BY SEÁN HOLLAND
BANDON RFC are hopeful of making waves again in Munster Junior League Division 1 with the return of Regis Sonnes, the Frenchman who previously led the club to great success.
Sonnes, who returned to Bandon RFC as underage director of coaching in the summer of 2023, coached the team in 2017 and ’18 and brought home both the Junior Cup and the Junior League during his tenure. And he is back in charge of the team again this season.
Regis Sonnes brought huge success to Bandon in his previous spell as coach.
His CV is stacked. Sonnes arrived in Bandon in 2016 – to work with both the local rugby club and Bandon Grammar School – having coached the Spanish men’s national team and having worked as a forward coach with Bordeaux Begles. He also coached with Toulouse, the France U20s, and Agen. In his playing days, the Mont-de-Marsan man lined out for Toulouse, Brive and Agen.
His impact on Bandon rugby was huge and his return has sparked excitement, bringing a renewed sense of ambition and professionalism to the club.
Tom Ferguson, one of the club’s most experienced players, reflected on the positive impact of having Sonnes back. His influence isn’t just nostalgia for the senior players. His presence is a massive boost for younger players, who look up to him as a proven coach with international experience.
'There's probably three or four of us who played under Regis six or seven years ago. I can see even the lift it’s given the younger fellas now that would’ve seen us playing that time and got the hype from Regis around the place. For them to be able to come up and see them for themselves rather than just hearing us talking about it is great for them,’ Ferguson explained.
Indeed, the excitement is palpable as Bandon enjoys strong numbers in training sessions, with around 25 to 30 players attending regularly, Ferguson shared. It indicates a revived sense of commitment and optimism heading into the new season. Bandon finished in 11th place in last year’s league and the campaign was admittedly disappointing, with Ferguson labelling it as ‘probably the poorest result’ in his 13 years playing with the club's adult side.
‘It wasn’t the best year but we’ve a lot of young fellas and they have a year under their belt,’ Ferguson explained.
‘Every year is a big help to fellas that are only 18 or 19. We had a couple of fellas starting for our first team last year. They were still doing the Leaving Cert. We had to postpone one match because one fella had a Spanish oral exam! We had to put the game back half an hour so that he could finish his Spanish exam and play the match! Give them an extra 12 months, that's huge for them.’
With this combination of international expertise and local talent, Bandon are hoping to return to competing in the top half of the table. The team’s mix of older players like Ferguson, Gerry Crowley, Scott Kingston, and a core group of young players, including this year's captain Podge Galvin, Tagdh Galvin, Josh Brady, and James Collins-O’Brien, have the quality and experience to make that leap.
Bandon have had the perfect start to their league campaign, with a 34-30 bonus point win over Thurles. Ferguson wants to get back to competing for that top-four place.
‘The league is the bread and butter. Look, you'll be hoping to be competing in the top half of the table. We were down towards the lower end last year and we'd always been competing up top four so the aim is to try and get back up there,’ he said.
Next up for Bandon is a derby clash with rivals Clonakilty, this Sunday in Bandon (2.30pm). The two met in a pre-season friendly with the Shannonvale side winning 15-13. Ferguson has played Clon enough times to admit that there’s never much to separate the two.
‘We played Clon there only a couple of weeks ago and they beat us. We had a penalty and hit the post with the last kick of the game. There's nothing between the two of us, it was only the width of the post the difference between us. We’ve always had good battles with them down through the years,’ he added.
With Sonnes at the helm, Bandon have reason to believe that their team could once again be a force to be reckoned with.
