Lansdowne coach Mike Ruddock has been named as the Ulster Bank Division 1A "Coach of the Year" for 2018.
The former Welsh Grand Slam winning coach was quick to praise the standard of the club game in general and believes Irish rugby, at all levels, is in a very good place at the moment.
Speaking to Off the Ball's Sean O'Regan after receiving his award, he said: "I'm in it to win it - like any coaches. I want to pay tribute to Joe Schmidt as well for coming down with his commitments, to come down and give up his time to present the awards - and, the Ulster Bank, for supporting the league and all the volunteers - everyone involved.
"It's great, I come from a small village in Wales with tribalism and the importance of representing your village really well and I see the towns and the clubs of Ireland carrying on that sort of tradition and being really strong about that.
"We see that in Gaelic Football as well with the 'parish mentality' and it's really, really important never to let your home town down.
"Every time we go into battle in this league - it really is about that, standing up for who you are, what you're about and that's what I love about this league.
Alan Quinlan with Garryowen winger Liam Coombes, Division 1A's top try scorer this season, and Lansdowne's title-winning out-half Scott Deasy, at the Aviva Stadium. Image: SportsFile
"Irish rugby is on a real high. When you've got a Grand Slam team like Ireland are, and well deserved as well, with world class players and a world class coach - you've got Leinster winning a European Cup and you've got two Irish teams in the semi-final of the PRO competition as well in the northern hemisphere - it's, sort of, logical to surmise that the club game is going to be pretty healthy as well and that's how I read it.
"I think the club game is very, very healthy and I think the quality of the teams and the coaches, that I certainly have to do battle with, have been formidable. It's a significant competition and I'm delighted Ulster Bank are behind it," he added.
There were also awards for Garryowen's Neil Cronin, who was named as the Division 1A "Player of the Year" while Liam Coombe, also from Garryowen, collected the prize for top try scorer.
Congratulations to all the 2017/2018 #UBL Award winners @LansdowneFC @GarryowenFC @CorkConRugby @UCCRFC @OldCrescentRFC1 @sligorfc @Galwegians_RFC @buccaneersrfc @MaloneRFC @banbridgerugby #UBLAwards18 pic.twitter.com/NsbyeqcUTA
— UlsterBankRugby (@UlsterBankRugby) May 18, 2018
