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League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Noel Reid at a Chicago Hounds session.Mandy Coppinger Irish Abroad 'I was thinking, 'If you're ever going to leave Dublin, now is the time'' Ex-Leinster and Ireland centre Noel Reid is coaching in Chicago. 8.46pm, 29 Oct 2025 Share options Murray Kinsella Reports from Chicago NOEL REID IS sitting in one of the coaches’ rooms at the home stadium of the Chicago Hounds, discussing how the road less travelled in rugby has brought him here. At exactly the same time, some of his former team-mates are out on the pitch at Ireland training. Andy Farrell’s men have been using the SeatGeek Stadium, the Hounds’ home, as their training base in Chicago ahead of this weekend’s game against the All Blacks. The pitch and gym facilities are superb by Major League Rugby standards, so Ireland are happy. 35-year-old Reid, who was a centre or out-half, has just come in from watching most of Ireland’s training session with a group of the Hounds’ academy players. As well as being backs coach for the senior side, Reid works closely with the next generation of local players. Still out on the pitch at the SeatGeek are Ireland coaches Johnny Sexton and Paul O’Connell, who were playing the day Reid made his Test debut against Argentina. Iain Henderson came off the bench along with Reid in Tucumán on that occasion in 2014 when Joe Schmidt’s side made it a 2-0 series success. A 20-year-old Robbie Henshaw was in the wider squad. Reid also knows many of the large contingent of Leinster players in the current Irish squad, having played for his native province well over 100 times before leaving in 2019, sparking an adventure that included stints with Leicester, Agen, London Irish, the Toronto Arrows, and now the Hounds. “This is my sixth year away from home,” says Reid, who says he was keen to see more of the world when he made the decision to leave Leinster after the 2018/19 season. “I got an early offer from Leinster at the start of that season and it was basically 50% less than what I’d been on. It was a one-year deal, so a goodbye kind of thing. “But the way the season went, there were a couple of injuries and I was needed and ended up having probably one of my better seasons. Then in January, I got offered a two-year by Leinster on maybe 10 or 20% less than what I was on, which was good money at the time. “I was 29, going on 30, so would have got to 32 in Leinster and it’s hard to leave then, like you’re probably just doing another couple of ones [one-year contracts] if you can get them. “It would have been a comfortable thing [to stay] but I was thinking, ‘If you’re ever going to leave Dublin, now is the time.’ And it’s been a great experience. Reid played for Leinster 120 times.Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO “It’s only a flight back to Ireland and everything’s the same in Dublin. I miss it at times, but genuinely, it’s not a thing I go around thinking about.” He reflects on his time as a player with Leinster happily. He hails from Glasnevin but went to school across the city in St Michael’s College, where he first showed his talent before starring for the Ireland U20s. Reid came into a Leinster squad that had Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll dominating in midfield, with other class players like Fergus McFadden vying for minutes. Reid had to have something about him to survive in that environment. He managed to stay largely injury-free and featured in some big Champions Cup, Pro 12, and Pro 14 games for Leinster. He also takes pride in having earned his Ireland cap in 2014. “That all happened quickly,” he recalls.” I had a good season but I wasn’t in the squad and then we had the last game of the season for Leinster against Treviso in the RDS. “I was having a pint in the post-match beside Drico. My phone was on the table and I was literally sipping a pint when Joe Schmidt’s number popped up on the phone. Advertisement “He was like, ‘Earlsy has pulled out sick, I need you in camp tomorrow.’ “It was probably better that way. It was like, you’re in, boom, not much thinking about it.” He hoped to make the Ireland squad for the 2015 World Cup, when he thought he might get a shot in a warm-up game against Wales, but it wasn’t to be. “I could probably nitpick and get into a rabbit hole of thinking, ‘I could have done a bit better, maybe got more caps for Ireland,’ but I’ve never had a grudge about selections or anything like that. I think I got a lot out of my career.” He joined Leicester in 2019 but ended up only being there for a season, with the English club going through “a transitional period,” and he departed along with a crop of other players as the Tigers made cuts and redundancies in all areas during the pandemic. Reid pitched up in Agen, who were playing in the Top 14 at the time in 2020, but they were relegated from the top flight that season. They had a miserable run in the Pro D2 as well, with Reid leaving for London Irish midway through the campaign. Noel Reid before his Ireland debut in 2014.Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO Although those weren’t successful stints on the pitch, Reid enjoyed the life experiences and says he gained different perspectives that will help him now as a coach. “Culturally, the UK is a lot different from Leinster,” he says. “Leinster has a great culture, but everyone’s somewhat similar. You’ve either played against each other in school, or played with a guy in school, or you’ve played U20s together. “Your parents might be friends, somewhat similar backgrounds, it’s not too diverse. That can be good and bad. The positive side is what Stuart Lancaster would always say to us – we’re connected before it even starts, if you get me, because you have that bond. “You might have six or seven Michael’s guys who’ve played together since they were 12. You don’t have to build that relationship up, whereas when you go to different teams with different cultures, there might be more of a trying to get on the same page. “But the positive of different cultures is obvious – you get different great aspects from each one that you can pull from a small bit.” Agen was another wildly different time and Reid smiles as he talks about trying to learn French and figure out why everyone was “eating baguettes and going for a smoke after the gym.” He didn’t win a game with the club but reckons that builds a bit of character and gives a fresh view on what the professional game is like. His short stint in London Irish saw him working with Declan Kidney and Les Kiss, another ideal opportunity for someone who had realised he wanted to be a coach. Reid picked up different things from Joe Schmidt, Matt O’Connor, Lancaster, and Cullen along the way, while he was always a thoughtful sort of player. “Leo used to always say I kind of read the game better than most,” says Reid. “I played a lot of 12, so I had to organise a lot for whoever was playing 10. And I played 10 as well, so that was my game – figuring out where the space is and how to get there, all that kind of stuff.” Reid had one season with Leicester.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Reid was a beautiful passer of the ball, regularly throwing the kind of bridge passes that have become a pivotal feature of attack in recent years. “When you’re in Leinster, even at training, your job is to try an unlock a defence that has those great players in it,” says Reid of his ability in that area. “Even in Michael’s, before school had started, at lunch break, after school, you’re playing rugby, so those skills were just being developed.” Reid joined the Toronto Arrows ahead of the 2023 Major League Rugby season and was moving down the track of being a player/coach with the Canadian club until they withdrew from the MLR ahead of the 2024 season. Suddenly, Reid was left in the lurch. He was happy in Toronto, where he had met his girlfriend. So when someone in the local rugby scene decided to provide funding for the Arrows’ academy for another six months, Reid jumped at the chance to coach them. He worked alongside former Canada and Clermont lock Jamie Cudmore in that role, and soon took on a head coach position with club side Markham Irish. Reid likens it to junior rugby back in Ireland but it was a great way to get a better understanding of coaching, with plenty of challenges around playing numbers and resources. His former Leinster team-mate Dave Kearney, who co-invested in and played for the Chicago Hounds, visited Reid in Toronto last year and said that Hounds CEO James English was keen to chat to him. That led to a phone call with Hounds head coach Chris Latham, the former Australian fullback, and Reid landed himself a job as the Chicago club’s backs coach. “I went from probably something like J4 coaching to pro in a few months, so I was kind of thinking, ‘I hope I know what I’m doing here,’ but it has been an amazing experience,” he says. The Hounds were narrowly beaten by eventual champions New England in this year’s MLR semi-finals, so they’ll be looking to go again in 2026. With three clubs exiting the league at the end of this season, Reid admits there has been uncertainty in recent months around the MLR but it’s now set to drive on with a condensed format next year. Reid at a Chicago Hounds training session.Mandy Coppinger Mandy Coppinger While much of his time is now spent in Chicago, Reid is still partly based in Toronto, only an hour-long flight away. Reid has set up a business called The Rugby Academy in Canada along with fellow Irishman Shane Cahill, who played in the English Championship at one stage and did the Arrows’ S&C. Reid says young players in Canada don’t get much, or any, access to high-performance environments and that’s what The Rugby Academy offers in its weekend camps. He’s flying back to Toronto on Thursday to run the latest of those, meaning he’ll miss Ireland’s game against the All Blacks in person in Chicago, but that’s the reality of being in business. These are early days in life as a rugby coach, but Reid is loving it so far. “Now that I’m coaching, I always get asked, ‘Do you want to get back to coach in Ireland?’” he says. “I genuinely don’t think about stuff like that because if I don’t focus on what I’m doing here, that’s never going to be an option. “Only a select number of people are ever going to be able to coach Leinster, but you also have to put yourself in a position where you can do it. “I’m lucky here, it’s worked out so far, but I’m working hard at it.” Murray Kinsella Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'I was thinking, 'If you're ever going to leave Dublin, now is the time''”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'I was thinking, 'If you're ever going to leave Dublin, now is the time''”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. 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