Bundee, Sene, CJ and Josh – Welcome to Irish rugby’s brave, new world

There's still room for your Garry's, Ronan's and Louise's but Irish rugby definitely has a continental feel.

The Irish Rugby Union Players Association always has a mad-cap feel to it. Corporate sponsors mingle with players and coaches while old pros re-live past battles and the new ones duck and dive if they spot a journalist within 10 yards. So it went again, last night at the 14th annual IRUPA awards bash. Herded together with the other journalists, right beside the men's toilets, I got the shepherd's hook at one stage when I went rogue for a free beer. https://twitter.com/IRUPA/status/727927353213587457 We spoke with the ever-polite CJ Stander and bugged Peter O'Mahony for a comeback date before catching a few words with Andrew Trimble. I was lucky enough to be placed at the same table as the Ireland Women's Sevens team and attempted to get an inside line of their Rio Olympic hopes. 2020 was mentioned as a more realistic target but the fact that the qualifiers take place at U.C.D, in June, give us a great hope. Shock of the night, for me anyway, was the revelation that Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, who won Sevens Player of the Year, has not watched Super Rugby before. Imagine how good the 21-year-old will be once she catches sight of a few games. Shane Byrne worked the room as a roving reporter/comedian but came off worst-for-wear after Andy Farrell's first, brief interview since become Ireland forwards coach: https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/727961531699367937 Undeterred, Byrne moved onto Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt and reminded him of an incident in his final club game with Mullingar RFC that left an opponent with a broken jaw. Schmidt drew breath before responding: "Look at the size of me now. I was even skinnier back then so I don't think I'd be breaking any jaws... maybe it was a clash of heads." As no footage exists of the incident, we'll go with Schmidt on this one. The big winners on the night were CJ Stander [Best Player and Supporters' Player of the Year], Josh van der Flier [Young Player] and Sene Naoupu [Women's Player of the Year]. A flavour of South Africa, The Netherlands [van der Flier's grandparents] and New Zealand on a night celebrating the best of Irish. Throw in Bundee Aki's big, broad grin - his late try against Munster clinched Moment of the Year - and Sophie Spence's Yorkshire accent and we truly were in the melting pot. Oh, and this guy won an award too: https://twitter.com/RonanOGara10/status/728080068455473154 Main image and pics via Sportsfile