How mini-rugby tournament at Instonians is helping to give children an introduction to the sport

The competition is to give traditionally non-rugby playing schools a fun introduction to the game and maybe unearth future stars that could represent the club at All Ireland League level and beyond.

Former Ulster and Exeter centre Ian Whitten was one of the many players that began their rugby education at mini level under the tutelage of O’Donnell.

Capped twice for Ireland, Whitten won two English Premierships and the European Cup with Exeter.

Instonians youth co-ordinator Michael Fairbanks explained the importance of honouring O’Donnell’s legacy and why the tournament has grown in prominence.

“Just to honour Des O'Donnell, if he could see what we're doing now and the amount of kids we have coming through the system, he'd be very proud” enthused Fairbanks.

“Keith O'Donnell (Des son) was president two or three years ago, and then quite a nice link is that Ben O'Donnell (Des grandson), does after school with us and he's in charge of Lagan in the tournament, so that's a nice history from generation to generation which has passed down.

“We have eight schools, all non-traditional rugby playing schools, we felt that there was a gap and there was a lot of talent out there that wasn't being reached, so we sort of made a vision about five years ago and started in years eight and nine.

“We went to them and we just did very much beginners’ rugby, and then hopefully they picked it up.

"We've had massive success...we've gone from about 30 in the youth sections to over 200 in the youth section, there’s about 20, 30 kids here that played in the tournament who all currently play at the club.

“On the back of this, we usually get sort of 10 or 12 who come back down the club, and they sort of realise where it is and how easy it is to get to and the facilities we have. It's a bit of a showcase for what we can do at the club.”

Fairbanks explained his role at the club and in reaching out to the schools.

He added: “I take the under 12s...so I go into the schools and it's that nice link, they see me in the classroom, then they come down the club and they see me.

“It's very much about getting them into a rugby playing facility. The model we work is we play alongside the rugby playing schools, like the big link we have with RBAI.

“We find that the boys at RBAI bring the guys along and the talent pool, it's a really beneficial thing to have them playing alongside one another.

“You always get a few gems. Three or four boys who are currently in the Ulster Pathways system have all come from the outreach programme from Rathmore, St Joseph's and Coláiste Feirste.

“The boys have now moved on to De La Salle. You're always going to find a few hidden gems, there's boys playing in the competition who I think are very talented and will go far in rugby.”

As well as running competitions, Instonians youth section known as the Seahorses is also thriving.

“'It’s a massive pathway for us into the youth section,” Fairbanks continued. “The under 12s train on a Tuesday and a Thursday.

“We're quite lucky as we train alongside the first team on the same pitch because we go quite early and then the youth, the under 14s, under 16s, under 18s, they train on a Monday and a Wednesday.

“We've had a great year...the under 14s won their league, the U16s finished second in their league and are in the semi-final of the cup, whilst the under 18s finished second in their league and they're also in the semi-final of the cup.

“It’s been a very successful year, year on year we've tried to build numbers and standards.

“Coaching is massively important, we try to develop coaches as well, we have about three or four young coaches, we try and take them, and we feel there's a future in that as well.

“We don't sit on our laurels and just look at players, we look at coaching as well.”

It is just not local kids Inst are hoping to discover as 19 different nationalities are represented throughout their youth sections.

“It's fantastic and as Northern Ireland becomes more and more multicultural, I think we do as a club,” Fairbanks stressed.

“We have strong links in all different backgrounds and we're very open to everyone coming to the club.

“Everyone's equal at the club. 19 nationalities, I think we have 28 different schools, where we represent, from right the way down from Newry, right the way up to north Belfast and beyond, we’re just a very welcoming club.

“We've got the reputation now, where we've been in schools and we develop a really good programme.

“We recently were in Sarsfield Gaelic Club doing a sort of give it a try session, with eight sessions in total.

“The teachers are very open to it. The thing about Gaelic and rugby is it's very transferable skills and so, you know, we never try to overtake one of the sports. If they're already playing a sport, we would totally respect that.”

Aquainas were crowned champions beating St Joseph’s in the final.