Junior & Under 20 Rugby Roundup (30th-31st October 2015)
It was a successful weekend for Junior and Under 20 rugby with all three teams in action recording wins. The star result was the 4ths who scraped a hard fought 14-13 win over Old Belvedere, always a tough club to compete against at this level – see report below. The 5ths and Under 20s notched up comprehensive wins, both over Dublin University. It was 41-5 for the 5ths and 36-0 nil for the 20s.
Metro League Div 6 – Old Wesley 14 Old Belvedere 13
The Old Wesley 4th XV continued their rampaging start to the league, with a narrow 14-13 win over Old Belvedere, maintaining their place at the top of the Metro Division 6 food chain.
Foul rain and strong winds failed to dampen any spirits as memories of four losses to a strong Belvo team in the season of 2013 played fresh in some players’ minds. Despite a cagey opening, Old Wesley soon grew into the first half with a galloping Micheal Glynn freshly returned from injury looked sharp at scrum half and some deft kicking from halfback Mark Toal-Lennon gaining some much needed territory. Conditions denied the usual expansive, ‘devil-may-care’ style of this 4th XV, so instead the honours fell to stalwarts Dave “DDT” Taylor, Andrew “Boyler” Boyle and Shane “Diggy” Deignan to bring some much needed physicality to what was fast becoming a slog match.
Wesley’s positive play was eventually rewarded with a penalty, resulting in a driving maul from close range, and ending with 5 points for openside Guy Cresswell. The 2 points were converted by Toal-Lennon. Not long after, with a certain sense of deja vu, another driving maul paid dividends, this time with Boyler crossing the whitewash. Toaler converted and Old Wesley went into half time with tails up, and a 14-0 lead.
However despite some stirring halftime words, this was to be the end of Wesley’s good play. An awful start to the second half set the tone for the remaining 39 minutes, as Belvo capitalised from a penalty, and drove their rolling maul to 5 points. A litany of penalties and ill-discipline then resulted in the sin-binning of front row Sam Moore, further adding to Wesley’s woes, and resulting in 3 points to a growing Belvo side. 14-8, and things were getting tetchy. No sooner was Moore back on the field than Mark MacDonald, was also dismissed to the bin. Belvo went to the corner, and despite some stoic Wesley defence, finally crossed over for another 5 points. However a failed conversion maintained Wesley’s lead, if only by the narrowest of margins. A good break from winger Andrew Hancock gained Wesley some last minute territory, and it was with an element of relief that Wesley watched Glynner’s attempted drop goal sail 3 metres wide of the Belvo post, marking the end of the game.