Another early start as we travel down to Lux. We've managed to get 24 lads together despite the clash with the European elections, Brussels 20km and the long weekend. The draw was sent out last night and the A team are paired with Amsterdam and Luxembourg B whilst the B's line out against Den Haag and Luxembourg A in their group.
From an A perspective, we have settled on our captain for the year. Clux will lead us, hopefully starting with a change of fortune tomorrow. We'll start the day with the bare minimum 11 players so as to try and make the B team as strong as possible. Defections have left us heavily hit in defence so I'm likely to line out alongside debutant Paul Quinn in the full back line. Gearoid Sayers returns to partner Colin Byrne in the half back line. Enda and Eoghan will start in the middle of the field whilst another debutant, Johnny from Dublin will form a forward line with Olof, Ciaran and the returning Rochey.
The team started to show real progress for the first time last year down in Lux. We lost a very close final by a point. We'll be hoping to get our season going down there this weekend after a shaky start. I think we've realised the key to everything is hard work so we'll try and get that work ethic back tomorrow.
The B's have a big challenge as Benelux is fairly strong this year and they have two of the strongest teams in their group. Ruairi will lead them for the weekend and they'll be looking to be as competitive as possible. Its all about getting a settled team for when they hit Munich at the end of July for the first round of the Shield.
Luxembourg have won this tournament seven years on the trot so they'll take some beating. Den Haag are undefeated this year so the same goes for them. If we need any further motivation it will surely come from the fact that we have to leave Crusher behind us in Brussels.
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