Virginia RFC youths travelled away to Portadown RFC and completed a hat trick of results over their opposition last Saturday. Virginia’s 13s and 15s had resounding wins yet the game of the day must be credited to Virginia’s 17s. They eclipsed arch rivals in the league in an enthralling sporting game by scoring a try in the last minute.
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Virginia Under 11 comeback kids earn a well deserved draw.
The U11s travelled to Ashbourne for their first match of 2012. The game was played in the teeming rain on the hosts astroturf, Ashbourne made a strong start running up a 3-0 lead. The pack led by birthday girl Rebecca Snell withstood early pressure, and along with Killian Collins, Robert Lochaden and Louis Reeves were soon holding their own. Aaron Mannion and Finn Lotscher gamely led the line along with Jack Osbourne, Ryan Galligan and Tiernan O’Reilly but Ashbournes running game was tremendous, and despite ferocious tackling by Michael McKeown-Boyle and Niall Branagan the hosts reached half time 6-0 up.
Half time saw some substitutions, and Virginia really stepped up their rucking to gain more possession. Aaron Cooke, Sorcha Higgins, and Cai Walker began to boss the breakdown, and great distribution from scrum half Jason Henderson meant Virginia were soon closing the gap. Two trys apiece from Enda Maguire and Emmet Boylan had the hosts rocking. Evan Charters then barged across bringing half the Ashbourne pack with him to close the gap to one. A great move started by fly half Enda, saw the ball pass through Conor Hetherton and Cian Doughty to Aaron Kierans, who ran up the line to level the scores- great handling given the atrocious conditions. Virginia were looking for the win, but a breakaway try from the hosts put them back in front. Virginia came back again though and Ronan McKeown capped a great performance by levelling the scores at 7-7 at the death. A courageous performance by all 22 players.
Virginia RFC U15’s continue their unbeaten run with another outstanding performance at Portadown
Virginia U15’s travelled to Portadown on Saturday last. The side were missing a few regulars on the day but still got off to a fine start with a hat-trick from Brendan Argue who finished off some nicely worked moves by the whole back line. Portadown fought hard but couldn’t get into the game as they were no match for the strong Virginia side. Ben Conaty and Niall Farrelly added a try each to the tally as the game progressed with Daire Mc Enroe adding two more. The game finished on a scoreline of 37 – 0 and this win keeps the squad on track for finishing top of their section of the League. Virginia U15’s are away to Armagh next weekend.
Virginia rfc U13s V Portadown.28.01.12
Vrfc U 13s continue their unbeaten run with another good display winning 42 – 0. Virginia’s forwards pressurised Portadown keeping them pinned in their own half for the first 20 mins. Virginia backs capitalised on this with some great running and passing moves. Conor Farrelly and Ronan Patterson scored two tries apiece. As the first half closed Lee Burdis scored a good individual try along the touch line and Gerry Flynn scored following progressive phases by a workman like Virginia forward pack. Both James Smith and Adrain Rogers completed 100% of their conversion kicks with 3 each.
During the second half Virginia made substantial changes introducing a complete new back row. New comers Evan O Reilly Algerdas Mockus and Josh Cummins got immersed in a tough second half and displayed good composure in a more competitive game. Portadown’s defence managed to prevent Virginia from scoring several more tries with some robust tackling. Virginia’s team work deserves a mention as they maintained the pressure on Portadown until the final whistle.
Squad: G.Flynn, L. Sherrif, C.Cahill, M.Gordon, O.Kiernan, N.McWeeney, R.Smith, C.Reilly, N.McQuade, J.Smith, A.Mockus, L.Burdis, R.Patterson, R.Browne, C.Farrelly. L.Maquire, A.Rogers, N.McCabe, S.Doughty, J.Cummins, E.O’Reilly, P.Nulty. B,Brunton, D.Kiernan, O.Rahill, D.Costello, J.Sheckleton, L.Kieran, E.O’Connell, D.O’Leary.
