Under 20's V Bective Match Report.
22/01/2008
A Week In Rugby
In the space of a week the Wanderers U20s went from producing their finest performance of the season (against Blackrock) to producing their poorest. Despite this, some hardworking efforts by a small number of individuals helped Wanderers to the win against arch-rivals Bective Rangers 17 – 11.
The previous weeks performance was obviously still on the mind of all involved as Wanderers got off to a very sluggish start, failing to maintain any field position or discipline, leading predictably to Bective taking a 0 – 3 advantage 15 minutes in. With basic errors from Wanderers being committed all over the park, the team was lucky to be approaching halftime level, thanks to a Gareth Redmond penalty. But just on the stroke of halftime a good kick chase and turnover led to blindside Alan Murphy scoring a try that was converted again by Gareth Redmond, leaving it 10 – 3 to Wanderers at the break.
Despite some true harsh words been spoken at halftime, the start of the 2nd half was if anything worse from the Wanderers, failing to implement their gameplan with any force and again committing basic errors all over the field. As the game wore on Bective gained back some ground through another penalty goal and were now in touching distance at 10 – 6. Still Wanderers were asleep, and with some inept defending Bective took the lead through a pick and go close to the line, the conversion was missed, leaving the score 10 – 11 to Bective. Finally Wanderers awoke, and the stand out player of the No. 8 Nico Reynolds scored the match winning try with 8 minutes to go. The closing stages were pretty uneventful with Wanderers taking territorial control.
This win finally puts the team on top of table, with five tough games remaining. All involved will have to get back to basics to avoid a repeat performance of this nature and continue in the hope of the 1st U20s silverware since 1992.
