Virginia RFC
U16s Finish League Season in Style
Virginia RFC U16s made their second trip of the season to the PEACELink in Clones last Saturday to take on Monaghan RFC in the final fixture of their Ulster South League campaign. Having already secured top spot in the league they were determined to finish this part of the season with a flourish, but knew they were up against a tough Monaghan side, themselves still challenging for second spot and the other League play off place.
Monaghan started the strongest, forcing Virginia back into their own half and pressuring their line. Great defence from Jamie Osbourne, Aaron Hawthorne, and Callum Finane kept them at bay, and soon the ball was cleared upfield to lift the siege. With ball in hand the visitors looked comfortable, with the breakdowns well supported by Robert Lochaden and Luke Brodie. Killian Collins at scrum half was giving the backs good service, and the twin but varied threat of Aaron Kierans and Niall Carolan in the centre kept the Monaghan defence guessing. Jamie Davidson chipped through but just couldn’t gather the bouncing ball, before it was spun wide the other way through the hands of David Gibney, for Paddy Gordon to weave his way through the desperate defence to open the scoring. Sean Erikson duly slotted the conversion to make it 7-0. The rest of the half saw Virginia stray from their normal pattern of play to try and take on the bigger Monaghan side upfront, but the home side were not going to give ground cheaply. They made few attacks of their own though, and any they did were snuffed out by fierce Virginia tackling, especially from Connor Kennison.
Monaghan again started the second half the strongest, but a cheeky kick through from Adam Charters was pounced upon by Aaron Mannion to touchdown in the corner to open up a 12-0 lead. Virginia were now very much on top and playing the game in the opposition half. The introduction of Jason Henderson and Adrian Lynch added extra bite to the attack, and off the back of a ruck Cai Walker found himself in space and outpaced a tiring Monaghan defence to touchdown under the posts, with Sean again adding the extras to open up the lead to 19-0. The home side though were determined not to go down without a fight, but the introduction of Ibykan Ajetummobi again added steel to the Virginia defence. An uncharacteristic handling error and a lack of concentration allowed Monaghan to sneak a try closing the gap to 14 points, and Virginia’s response was now key. Again they attacked and drove deep into the opposition half. A quick tap penalty and a floating pass from Michael McKeon-Boyle found Evan Charters in space, and he touched down to make the final score 24-5.
Fifteen wins and a draw from sixteen games sees the U16s firmly on top of the Ulster League South, and lined up for a home Quarter Final in the Provincial League Play Offs in two weeks time.
U14s Romp to Victory
Virginia Finished their Ulster League South campaign off with a top drawer performance and an 88-0 win over 3rd place local rivals Monaghan RFC.
After conceding 4 tries to Omagh last week training was all about defence, and boy did it pay off. Excellent linespeed and first up tackles from all fifteen Virginia players closed down Monaghans attack every time, never giving them a foothold in the game. They then turned defence into attack, scoring eight trys in the first half alone with two for Mark Gibney, and one apiece from Conor Nulty, Malachy Walker, Donal Maguire, Jack Carroll, Matthew Byers, and Jake White-Duffy. Jake added six conversions to make te half time score 52-0.
The second half saw Virginia empty the bench, and the lads that came on kept the intensity levels up scoring six more trys, but most importantly kept a clean sheet themselves. Try scorers were two form Nathan Tobin, and one each for Luke Doyle, Cormac Monaghan, Ciaran Levy Valensi, and another for Conor. Jake added a conversion, and Patrick Sheridan two more to make the final score 88-0.
That brings their league campaign to a close, with16 wins from 16 games. They now look forward to a home Ulster League Play Off Quarter Final on the 25th February with confidence high, and competition for jerseys even higher.
