{"id":23176,"date":"2020-11-30T16:18:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T16:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/?p=23176"},"modified":"2020-11-30T16:19:13","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T16:19:13","slug":"gavin-coombes-munster-rugby-and-the-west-cork-mafia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/gavin-coombes-munster-rugby-and-the-west-cork-mafia\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Coombes: Munster Rugby and The ‘West Cork Mafia’"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Cork back-rower Gavin Coombes is hot off his back-to-back man of the match performances against Ospreys and Glasgow respectively. <\/span><\/p>\n

The number 8 has been in terrific try-scoring form for Munster, scoring a hat-trick in the Ospreys game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming from Bandon Grammar Secondary School, Gavin said there was a huge jump between school\u2019s rugby and the Munster academy. \u201cI went from doing one gym session a week to doing four a week, with training every-day on top of the gym\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

Playing in the Irish Under-20\u2019s squad in 2017 gave him major confidence going into the Munster set-up \u201cinternational rugby is always a step up, but I gained great confidence in my game through-out playing for Ireland\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right throughout his time playing for Skibbereen RFC and Bandon Grammar, Gavin had always played at number 8, but when he moved into the Munster Academy, he played second row, number 7 and now eventually back to his original number 8. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy to slot into any position made available for me, just so I could get playing time”, Coombes added.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his recent outings for the side, Coombes has been not only scoring for his side but also winning vital turnovers and making hard tackles. \u201cI\u2019m not doing anything different this season as to previous ones, I am just getting an opportunity to play games and perform when I get those chances\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With internationals like CJ Stander and Peter O\u2019 Mahony missing from the province, it is giving younger players like Gavin a chance to show what they are made of against tough opposition in the Pro-14. \u201cYour goals change when you\u2019re not picked for a match, I might do extra gym sessions, or spend longer at rucks or tackling after training\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During lockdown Coombes has been more than impressive for Munster, with his man of the match performances being celebrated with his teammates, rather than family and friends. \u201cI have done most of my playing with no fans in the stadiums, so I don\u2019t take much notice of it anymore, but it will be great to get fans back to create more atmosphere\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Described as the \u201cWest Cork Mafia\u201d by commentators, Gavin says it is great to be playing with people he has grown up with. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a great feeling to have them playing around you, there has been a lot of work done in west cork with rugby and it is really starting to show through. I\u2019ve grown up playing against these guys and now to be playing with them at Munster is fantastic\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Cork back-rower Gavin Coombes is hot off his back-to-back man of the match performances against Ospreys and Glasgow respectively. The number 8 has been in terrific try-scoring form for Munster, scoring a hat-trick in the Ospreys game.\u00a0 Coming from Bandon Grammar Secondary School, Gavin said there was a huge jump between school\u2019s rugby and […]<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11549,"featured_media":23179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101965,102121,14],"tags":[102134,101304,100351,100485,102126],"class_list":["post-23176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-rugby","category-sports","tag-gavin-coombes","tag-ireland","tag-irish-rugby","tag-munster","tag-munster-rugby"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":42,"today_views":0},"views":1641,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/gavin-coombes.jpg","wps_subtitle":"An Focal's Siadbh Redmond spoke to Munster star Gavin Coombes on his recent performances for Munster, his growth as a player and the 'West Cork Mafia'.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11549"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23176"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23181,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23176\/revisions\/23181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}