Leinster coaching staff have expressed their satisfaction with the opening stages of their Route 6’6” initiative, which hopes to attract taller players to the sport.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Leinster Academy Coach Colin McEntee and targets players over 6’6” in height who may or may not have previous experience in rugby or may be involved in other sports and have never tested their rugby capabilities.

With Devon Toner, who stands at 6’10”, in their squad, the Leinster management know about the advantages of having tall players in their arsenal, especially in the second row where height can offer a clear advantage in the lineout.

Having promoted the initiative for weeks, the first screening day was held at Donnybrook Stadium on October 8 and attracted more than 35 athletes with varying degrees of experience in the sport.

After the initial profiling stage where the players’ measurements and body compositions were documented, they entered a functional screening battery to highlight any imbalances before undergoing speed and pad work exercises.

McEntee was pleased with the turnout and what the athletes showed but knows that only the first phase of this initiative has been completed.

“I think it was highly encouraging to see the quality that was on display. I had to compliment the lads on their application and their attitude and how they embraced the whole exercise,” he told LTV.

“The hard work starts after this. We’ll go away and assess all the data we have. As I said to the players from the outset, it’s important that they go away with something and they will get a profile on how they performed.

“Based on reviewing every exercise we’ll ascertain which guys showed that potential to kick on and we’ll look to put them in programmes.”

Provincial scrum coach Reggie Corrigan was also satisfied with what he saw and believes the initiative has real potential.

“I think it was a huge success. We had a turnout of around 37 with a few players injured as well so from that point of view it was brilliant.

“The importance is huge because it’s an area that has been identified as somewhere there are weaknesses and we need to develop players coming through.

“It’s really about trying to look outside the box a little bit and see if there are players that might have been missed somewhere along the system that could come in and have potential to make it as a rugby player.”