Wanderers Junior Tour To Boston May 2007
11/05/2007
Wanderers Junior Tour to Boston May 2007.

Wanderers Junior Squad have just returned from their Boston Tour with two victories , countless sore heads , new beer bellies, and many kilos heavier .

The squad flew out on Weds 2 May and stayed in the Holiday Inn , Sommerville. The first night was spent “preparing” for the following days match , with the squad hitting the town early and leaving late, having sampled the local steakhouse, cakes, and then the Boston nightlife. The following day was spent shopping, more eating , before the squad departed for Lynn, for their night time kick off against North Shore, who we had played in March in Dublin, and had given us a very hard match.

North Shore 14 Wanderers 30

Most of the Wanderers squad knew little of their opponents history, and the extent of work that NS have to do to play their games was shown when the NS players and coaches had to put up the goalposts, mark the pitch and fill in holes on the pitch just prior to kick off.

The Wanderers pre match preparations could have been better without the drink induced bitching amongst some players but some appropriate words helped focus a few minds. The Match started well for Wanderers , as the pack took control of the line outs through Mike Shelly and Dom Kearney , Simon Kelly and Bill o Meara ran effectively punching holes in the defence , whilst the forwards rucked effectively .

Given the clean ball Wanderers backs ran effectively with Mark O Dea being very influential whilst Alan Morrissey , Alan Wrafter and Aiden Durkin were running well.
After a while the pack remembered the maul , and this was used to good effect particularly later in the game . North Shore proved to be very difficult opponents, strong in the scrum , very physical in the tackle and causing a number of problems with their direct running .

At half time Wanderers started to make changes , particularly in the backline, but the team continued to play well, particularly up front , where the pack was mauling the lineout very effectively . From one of these veteran prop Jim Doddy touched down .

NS ,spurred on by their vociferous supporters, continued to press with their two wingers in particular causing tremendous panic in the Wanderers defence. Wanderers though , continued to play well , now starting to control the scrum, and ran out 30-14 winners. Scorers for Wanderers were Alan Morrissey, Jim Doddy, Bill o Meara a try each and Eoin Goulding 2 tries with Aiden Durkin kicking 1 penalty and 1 conversion.

The after match reception gave all the squad a chance for their “numbers 1s” to be worn for the first time and it has to be said, the squad looked well. The reception given to us by our hosts NS was outstanding , with the whole squad feed and watered by our very gracious hosts, led by Des Crowley a Wanderers member of long standing Speeches and presentations were made by both Teams before the “singing” began. Both teams mingled well into the night before Wanderers left for the 45 minute trip home.

The Friday brought a “Duck” Tour around Boston via amphibious vehicle, with the whole squad hiring a single “duck” and seeing all the local sights via land and sea, before splitting up and heading for shopping outlets etc. Later on the nightime sightseeing resumed.

Boston Irish Wolfhounds 0 Wanderers 60

Saturday morning the Squad travelled to Canton to play the second match of the two match tour against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds Development team. The match took place in the picturesque Irish Cultural Centre, and the pitch was in great condition. The team was joined by Des Crowley from North Shore RFC who came up to support us and lend us a hand. The team changed and began its pre match warm up. Unlike the first match, the level of concentration was excellent and the team was fully focused come start of the match,

The match started well for Wanderers with the pack taking control at scrum and lineout and scored a early try through prop Jim Doddy from a mauled lineout close to the Boston lineout. The Wanderers pack continued to increase its control upfront and started to dominate in all the exchanges. Given all the ball, Wanderers backs started to run the ball with great effect , with Dave o Meara, Mark, Alan Wrafter and Dermot Finnegan breaking through with great effect.

The Boston team, who are the clubs third/development team, struggled against the vastly more experienced Wanderers team, but to their credit never gave up, their tacking was ferocious and their effort and enthusiasm in the physical exchanges could not be faulted.

Wanderers kept the pressure up in the second half , never letting their concentration drop. The final score was 53-0 with try scorers on the day being ; Jim Doddy, Kieran Daly, Gareth McNamara, Johny Wilkinson, James Miley, Alan Morrissey, Barry Brennan, Simon Kelly, with Mark o Dea dropping a goal, and David o Meara kicking 6 conversions.


The Wanderers squad were treated to a great reception afterwards by the Boston president John “Mossie” Lawlor, with food and drink laid on. The usual presentations were laid on, with Jim Doddy being awarded MOTM for his outstanding 80 minutes. Squad photos were taken before the squad headed back to central Boston, via lifts from the Boston team and Des Crowley(many thanks to all involved) to begin the nights entertainment . Needless to say , now that the Rugby was over, a great night was had by all .

Sunday was another days shopping for most of the Squad, with other players doing a bit of sightseeing. Late in the day the squad were taken to a Steakhouse for the “last meal” before hitting the town for the last night out. The following day, Monday the squad did a bit of last minute shopping before checking out and flying home

Overall;

By all accounts , the Tour was a great success , and all the players travelling had a great time. For most of the squad it was their first time touring abroad with Wanderers , and hopefully it wont be the last. There was great craic off the field and on the field the team played some excellent rugby. There were many great tour moments/highlights , with all the players having their own particular moments/memories .

It was also great to meet up with two former Wanderers players , Stafford Baggot and Ian Hamilton, who joined up with the squad in Boston, with Ian playing in both games.

It has been a long season for Wanderers Junior rugby, with most of the squad having started training preseason training in early August last year, so it was a very enjoyable way to finish off the season.

Thanks To:

The Wanderers Junior squad would like to thank The Holiday Inn, North Shore RFC, Des Crowley , Boston Irish Wolfhound RFC for the tremendous hospitality that they displayed to us whilst on Tour.

The Wanderers Squad would also like to thank Neil o Keefe, Steve Maguire, and in particular Aiden Durkin, Dom Kearney, Diarmuid Condon, Jim Doddy and Joe McDermott for all the hard work that they put in so that the Tour could take place.

Finally, Wanderers would also like to thank all the various sponsors, supporters who assisted financially and otherwise for the Tour to take place.

Wanderers Junior Tour Party Boston 2007.

Players:A Durkin, A Wrafter. A Morrissey, J Wilkinson, D Finnegan, B Brennan, S O Keefe, M o Dea, D Treacy, D o Meara, A Redmond, C Condon, J Miley, K Daly, E Goulding, S Kelly, J Doddy, N o Keefe, D Kearney(capt), M Shelly, I Hamilton, G McNamara, S Maguire, B o Meara.

Coaches/Mentors: A Deegan, J McDermott, D Condon, P Crowe, S Baggot, D Maxwell.

Attached Photos courtesy of Aiden Durkin and Dave o Meara(or as the Bostonians know him, Harry Potter)

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