VIRGINIA RFC
Mixed Fortunes for Virginia RFC U14s in Ulster Cup 1st Round
The 1st XV took on Ballymoney RFC at The Deerpark in glorious conditions, and set about trying to play running rugby from the start. An early powerful surge from Nial Preston gave them great field position, and the backs spun the ball wide beautifully through Aaron Kierans and Niall Carolan for Jamie Davidson to cross in the corner. Sadly a hand injury meant Nial had to be replaced early on by Niall Branagan who put in a great performance at the breakdown in his place. Virginia kept up the pressure and the forwards rucked well with Rioghan Smith and Ryan Shiels keeping possession, allowing Luke Brodie to force his way over for their second try. Straight from the kick off the home side again forced their way back into the Ballymoney half, the backs again handling well allowing Niall Carolan into space, his great step wrong footed their defence and he was in under the posts. The conversion from Martin O’Connell made the score 17-0. Virginia again performed well in the set piece, the front row of John Smith, Evan Charters, and Aaron Hawthorne more than held their own in the scrum, as too did Jake Sullivan who put in an excellent performance at loosehead when he replaced an injured Aaron. This provided half backs Cian Doughty and Adam Charters a great platform from which they began to run the show. The ball was spun wide on a regular basis, with full back Luke Tierney regularly joining the line to great effect, and the powerful running of Martin O’Connell was more than the visitors could handle, running in two more trys and converting both to make the half time score 31-0.
Virginia carried on the second half in the same vein. Returning from injury Daniel McConnan came on, with Cian Doughty dropping to Fly Half after a knock to Adam Charters. Cai Walker powered though the defence to score in the corner, before some great running rugby saw both Jamie and Cai score their second trys, Aaron Kierans converting the last one. The changes disrupted Virginia a little, but their defence held strong with Conor Hetherton and Adrian Lynch both putting in some crunching tackles. Final score at full time was 48-0 to Virginia, who travel to Malone RFC in Belfast for the 2nd Round next week, before facing the same opposition seven days later in Cookstown in the Ulster League Final.
Virginia U14 2nd XV however faced a more daunting task. Despite a 2nd place finish in the Qualifying League this would prove a step too far for this young side as they faced Premier 2 runners up Donegal RFC. The scrum did themselves justice, holding their own and bolstered by an excellent Jaco Englebrecht, alongside Killian Collins and Ibykan Ajetummobi. Michael McKeon-Boyle and Jamie Osbourne supported well from the second row, as did a back row of Robert Lochaden, John Dolan, and Jack O’Brien. Donegal were just too powerful though in the loose, and by HT they led the visitors 54-0. With pride at stake though Virginia refused to fold and came out fighting in the second half. Jaco and Jason Henderson tackled well, and David Gibney tried valiantly to get some go forward ball. The back line of Paddy Gordon, Sean Erikkson, Jack Vaughan, Adam Sherriff, and Cormac Brown gave their all and with a better 2nd half display restricted the home side to an overall 87-0 victory. They now face either Carrickfergus RFC or Larne RFC in the Ulster Plate next Saturday.
Under 8’s travel to Ashbourne
Perfect conditions at Ashbourne RFC this morning for the Virginia U8’s who were facing a big task against a large Ashbourne squad with Virginia set to play three matches. Undaunted by the large numbers in the opposition Virginia quickly got stuck in for their first match with some great tackling and defensive work by Mason, Oliver Hjert and quick ball form a ruck led to their first try by Lorcan Caffrey. Conor Henderson ran in a second try for the visitors which was finished off by two barging runs by Pat Crawley to add a further two tries to end the first match.
Virginia took their foot off the gas a bit in the second match with a stronger and fresh Ashbourne side and poor defensive work let the hosts in for two tries. That was as good as it got for the hosts as a determined defensive effort by Ryan Kelly, Ewen McColgan and that man Pat Crawley, who barged over again for a try for the hosts.
The resolute defensive work of the team ensured that Ashbourne were to be denied any further scores. Well done to a cracking defensive effort from all of the players and some strong attacking runs to earn the tries.
Virginia Under 7’s Perform Well in Skerries Blitz
Virginia Under 7s played four tough matches at a blitz organised by Skerries RFC against Skerries, Ashbourne and Balbriggan, winning three and drawing one. There were great performances by all players with Ronan McLaughlin and Tomas O’Donoghue scoring tries by pushing over the line following some surging runs by Aidan Lynch and Isaac O’Neill. Aidan made some excellent tackles shooting out of the line and stopping Skerries from mounting attacks while Tom Murphy mopped up behind the defensive line with some last ditch tackles. All players got on the scoresheet with Ronan and Tomas holding the middle of the pitch while Tom, Isaac and Aidan scored some long range tries after good tackling and passing by the whole team. They were four well played matches with plenty of tries for everyone and the club was well represented by the hunger and attitude from the players with a lot of fun had by all.
A Bridge Too Far for Virginia Under 18 Girls in Cup Final
On Sunday afternoon the Under 18 girls travelled to Armagh RFC to play the Cup Final against the current Cup holders Enniskillen RFC. The first half of the match seen Enniskillen score their first try fifteen minutes into the game and this was duly converted. The Virginia girls defended well for the remainder of the first half, and the half time score remained at 7-0.
Enniskillen upted the pace in the second half and the constant pressure of defending took it’s toll on the Virginia girls, and Enniskillen ran in several more tries leaving the full time score at 36-0. The Virginia girls never dropped their heads and battled away to the final whistle. They are a credit to their coaches and their Club, but unfortunately were beaten by a better side on the day. Thank you to our hosts Armagh RFC for their hospitality.
