Metro 2 League – Old Wesley 22 : Old Belvedere 19
Old Wesley thirds beat Belvo seconds in this great game in yet another dramatic comeback. Belvedere were leading 19-9 with less than fifteen minutes to go. ( 3 penalties by Tim Hawe to 3 tries and 2 conversions). Then Tim Hawe kicked a penalty followed by a try by Aaran Copeland and converted by Tim Hawe. Hawe finished off with another penalty with the last act of the game. This was the third time in a week that Old Wesley have won like this.
Full report
Old Wesley 3rds made it two wins from two in Metro 2 with a late rally against a strong Belvedere 2nds side in Donnybrook.
The 3rds started strongly, and we had the majority of possession in the 1st quarter our scrum was on top and lineout was functionally well but just when it looked like an opening score was on the cards Belvedere turned the ball over on their line and after a number of phases touched down under the posts the try was converted, and they lead 7 nil.
Tim Hawe thankfully had his kicking boots on and reduced the lead with 2 penalties to leave the half time score 7 6
Soon after the restart we took the lead for the first time when Tim landed his 3rd penalty of the game. Belvedere then had a purple patch they looked dangerous in attack and this lead to them scoring two tries converting one to take a 19 9 lead the game seemed to be slipping away from Wesley. The coaching team looked to the bench to freshen things up and this included the introduction of former club captain Darren Horan whose last game was back in 2019 Darren’s impact was immediate but only lasted 5 minutes as he saw Yellow.
The fresh legs did bring new energy to the forwards and after a period of pressure and strong carries Arran Copeland crashed over for a try Tim kicked the conversation with 5 minutes left the game was level.
Wesley were full of confidence and from the kick off made it into the Belvedere half but we knocked on this resulted in a scrum between the 10 metre line and 22 and looked like we had blown our last chance. That thought hadn’t entered the forwards minds especially the front row who produced the scrum of the game and pushed the Belvedere scrum back the referee had no choice but to award a penalty to us the kick wasn’t a given and Tim had to hold his nerve to slot the winning kick making it 22 19. There was still time for the kick off which we gathered, and the ball was booted to touch which resulted in the final whistle been blown.
This was a fantastic squad effort with everyone giving their all congrats goes to all involved including the young caching team special mention must go to Luke Corish who played his last game before moving to London Luke who captained the 20s a number of years ago has been a permanent fixture with the 3rds and 4ths over the last few seasons and we wish him well.