On Friday 20th April the rugby team attended their first tournament of the year. The sun finally made an appearance much to the delight of the P7 and P6 boys. The rugby that followed was a fine display of everything they have worked on in training in the last couple of months.
vs Moneyrea
4 - 1
This being the first game of the season you would think the boys would be slightly nervous, however this couldn't be seen in the way the boys began the game, with Jacob scoring a well worked try in the first few moments of the match. Moneyrea put a lot of pressure on us but we held our ground to keep them out with excellent tackling from all of the players, Bryn making several against larger opponents. Oliver then added another. Following this Moneyrea made a break on the outside and squeezed a try in the corner, bringing it to 2 - 1. The second half was very evenly matched, however Jack and Patrick both made charging runs to cross the try line within 2 minutes of each other. A fantastic win to start the tournament.
vs Academy
0 - 3
In our second game we came up against a very strong and will organised team from Academy. We got off to a slow start with Academy moving the ball extremely well and taking advantage of their quick pace, managed to score two quick tries through excellent breaks. Unfortunately Bryn came off worse while making a try saving tackle and had to come off. We didn't drop our heads and continued to fight, coming close to scoring on several occasions, but not managing to complete the last pass. Academy closed the game out with a third try. It was a hard learning curve for the boys but they were eager to move forward and focus on the remaining games.
vs Carrickmannon
4 - 3
In the third game we had to give Carrickmannon one of our players, showing great sportsmanship, George and Keelin each took a half. With a point to prove coming off a loss, our captain, Jack stepped up and encouraged the rest of the team by gritting his teeth and powering over the line twice. Carrickmannon came back to bring the score to 2 -1. Their was excellent defence and rucking from Joshua, Zach and Smokey allowing us to retain the ball and allowing George to score in the second half. The final try came from a superb break from Finley, stepping round a player and giving a perfectly timed offload putting Oliver across the line. The tackle of the day was made by Jacob, chasing a player from the other side of the pitch to make a text book try saving tackle right on the line.
vs Andrews Memorial
4 - 2
The team had found their groove and were working for each other, continuing to put lots of pressure on the opposition. Jamie worked very hard to knock Andrews back through several great tackles. George showed super light feet to twist and turn his way across the try line avoiding several tackles. The P6 boys weren't holding back or afraid to have a go at the older bigger opponents, Jacob followed shortly after George with another superbly worked try. The boys were determined to keep a clean sheet but Andrews took advantage of the wide pitch and put two tries round our defence. In the second half we closed out the game with Oliver crossing over the line finishing off a wonderful 4 - 2 victory.
(Back L to R) Zach, Smokey , Jack, Patrick, Jamie, Mr Eves
(Front L to R) Finley, Oliver, Keelin, Jacob, George, Joshua, Bryn