"I am delighted to announce the recent appointment of two new Rugby Development Officers for the Connacht Branch. We have been joined by Lyndon Jones, a native of Gorey in Wexford who has been with the Ulster Branch the past two years as a Community Rugby Development Officer working with City of Derry, Limavady, Derry YMCA and Strabane.

"Lyndon comes with a degree in sports management and has travelled extensively in search of rugby development having had spells in Sweden and working with the Ulster Branch.

"Lyndon will be based out of Castlebar Mayo Sports Partnership office from early October and will be working with clubs and Eamonn Molloy and John Power along wit the YDOs attached to the clubs to ensure that we meet expectations on the ground. Lyndon will also be working closely with Jim Herring to manage the U20 Program in Connacht and he has been appointed Head Coach of the Connacht Women's Team for the Inter Provincial Series."

"Ken Imbusch joins us from the Munster Branch where he was a YDO with Limerick IT, he is a native of Limerick and is an AIL Divisional Referee.

"His appointment is with the support of the IRFU Referee Development Department and the funding with the Irish Sports Council - Ken will be an RDO but with a specific remit for developing the Referee framework in the Province, he will also be leading on girls rugby at secondary school level and working with clubs in the East of the Province working closely with John Power out of the Ballinasloe Office.

"In 2004 Ken was voted the best young referee in Ireland, he has had an extensive period with the Irish Colleges in Munster as a selector and represented Munster Schools at scrum half. He will be delivering courses and workshops on refereeing and will be working closely with Eamonn Molloy (CDO) on the roll out of the Child Welfare program being drafted by the IRFU."