Eric Miller to coach Trinity at Rugby

Thursday, 17 July 2014 00:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel Trinity College Kandy, which has produced some of the top Rugby players in the country, is to have the former Ireland, British and Irish Lion player Eric Miller as their Consultant Head Coach for Rugby. Discussions are said to be in progress and the final decision on this is expected to be made during this month.

The outgoing Trinity Coach Neil Foote had a very successful stint at Trinity with an excellent record in the Bradby Shield encounters, recording four consecutive victories. Trinity performances were very consistent during his stint where they won the Canon de Saram trophy against S. Thomas Mount Lavinia thrice and the Dennis Perera trophy against St Peter’s College which was on offer for the very first time this year. They won the President’s Trophy knockout tournament once and were runners up twice while becoming the league runners up thrice. In the event discussions are successful, the former Irish International Rugby Union Player who has won 48 caps for the “Green “ jersey and was the youngest British and Irish Lions team member that played against South Africa in 1997, will be with the Trinity outfit from the next Rugby season. He has represented Ireland in two Rugby World Cups (1999 and 2003) and also has played five times for the Barbarians. As a professional Rugby Union Player, Eric Miller has represented Leinster, Ulster and Leicester Tigers in the British Rugby league. He has played in over 50 Heineken Cup games. Eric also has played cricket for his school at Wesley College in Dublin. Eric started his international career when he represented the Under-21 team in 1996. Between 1997 and 2005, he made his international debut against Italy in 1997. He went onto play for Ireland at both the 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cup tournaments. His final appearance for Ireland was against Japan in 2005. After playing just four internationals for Ireland, Eric was selected by the British and Irish Lions for their 1997 tour of South Africa. He was the youngest member of the 1997 tour party to South Africa. After retirement from International Rugby in 2006, Eric has spent the last eight years coaching Rugby at junior level, schools and club level within Ireland. Amongst his recent coaching achievements were winning the inter provincial title with the Leinster Under-18 outfit for three years running and helping St. Gerard’s School to the Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final for the second year in a row. The School was awarded Leinster Schools Team of the year in 2010. Eric Miller is a fully qualified Rugby Union Coach of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).