J4 XV v Bective (A) 15.09.23

J3/J4 v Bective RFC
Friday 15th September, Donnybrook

Another Friday night of rain and another visit to the all weather in Bective for this pre season, where our numbers were big again demonstrating the excitement of the players to be involved in this squad. The dressing room was humming from the start with the early arrival of players, some only playing together for the first time and back from absence on the pitch. After the pre match warm up, captain fagan gave the pre match talk and we were set. The game followed a format of 4 x 20 mins with the final quarter cut short.

The game started with Mary’s receiving and controlling the flow of the game demonstrating how effective teams can be at this level by sticking to the basics and slowing the game where needed showing good decision making on the pitch. Line and scrum was strong throughout and given this was the first game back the accuracy was massively encouraging. Mary’s ended the first quarter after two well worked tries from shero and harry fanning, who went onto win MOTM with a cracking performance on the night. 10-0 Mary’s.

The second quarter was tighter to start with and Bective got more into the the game taking their opportunity for points on the board. 10-3 Mary’s. This was short lived though and Richie Fagan led by example getting over to score after some huge work by the pack. Harry converted. 17-3 Mary’s.

The pack gelled together really well in this quarter with players such as Rory, Andrew gibbons (J4 Captain), Aaron, Eoin putting in a big shift. Gibbo got his reward and we got to see his quick feet running in for a try over the Bective after a great line break. Con. Harry 24-3.

Harry Fanning then stepped up and scored a fantastic try stepping the Bective defence from the halfway line, bringing the game to half time. 29-3 Mary’s.

Bective were tight on numbers and after a few Mary’s changes they stuck at it and got over the Mary’s line eventually. 29-8 Mary’s.

After some handling and moves out the back, Harry stepped up and got over the Bective line again, then added his own conversion 36-8 Mary’s. End of third quarter.

The fourth quarter brought another series of changes from the bench and ended early with no score. We did however pick up a few yellows on the night mostly due to high tackle penalties and the decisions around this new law. An area we have to learn to adopt to each game, given the refereeing focus here. A very encouraging performance on the night for this squad with a great mix of players. We left the pitch after some words from Dave and each captain with the excitement in this group clear to see and huge possibilities for the coming season.

Huge performances from Richie Fagan, Thady Mc Keever, Harry Fanning, Shero , Rory. Well done to all involved especially all the new players in the group. Special thanks to Dave, Simon, Seamie , Fran and Dara Lynch for running the line. We were prepared well and all the supports mean players can turn up and concentrate on the game each day. We left the dressing room after a lively version of ‘we are the Mary’s boys’. A few returned to the club to sample some fizzy drinks, with new friends. This is junior rugby. Here’s to a great season for both squads.

Chris O’Connor
Photos HERE