by Brendan Cole
No-one in Irish rugby has a closer association with St Mary's and Clontarf, the two clubs that will contest the Ulster Bank League decider on Saturday afternoon (from 1pm, RTÉ Two), than Brent Pope.
The New Zealander has only been involved with two teams in Ireland. In what is a unique achievement in the game, he was won Division Three, Two and One titles as a coach - the former with Clontarf in the 90s, the latter with Mary's in 1999-2000.
Pope is also strongly linked with what is still probably the most famous league decider of them all: the iconic 1993 clash of Young Munster and St Mary’s in which he was famously red carded.
That encounter, like Saturday's meeting, was a regular league match that became a decisive encounter.
Switched to Lansdowne Road, where it was played in front of a crowd of 20,000 and shown live on RTÉ, it was the beginning of an era of unparalleled popularity for the domestic league.
It also signalled that ancient assumptions about the pecking order in Irish rugby were about to be radically disturbed: the victory of either Clontarf or St Mary’s this year would be a third success for a Dublin club .
Having been a supporter of the play-off system, Pope acknowledges that the League format has succeeded in creating drama this time.
“The organisers could not have picked it better and it has worked out the same as it did when we played Young Munster all those years ago. Coming up to the last weekend, the two teams that could win it are meeting.
“I would have been the first to criticise the fact that they didn’t have a top four teams involved in play-offs and I still would a wee bit. There are teams that couldn’t win the League or get relegated, and that means there is not a lot for them to play for.”
His own connection with Ireland started a couple of years before that famous clash with Munsters when, as was normal for New Zealanders at the time, he looked for somewhere to play in the off season.
“I got a call to play either in Rome or in Dublin. It was about 3am in the morning, I didn’t know anything about Ireland but had heard good things, so I arrived in St Mary’s in 1991 with a view to watching the Rugby World Cup and staying for three months."
A national title had been won with Otago in 1991 and Pope went back to play for Otago for one more season at the beginning of 'Super' rugby. "But I missed the life I had made over here so I came came back. I’m here ever since."
So began a successful spell with Mary’s that included a Leinster Senior Cup win and that 1993 encounter with Munsters.
A move to the northside was prompted, in part at least, by the imminent arrival of a young number eight from Blackrock named Victor Costello.
Pope joined Clontarf but the rules at the time precluded “foreign” players, which he still was, from lining out in the League until after Christmas. By that time Clontarf were at the bottom of the table in Division Three.
Pope was summarily bumped up to head coach, and so began an “incredible journey”.
He picks up the story: “We won about 10 matches after Christmas and got promoted from Division Three, which seemed an impossibility. The following year we won Division Two and also won the Leinster Senior Cup for the first time in 63 years. In Division One, we competed really well. At one time we beat Mary’s when they had close to a full international side.”
But Clontarf’s rapid upward trajectory stalled, and Mary’s came calling again. Another League title followed soon after, this time as head coach.
"In 1999, I got to the stage where I couldn’t do any more with Clontarf and Mary’s asked me to come back and coach them in their centennial year. We won the All Ireland League (1999-2000). If you had told me then that Mary’s wouldn’t win another title at that time I would have eaten my hat."
Where will his loyalties lie on Saturday?
"Saturday is a big match for me because they are two clubs that I can thank for my time over here. It is going to be a tough one to call. I have never really had to go down that line... My time playing was probably more with Mary’s. Most of my friends that I have met here are in Mary’s because I lived on the southside and in a sense, Mary’s is my club.
"Having said that, I made such great friends in Clontarf and I follow the fortunes of both teams. In given years I have gone along to support St Mary’s and in other years I have gone along to support Clontarf.
"As far as coaching is concerned, my fondest memories are of developing a team with Clontarf. With Mary’s, they had such a good team that all they needed was a bit of direction.
"If I had to choose, just because they were the one that originally brought me over... it would be St Mary’s."
