Rising rugby star Hicks shines under the spotlight for club, school, province and country

DYLAN Hicks looks built for centre stage. He’s only 18 years old, a greenhorn in sporting terms, but he carries himself well. Broad shoulders, he has a presence. But it’s his coolness that impresses.

The Bantry teen picked up a West Cork Sports Star Paudie Palmer Youth quarterly award at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery where all the eyes were on him, but Dylan didn’t flinch. Just took it all in his stride – a necessary characteristic for this talented outhalf who has starred for school, club, province and country in recent times. He has packed a lot in.

‘What is it they say – pressure is only for tyres,’ he quipped.

‘You just deal with the pressure and play what’s in front of you.’

It’s this approach – coupled with his talent – that has served him well so far. Dylan has caught the attention of many and it’s why, too, he will start the next part of his rugby development this summer: he is one of the new recruits for the Munster Rugby Greencore Academy for the 2023/24 season.

‘I’m really looking forward to it, it will be a great experience, to train with the Munster senior team and learn from them. Hopefully it will bring my rugby to a different level,’ Dylan says.

He’s already operating at a high level for his age as his achievements in recent times highlight. He captained the Munster U18 Boys Clubs’ team that competed in the 2022 interpros. Dylan was then called into the Ireland U18 Clubs’ set-up and featured in the win away against Italy U18s in November 2022. In January he helped his school, Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí, secure their first-ever victory in the Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup; a magical last-gasp win against Glenstal Abbey. In March he scored 20 points as his school defended their Mungret Cup title. Early April, Dylan played a key role in Bantry Bay’s historic Munster U18 Cup final win (17-14) against Carrigaline-Dolphin at Musgrave Park. That same month he lined out for the Ireland U18 Schools’ side in the 2023 U18 Six Nations Festival. Little wonder he was selected for a Paudie Palmer Youth quarterly award to recognise the rise of yet another West Cork rugby prodigy.

‘It’s an honour to win an award like this. If you look at the people across all sports who have won West Cork awards, and from the rugby side too, this is great,’ Dylan says, and he was joined by his family at the award presentation.

His father, Damien, is rugby mad and a driving force in Bantry and West Cork rugby. His mom, Geraldine, also has the rugby bug. It’s the same for his brother and three sisters, Jamie, Leah, Zoe and Libby.

‘I like the sense of team that you get with rugby. It doesn't matter where you come from or who you are, everyone gets stuck in together,’ he explains, and a great example is Bantry’s Munster U18 Clubs’ final win. Dean Cotter from Urhan, who travels 60km just to get to training, scored the late match-winning try; his first in six years. That was an incredible moment for this group of young men.

‘We had a never-say-die attitude in every game, and in the final we were down going into the last play of the game but we kept going and look at what happened,’ he says. That team spirit was in Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí, too. Even though his days of walking the Bantry school’s corridors are over, having sat his Leaving Cert exams last month, he leaves rugby there in a good place.

‘It shows how far rugby has come in the school,’ he adds, and his school and club will take huge pride in their role in Dylan’s development as he enters the Munster Academy. He has watched two former Bantry Bay RFC players, Fineen and Josh Wycherley, take the same road he is now on, and he’ll be surrounded by plenty of West Cork men in the Munster dressing-room next season.

Dylan only needs to look across to the other side of West Cork to spot Munster’s current number one outhalf, Jack Crowley, who played with Bandon RFC. Now he will be rubbing shoulders with them in training.

‘It’s a different position to everywhere else; you are calling different plays, controlling things, you have to do a lot of looking and scanning to see what is happening. People say there is a lot of pressure, but we all like pressure,’ Dylan adds, and it's his calm approach that will take him far. One to watch.