagle.
“I was in no man’s land in terms of the guarantees I had. I took time away from rugby before I had the guarantee of getting into the MBA. But I knew what I wanted to do and I was fortunate to be able to transfer the discipline of what I learned in rugby into something different.
“People in Munster were very understanding. I spoke to Anthony Foley and Garrett Fitzgerald and I think they understood it. They saw the injuries I had and the timing of them and they understood that I was a bit frustrated with myself.”
The big second-row played 28 times for Munster, but last featured for the southern province in December 2013, before he moved on loan to Newcastle in the English Premiership. Injury halted his progress in the UK before he decided to make a clean break from the game altogether.
Any return home to Ireland would be an emotional trip for the Buttevant man, but he seems open to whatever opportunities comes his way.
“Munster made it clear that the door will always be open for me to come back. There were a few clubs that I spoke to before I finished with Munster and I flagged it with them too that I was thinking of taking time away from the game.
“All those clubs were all open to it too, surprisingly enough. I have kept in touch with a few of them throughout the year. If I hadn’t been accepted to the MBA I had a few opportunities to go back and play rugby, but when I got in a few of them said the door would be open for me to come back.
“There are no guarantees and no contracts signed, but all going well something will pop up in the New Year,” Nagle said.
Being behind some of Munster’s greatest ever second-rows – Paul O’Connell, Donnacha Ryan and Donncha O’Callaghan – in the pecking order certainly meant chances to shine were few and far between for Nagle, but he says it was his own frustrations that drove him back to academia and onto the cusp of the Varsity Match on 10 December.
“I found myself a little bit frustrated, but it was never at anyone or anything. It was myself I was frustrated with,” he said.
“From when I was 16 I used to travel into the gym at UL from Glenstal with Ray Egan. For nine years I sacrificed everything for rugby and I was happy to do so, but I was frustrated that I didn’t achieve everything I wanted to.
“I found myself getting more and more excited by the prospect of doing the MBA, doing a bit of travelling and getting involved in a start up, while keeping the rugby window ajar.
“Right now I’m focused on my studies, but I’m looking forward to the varsity game too. We’ll see what happens in the next few months.”
They have some neck.
@Patrick Breen: Could still go to the DRA after this and maybe even a court case, who knows?
@Patrick Breen: they’re dead right. Why not just replay the last free again, the idea they have to replay the whole game is a fair solution is madness.
@Paul Mallon: the fact that they blatantly cheated and think they should get away with it is madness.
@Paul Mallon: replay the last free, seriously. So we’ll just make up a new sport..
@Patrick Breen: the more I think about this I’ve changed my mind from it’s 100% a replay to it only warrants a fine! Realistically the chances of a goal with the last kick of the game is unlikely, especially when it’s a 45 with the packed defence fully set up. And it’s telling that the referee allowed the 45 to be taken before the substitutions had been complete properly – Kilmacud will argue that as the subs were not being managed correctly! Players off players on before 45 can take place – clearly ref was going to allow it be taken quickly which added to the panic & confusion. In my view KMc won this game and an extra man on for 24secs over 70+ mins had NO bearing on the outcome. If this was reversed I don’t general public wud be questioning if Glen won it
@BMJF: It’s not really about the likelihood of a goal. Nobody knows what effect the 16th player had, direct or indirect, even as a distraction to the player in possession. The real issue is what happens if there’s no real sanction. Teams will be making substitutions and making sure the player being replaced is at least very slow leaving the pitch. Now we see Glen have pulled out of the appeals process because a replay is unworkable.
@BMJF: especially when it’s an overpacked defence.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: don’t be silly. The GAA will simply learn to make substitutions like every other sporting organisation!! That’s what will happen. Play will pause before a free is taken etc and Players will have to come off before the replacements go on and ref won’t restart the game until they’re in position. It’s not rocket science. GAA should have accepted some responsibility, read their rules and issued a hefty fine the next morning and that would have been the end of it
I’d watch a live stream of that hearing
Hope they throw the book at them and just award the final to the other team.
@Reggie: haha, don’t know about that now Reg. Certainly interested to hear what their grounds for appeal will be though…..seems cut and dried to me that the rule was broken and one of the consequences have been invoked.
The tone of the anti Kilmacud comments is telling. An anti Dub vibe off them. I’m guessing that If this was reversed and Glen had 16 men for 24secs over a 70+ min game, defending a 2point lead with last play of the game, the general public wud be saying that on balance Glen should remain the winners, and that the extra man for 24 secs didn’t really impact the outcome! But because it’s a big Dub club everyone has knickers in a knot!!
If GAA had issued a fine quickly I think Glen would have accepted the result , as their manager did straight after the game
@BMJF: I would say the opposite, the Ulster team (as always) are being portrayed as the bad guys here… maybe I’m wrong
Kilmacud won fair and square on the field of play. Glen will be looked upon as sore losers. There’s no way Kilmacud will replay the match. They are prepared to hand the cup over to Glen. If the Glen club wants to avoid the lasting legacy of poor losers they really should withdraw the objection and gear themselves up to trying to win the title next year on the field of play. That would give the club a lot of respect.
@Brendan Daniel Naughton: ‘fair and square’, hahahaha, are you well.
Great stuff