Pic: Shoots By Si
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VIRGINIA RFC
Virginia RFC U16s Make it Five from Five
Along with the rest of the Youth sides the U16s welcomed Dungannon RFC to The Deerpark last Saturday in the Ulster South League as they continue the defence of their title. It was a cool but sunny morning, perfect conditions for running rugby.
The home team came out the blocks from the very start, with Cai Walker barrelling his way through the opposing forwards to touch down. Very soon after Virginia proved they were just as adept at going wide, with great hands putting Paddy Gordon in space for a strong run down the wing to go over in the corner. Dungannon were in danger of being blitzed, and credit to them they steadied the ship and started to work their way into the game. Niall Carolan, deputising at Fly Half had other ideas though, and he soon had Virginia back on the front foot. Conor Nulty wriggled his way over to add a third try, before Paddy added his second to take the game away from the visitors. The forwards soon got back in on the act when a crunching tackle form Jason Henderson led to his opposite Scrum Half spilling the ball, and Cai quickly pounced to score again. Fellow back rower Adrian Lynch rounded off the first half trys when he forced his way over after some strong rucking. Two conversions from Niall, and one from Jamie Osbourne meant that Virginia led 36-0 at half time.
The hosts rang the changes for the second half which proved to be a much more competitive encounter. Dungannon brought the game to Virginia, and only some body on the line defence was to keep them at bay. This was led by replacement prop Ryan McGuigan who put in two fantastic tackles plus a collision with his opposite number which was felt in Kingscourt. Niall rounded off a great performance with a try that for the second time in a week left players chasing shadows, his conversion making the final score 43-0. Virginia head to Omagh RFC next Saturday, and will face a stiff test against a currently unbeaten side.
Squad: Jamie Osbourne, Killian Collins, John Smyth, Mark Gibney, James Farrelly, Adrian Lynch, Cai Walker (Cpt), Robert Lochaden, Jason Henderson, Niall Carolan, Jack Vaughan, Conor Nulty, David Gibney, Paddy Gordon, Cormac Monaghan, Thomas Sheridan, Ryan McGuigan, Luke Morris, Diarmuid O’Reilly, Adam Sherriff, Luke Doyle, Pablo Sobrino, Alfie Jackson, John Dolan
Virginia U14s Maintain Unbeaten Run
VRFC U14s had their fifth match of the South Ulster League and welcomed the unbeaten Dungannon RFC to The Deerpark on a lovely Saturday morning for playing rugby.
Both teams were well matched and competed for every inch of turf. It was twenty minutes before there was a score, which came when Dungannon cleared the ball from their own 22 straight to Malachy Walker, who beat several players to score under the posts before converting his own try. A second try wasn’t long coming, and after great forward play, the ball was passed out from the ruck by Oscar Erikson to Jack Carroll who fought his way over to score. Dungannon came back fighting, knowing their unbeaten record was at stake. Virginia defended valiantly, but after some fantastic tackling by the two wingers Ben Curren & Rian Stratford, Dungannon finally crossed the whitewash to make the half time score Virginia 14 Dungannon 5, and the game finely balanced.
At the start of the second half it didn’t take long for Virginia to score again, after great forward play by Patrick Sheridan & Glen McCabe, Darren Kavangh crashed through the Dungannon lines to score. It was an opportunity to make a few changes and David O’Reilly replaced Conan Fitzpatrick, Aidan Kiernan replaced Eoin Bogan, and Tadgh Barry made his debut when he replaced Ben Curren. The next try was the score of the game when Gordon Lochaden robbed the ball from the Dungannon ruck on His own 22, bursting through the defence, before running the length of the field to score under the posts. More changes were made, Harry Leddy replaced Oscar Erikson, Aaron O’Dowd replaced Darren Kavanagh, Tiarnan Walsh replaced Rian Stafford, and Declan Burns replaced Patrick Sheridan. The next try wasn’t long coming, and was deservedly scored by Mathew Byers whose work rate today was immense. Malachy added his fourth conversion to make the lead 28 points. Dungannon continued to press, but Virginia put up some great defence on their line as they tried to keep Dungannon out. Eventually the black wall broke though as the visitors ended the game with a second score, meaning at full time it was a 33-10 win for Virginia.
Squad: Kieran Duffy, Darren Kavanagh, Gordon Lochaden, Eoin Bogan, Matthew Byers, Conan Fitzpatrick, Patrick Sheridan, Glen McCabe, Oscar Erikson, Jack Carroll, Killian Smith, Nathan Tobin, Malachy Walker, Ben Curran, Tadgh Barry, Harry Leddy, David O’Reilly, Declan Burns, Rian Stafford, Aidan Kiernan, Aaron O’Dowd, Tiernan Walsh.
