Salford Red Devils visited the town of Newport in Ireland last week to undergo a four-day training camp, filled with team building activities and community visits.
The team travelled from Liverpool to Knock for the training camp after an unfortunate loss to Hull Kingston Rovers back in May, saw the Red Devils knocked-out of the Challenge Cup run, leaving them with a break for last weekβs Challenge Cup semi-final.
First on the agenda, was a three-hour bike ride to put the Red Devils through their paces along the Greenway Trail from Newport to Achill Island.
🇮🇪 Any better way to see the sights of Ireland than on a three hour bike ride down the Greenway Trail?
🚴♂️ Thanks to Greenway Bike Hire for making this possible!
💪#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/UoPYg9uAHe
β Salford Red Devils (@SalfordDevils) July 24, 2019
The bike ride, courtesy of Greenway Bike Hire, saw the players riding through the Irish hills and fields before stopping at McLoughlins for a Salford Red Devils pool competition.
Head Coach Ian Watson seemed hopeful to be crowned Pool Champion, only to be knocked-out in the first round by Physio Rob.
It was an early 7am start the following day to head down to the Westport Rugby Union Club for a training session with the Ireland Rugby League International Under-19s.
The players started with a warm-up and a light game of football before the Red Devils showed the under-19s a full training session under the watch of Ian Watson and Greg Brown.
The club enjoyed hosting the under-19s Irish Internationals and would like to thank Sam Cullen, Sean OβSullivan, James Reynolds, Kevin Varga, James Mulvaney, Eoin Creaby and the coaching staff for getting involved.
Casey Dunne and Paul Varga, Under-19s coaching staff said: βWe were very glad for our u19s Irish international players to be able to train with such a great team.
βThe clubβs Longhorns, Barrowcudas and Tribesmen would like to thank everyone at Salford for this opportunity.β
A morning of training was soon followed by an afternoon of golf at Westport golf club.
Salford players and coaching staff had the opportunity to play 18 holes at the golf club, with Joey Lussick and Krisnan Inu winning a controversial final hole against Greg Johnson and Ken Sio.
Salford then travelled over to the Burrishule GAA Club to meet with children and adults in the local community to talk about the growth of Rugby League in Ireland.
The club would like to thank Newport Hotel County Mayo for hosting the team and the staff during our visit to Ireland, and thanks to Rockies, McLoughlins, Grannie Vaile, Nevins Tieror and The Helm for providing food and drinks during the visit.
