Young Waterford team travels to play tournament at home of Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle

Waterpark RFC U/12’s have set off to La Rochelle in France this weekend to play against the cream of French Rugby in the Serge Palito Challenge tournament on 7th May.

There are 16 teams at U/12 age taking part, including Racing 92, Poitiers, Tours and of course, Stade Rochelais. There is only one team from Munster and Ireland taking part.

The Serge Palito Challenge is an annual event hosted by Stade Rochelais at their fantastic facility. The tournament is named after one of the legends of Stade Rochelais, Serge Palito.  

Last weekend, the La Rochelle senior team, reigning European champions, defeated Exeter to book their place to face Leinster in the European Heineken Champions Cup on May 20th.

Coach Brian Magee said the experience will be an unforgettable one for their young players and their players, with a very strong Irish connection at La Rochelle at the moment. 

"Their coach, Munster great Ronan O’Gara, has achieved incredible success at the club and we expect a warm welcome from the people of La Rochelle for our young Munster boys travelling for the challenge tournament," he said. 

"We expect Ronan and his coaching staff to be around on Sunday, after their game on Saturday," Brian said. 

"It's extraordinary to see what Ronan has done," he added. 

Later this year the Rugby World Cup will be held in France with Ireland hotly tipped to reach the final.

The trip to France for the group is no small undertaking and took a lot of planning and efforts to keep costs down. 

It would not be possible were it not for "the incredible work of our parent’s fundraising efforts over the past 6 months which has made this exciting experience possible, " Brian explained. 

The local Waterford club are particularly excited to see the La Rochelle set up which has a professional coaching structure in place and a full rugby academy. 

"It is definitely a very exciting prospect," Brian said, for their young players to test themselves against some of the best young French players. 

However, Brian says their club can produce some top talent like Jack O'Donoghue who was the Munster Men's Senior Player of Year a few seasons back, and has been named in a number of Ireland squads.

"We are hoping the club can produce another great like him," he said. 

Ahead of the trip, he said he didn't expect the young players to be able to sleep the night before, as excitement reached fever pitch. 

The group set off at 7.45 am on Friday morning with a weekend of excitement ahead that the young players will never forget.