U16 Rugby

2008 - JCT NEWS

Well which do you want first….the good news or the bad news?
The bad news? OK. “We lost nearly all of our matches”.
Now for the good news. ”we lost nearly all of our matches”.

This to any reader probably seems an overly negative approach to a summation of a season’s rugby. Circumstance had much to do with so many defeats. The players certainly trained hard and made every effort in matches. We simply lacked player numbers and too many injuries left us thin on the ground.

The first match of the season was against CBC. It turned out to be their first side. Even in a good year with a large panel this would be a tough ask. The result? Suffice it to say we lost. Worse than that however , we lost two players to injury. Mark Twomey broke his wrist and did not play for us again during the season. Patrick Breen hurt his knee and missed the next three matches. Not the start we had hoped for.

Matches rolled by through the early autumn. A defeat to PBC, a victory over Bandon and a loss to Glenstal. We were having our difficulties but were training hard and discovering our strengths and weaknesses. Our target was to be prepared for our first round cup encounter against Tralee.

To give the lads credit they were up for it. Very strong physical performances from captain David O’Sullivan and Alex Tibshraney kept us in contention against a big muscular and hard running side. We went behind early in the game but a penalty from Ned Hodson made sure we were close at half time. We decided to keep things close in the second half and play a form of ten man rugby. Quick tap penalties from scrum half Shrew Power and players such as Jason Devlin , David and Alex queueing up for crash ball opportunities eventually resulted in a try for Alex.
Another penalty from Ned left us trailing 11 – 17 late into the game. We were camped in the opponents 22. A converted try would do it for us. The ball was flashed wide. Unfortunately we turned over possession and Tralee ran the length of the pitch to score in the corner. We ran out losers 22 – 11. A brave effort, one of which the boys could be proud.

It is always important to pick yourself up from the disappointment of a cup defeat. We had to remember that we had more than half the season to go. Misfortune was once again to hinder our efforts. In a casual throw around of a ball on the soccer pitch one afternoon Alex Tibshraney broke his leg. It was a nasty break and Alex would not play again for the season. More was to follow. In only his third game back from injury Patrick Breen broke his wrist in a drawn game against PBC.

With our numbers dropping by the week our preparations for our plate game against St.Colmans were not going well. We lost against both Bandon and CBC. Ordinarily we would fancy our chances in the first round of the plate. Not this time. We were missing Alex, Patrick, Shane Murphy, Alex Spink, Mark Twomey, John Hartnett and Daniel (Dino) James. This provided opportunities in a competitive game for Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan, Jack Waite, Harry Kiy, Nigel Douglas and Michael Sheehan. However it left us with only one substitute.

The weather was awful. A strong wind driving heavy rain. In the first half we kicked away too much possession and found ourselves down 19 – 0 at half time. A back to basics approach was needed. With Shrew Power providing quick pop passes and David O’Sullivan , Adam Colton , Hatrry Kiy, Scott Hornibrook and Jason Devlin taking crash ball we made a game of it in the second half. We ran out losers 26 – 5.

Only a few days later we had our last match of the season against Glenstal. Stuart O’Sullivan missed this game which left only Shane Sommers, Ned Hodson and Andrew Daly as the only backs to have played in every match. This was one of their best performances of the year. Unsung heroes such as Greg Harrigan, Caleb Powell and Jack Waite all had good games. John Hartnett as ever gave a gritty performance. We lost by the narrow score of 8 – 5. It was nice to finish on an up beat note.

Panel: D.O’Sullivan ( Capt ), A.Tibshraney, A.Daly, S.Power, D.James, S.O’Sullivan, S.Sommers, N.Hodson, J.Devlin, P.Breen, C.Powell, J.Hartnett, Adam Colton, A.Spink, H.Kiy, J.O’Sullivan Hourihan, S.Hornibrook, G.Harrigan, N.Douglas, J.Waite, M.Twomey, S.Murphy, M.Sheehan, S.O’Brien, Andrew Colton.
_ R.St.J.P.

2007 - Foreboding: Apprehension of coming calamity.

A good word to describe my feelings for the upcoming season This team’s record had not been the best coming into their JCT year. Having advance notice probably created this emotion. Being prepared for the worst; can sometimes help to avoid potential pit falls! Hopefully this would be the case this season.

The season began well with a good draw away to CBC and a win over PBC. Maybe my pessimism was misplaced. A couple of good results can do wonders for the morale.

Angus Griffith breaking his arm in a non-rugby related activity was not a good omen for the trip to Glenstal. It was a very wet and very cold October day for our trip north. The game was to stymie the upward swing of our ambitions.

