Premiership 2 – Old Wesley 18 Old Belvedere 15
Old Wesley got off to a winning start in their u20 Premiership 2 campaign and despite making heavy weather of the 2nd half it was a result that got the home team 4 valuable points against a spirited Old Belvedere team.
With early pressure resulting in an early a penalty which was converted by captain Shane O’Hanrahan, Wesley went ahead 3-0 after 15 minutes. There were some fine individual efforts including a break from Dougie Burns feeding O’Hanrahan, who then passed to the impressive David Young, who just failed to touch down for the opening try.
Belvedere equalised with a penalty after 30 minutes to make the score 3 all but then some fine Old Wesley play saw Burns make a break deep into the Belvo 22 and for debutant centre John Ridgeway to score in the corner. With the conversion missed it was 8-3 to the home team. Just on the stroke of half time after great play from right to left centre, Cameron Watson, got in the left corner after a powerful run. The conversion was just wide and at half time it was 13-3 to the home team.
A perfect start to the 2nd half saw our dominant line out and maul take possession from the Belvo 10 metre line, resulting in a great score in the corner with Dave Young touching down. Again no return with the conversion but Old Wesley were 18-3 up 5 minutes into the 2nd half.
With such dominance at the set piece the next 30 minutes were very frustrating with Old Wesley shipping 2 tries and 12 points to go into the closing stages 18-15 ahead. The bench had come on and with a yellow card mid-way through the second half Old Wesley allowed Belvo get right back into the match. That said, as the final whistle approached Wesley had an opportunity to seal the bonus point, but we were not as clinical as we needed to be. The match was won and there was a feeling of not maximising our opportunities to put away the opposition and this is a lesson that we need to learn for games to come. Job done and NUIG away in 2 weeks time.
Click here for photos by Deryck Vincent