{"id":167,"date":"2009-12-15T09:11:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T09:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/?p=167"},"modified":"2009-12-15T09:11:15","modified_gmt":"2009-12-15T09:11:15","slug":"prop-talk-with-mark-neilly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/prop-talk-with-mark-neilly\/","title":{"rendered":"Prop Talk with Mark Neilly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Height:<\/strong> 6 ft \/ Weight: 19 stone<\/p>\n

Appearances In AIL:<\/strong> 101<\/p>\n

Clubs:<\/strong> Portadown, UUC, Dungannon<\/p>\n

Victories: <\/strong>Senior Cup Winners \/ Ulster League Winners with Dungannon<\/p>\n

When did rugby begin for you?<\/h3>\n

It began aged 4 and a half at Portadown Minis. For some reason I went straight into the front row. Must have been a lack of props when I joined!<\/p>\n

Who were the best Props you played against?<\/h3>\n

Tim Morton (because I work with him!), Lewis Johnston, and Tony Buckley<\/p>\n

Most Memorable Prop Story?<\/h3>\n

I suppose would be my first senior start for Portadown in the beatie Cup. I had just left school and had only played one senior game the week before for the 2nds. I was thrown into the Dungannon game against the experienced and youthful Gary Leslie. Lesson learnt. It was a baptism of fire but one that stood me in good
\nstead. I then went on to destroy everyone else over the years.<\/p>\n

What does propping mean to you?<\/h3>\n

Propping is one of those positions that is either for you or not. I was lucky due to diet (I had many a sweet tooth) to have the opportunity to play all my rugby career in the front row. Rugby
\nis a team sport but the front row allows you to express yourself individually in a separate battle on the pitch. As a prop you are judged on your scrummaging which for me was my main focus
\nfor me during A game. The rest was a bonus if my scrums went well.<\/p>\n

Who was the biggest bandit on the Ulster Squad?<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s a hard one. It\u2019s a toss-up between John McGuckin\/Nigel Brady at the time. Too close to call.<\/p>\n

What’s your Ulster top 15?<\/h3>\n

Gary Leslie \/ Nigel Brady \/ Robbie Kempson \/ Jeremy Davidson \/ Willie John McBride \/ Andy Ward \/\u00a0 Willie Faloon \/ Warren Brosnahan \/ Andy Matchett \/ Davy Humpheys \/ Shelly Coulter \/ Paul Magee \/ Ryan Constable \/ Tommy Bowe \/ John McGuckin.<\/p>\n

Shaved or Un-shaved?<\/h3>\n

Shaved.<\/p>\n

Beers Wine or Spirits?<\/h3>\n

All, in that order!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Height: 6 ft \/ Weight: 19 stone Appearances In AIL: 101 Clubs: Portadown, UUC, Dungannon Victories: Senior Cup Winners \/ Ulster League Winners with Dungannon When did rugby begin for you? It began aged 4 and a half at Portadown Minis. For some reason I went straight into the front row. Must have been a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[156,17202],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prop-talk","tag-mark-neilly","tag-prop-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}