EXCLUSIVE - Portlaoise’s Richie Whelan savouring his opportunity with La Rochelle U/21s

FORMER Portlaoise RFC player, Richie Whelan is continuing to make the most of the opportunity to play his rugby in France with La Rochelle’s Under 21s.

While an untimely hamstring injury last year somewhat derailed the progress he had been making with Leinster and scuppered any hope of selection for Ireland’s Under 20 World Cup squad, another door duly opened for the 20-year-old when La Rochelle came knocking in September.

After going on trial with the French side’s Under 21s, the highly-rated backrow received the offer, in December, to return to the club at the start of 2025 and remain on with the team until the end of the season.

It was an opening that had been largely facilitated by Pat Whelan (no relation), who had mentored La Rochelle assistant coach, Donnacha Ryan, and later spotted Whelan when he was playing for Cistercian College Roscrea.

The opportunity to head abroad was one that Whelan immediately grasped with both hands, making the move to La Rochelle in January where he has since played a significant part in helping the team up to second place in the Reichel Espoirs Elite division and on course for the quarter-finals later this season.

“Last year I tore my hamstring pretty bad and I had to get surgery on it,” Whelan told the Laois Nationalist.

“That had me out from about February until basically the season was over and it was really annoying, because it happened near the end of the Under 20 Six Nations and so it would have ruled me out of having a chance of getting in the World Cup squad because I was only coming back when that was coming on.

“But then the move to La Rochelle happened. That came at a good time, so hopefully, looking back in a few years, maybe it will be like a great thing.

“For the first few weeks after the move you're just getting used to new team mates, how they play and stuff like that. You learn new skills, different ways of playing. You definitely throw the ball around a bit more over here.

“It's a different culture and so they do things differently here, which is good for me. It’s a new experience.

“From the first week I was here I had a game, so that was good to just get straight into it and it's been really good from there on. I’m really enjoying it. I played No 8 in all the games and then last week I played at seven for the first time against Toulouse.

“Unfortunately we lost, but we got to play them in their professional stadium which was cool,” he said.

Hoping to help see La Rochelle all the way to the Under 21 final this season, Whelan has quickly settled into life in France, a move that has been facilitated by Dublin City University.

A Business Studies student with DCU, Whelan has benefitted from the support of both the Sports Department and Business School there which have agreed a suitable programme that affords him the chance to focus on the development of his professional rugby career.

Along with the backing of DCU, Whelan has, from his early days in the sport with Portlaoise, through to his time at Roscrea and later, on the AIL stage with Clontarf, also harnessed the skill and experience needed to compete successfully for the likes of La Rochelle Under 21s.

A product also of the Leinster youth system, in which he featured from Under 18 through to Under 20, Whelan also captained Roscrea in the 2023 Senior Cup, having enjoyed inter-provincial success with the Leinster Under 18 schools outfit two years before.

Certainly Whelan values all the experience he has garnered at various stages throughout his career so far, starting in Portlaoise where GAA had initially been his primary sport.

Indeed, he picked up no shortage of underage county football titles, along with one in hurling, during his time with Portlaoise GAA, with whom he also reached a Féile final.

He was in his early teens when rugby grew to become his main focus, Portlaoise RFC playing a major part in preparing him for a very promising run with Leinster.

“I was around six or seven when I first started playing rugby with Portlaoise,” recalled Whelan.

“I would have played there until about 13, so I was there for a good while and that's where I learned all the basic rugby skills. It was very important,” he insisted.

On his time with Roscrea from 2017 to 2023, Whelan remarked: “That was a great experience as well. I really enjoyed that because it was just nearly rugby every day and that was also an important part of my development.

“After school I joined Clontarf Rugby Club. It was a bit different because in sixth year in school you're like the big dogs. But now you're back down to the bottom and you have to get used to the physicality of playing against adults, but it was a good learning curve.

“Being in a club like Clontarf, they're always at the top end of things. They're one of the big teams in the top division, so even the training is always top notch.

“You're training with lads, some of them are ex-pros and some of them are lads who were in our academies, so it's always a really good standard,” he said.

Having brought all this experience to bear on his form at La Rochelle, Whelan is hopeful he and his team mates can make a strong close to their Reichel Espoirs campaign this season.

It remains to be seen what direction the young Portlaoise man will take after that, although he is very much open to continuing on in France if the opportunity presents itself.

“The middle of June is when the (Under 21) final takes place, so if we get as far as that, then I'll be here until then,” he explained. “I just have to wait and see what happens, but definitely the plan would be to hopefully stay on.”