Despite the conditions it was quite a good game. Donnacha O’Riordan was unlucky not to be awarded a try. The losing margin of 12 – 5 could just as easily have been a draw. The defeat was not the worst news of the day. Olann O’Sullivan broke his arm and Beneoin O’Connor broke his collar bone. Unfortunately both players would not play again until the end of January. The panel was already small but this would further limit our selection.

A reshuffle was needed for the Clonmel game. This was a physically tough encounter. The players stood up to the task well. Thanks to a memorable try from Charlie O’Sullivan, which left him exhausted, we emerged victorious 12 – 8.

This was to be our last win of the season. Our cup opponents were Bandon. We had lost a close encounter earlier in the season 15 – 5 so we hoped for a good game.

We proved to be a good match for them up front. Set pieces, rucks and mauls were all well contested. However, some overly zealous attempts at making interceptions and some poor tackling allowed in a few soft tries. Bandon overall were much the better unit but the final result of 36 – 7 flattered them a little.

It was a very disappointing and overly early end to the season.

Hopefully, optimism may better describe our feelings at the start of next season and satisfaction at its conclusion.

Panel: A.Griffith, J.Moloney, D.Kenefick, S.Shanagher, S.O’Regan, A.O’Callaghan, C.O’Sullivan, D.Corcoran, C.Day, O.O’Sullivan, B.O’Connor, D.O’Riordan (Capt.), I.White, O.Barnes, A.Weston, E.Murphy, D.O’Sullivan, P.Breen, A.Daly, S.Power, N.Burns, G.Collins.

R.St.J.P

2006 - Strange Season

It was a strange season. We have never had so many fourth years on a JCT panel. Unfortunately many of them were in the three-month derogation category and for the cup matches we could only have three from this category in the squad. It gave us a large group of players to choose from and the greater numbers made for good training sessions. These "derogation players " always turned up to training and worked just as hard as all the others even though they knew that most of them would not get a squad position for the cup. This was very much to their credit and my thanks go to them. In terms of results it was a mixed season. The points tally was in our favour. It came to 265 for with 126 against.

Ryan Swanscott scored 71 points. This total included 5 tries. Joe Coyne amassed an impressive 14 tries. Donnacha O' Riordan scored 5 tries with Jesse Shanagher and Kit O' Keeffe each getting 4. Tries were also scored by Alastair Murphy (2), Darragh Crosbie (2), Damien Dennehy (2), Croistoir Humphreys (2) and John Owers (2). Aarron Roberts scored his only try of the season against Clonmel High School and it was one of the more memorable ones of the season. It has been said of Aarron that he has deceptive pace….he's slower than he looks !!! On this occasion however he made a break, wisely ignoring the advice of his coach to pass, sold a dummy and impressively out-sprinted everyone to the line. It will be talked about for years. Our trip to Limerick will be remembered for different reasons. The game resembled a brawl more than a rugby match. It was stopped early for the safety of all the players. The team as a whole showed great composure and maturity in a difficult situation. This was also a day when Donnacha O'Riordan made his JCT debut and celebrated it with a try. Our cup campaign began with a trip to Cashel on Dec 12th.

We had heard good things about them and expected a tough match. We were not disappointed. It was a close affair throughout and had nail-biting moments. We eventually emerged victorious thanks to a try by Alastair Murphy and a brace from Donnacha O'Riordan. The second round did not arrive until the New Year.

This match was against St.Clements to whom we had lost by a narrow margin earlier in the season. Optimism was high. This time we were disappointed. It seemed as if every bounce of the ball and every decision went against us. It was just one of those games. We lost 10-3, Ryan Swanscott getting the only score.

Leadership

Leadership is essential in all teams. Joe Coyne was the captain of this side. He led by example in training and on the pitch. He did not limit his duties to just these areas however. He constantly thought ahead. He knew when someone was away and had thought of what substitution would be needed. He made sure that medical bags and water bottles were organized for trips away. In short he made life easy for a coach who obviously needed the assistance! We wish Joe the best in all his future endeavours.

Panel

J.Coyne ( Capt ), B.Quill, J.Owers, D.Crosbie, J.Shanagher, K.O'Keeffe, R.Swanscott, C.Humphreys, S.Casey, G.Murphy, A.Murphy, A.Roberts, C.O'Brien, I.White, K.James, L.Dillon, E.Ryall, R.Ledwidge, D.Matthews, D.Dennehy, D.Roche, J.Spink, D.O'Riordan, S.Flood, R.Markham, K.Fuller, R.Thompson. R.St.J.P