Ben Betts

 The Ireland under 20s have just finished their campaign in England where they faced some of the World’s best sides in there Pool and then in the knock out phase also. A local boy by the name of Ben Betts was part of the 28 man squad that travelled in the hope of a good finish. In the first minute of the opening game against Wales Ben was summoned to take the place of the unfortunate Conor Kenny in the Tight Head spot in the Irish front row with Adam Mc Burney and Andrew Porter.

There he would stay for the rest of the tournament and keep the number 3 shirt while beating some of the World’s best teams at Under 20 level. They defeated Wales the Grand Slam winners from earlier this year, then the mighty Junior All Blacks in a fantastic performance built on strong defence and some real quality attacking play.

Ben has a key job in rugby terms as a Tight Head prop , he has to lock out a scrum and give the scrum half an opportunity to get the ball to his back division , that’s a very dumbed down description of his job but he also has a big role to play in defence.

Ben of course plays his club rugby with Young Munster after learning his craft with Estuary Rugby Club. He is also part of the Munster sub academy where his receives weekly tutelage on different aspects of the game along with strength and conditioning sessions.

His parents Noel and Yvonne can take huge credit for bringing up such a wonderful young man that has now got the world at his feet in sporting terms. He is a high quality tight head prop and there aren’t too many of them around Ireland at the minute.

He was given a reception in his home place , Ballyhahill last evening where hundreds of locals turned out to welcome home the local hero. He had plenty of family at the homecoming aswell. He has now managed to be capped at under 18 , 19 and 20s level for Munster along with a first Munster A cap to go with his caps at 18s , 19s and 20s level for Ireland. He was in the Young Munster squad that made this season’s Munster Senior and Junior Cup Finals.

Having watched Ben from the age of 16 when he played alongside my younger brother with the Munster Under 18s , you could see strength and quality beginning to come to the surface. He is a strong boy with the skill to go with it. He is in the mould of All Black tight Owen Franks who is now the most capped All Black tight head of all time taking over from Carl Hayman another good operator. I can’t pay him much more of a tribute than that.

Well done Ben , you have shown over the past few weeks and earlier in the season that with hard work and dedication anything is possible. You have done West Limerick and North Kerry proud. To Yvonne and Noel , you have done a great job bringing up such a grounded young man. He is a credit to you both.

Big things await this young man and a World Championship Runners up medal isn’t a bad start.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

01/07/2016