U15 Rugby

Under 14 Rugby
In a recent newspaper interview, new Ireland coach Declan Kidney was reminiscing about his days as a schools coach and quoted ‘With the Under – 14’s you didn’t do a warm up – you did a calm down!’ As coach of this particular group of players, this is something that I can empathise with. They were extremely enthusiastic about their rugby and allied to this was the fact that they are a talented, competitive group of players that worked hard to improve throughout the season.

As for results, the season started with an away loss to Glenstal but the team bounced back to record five wins and a draw from their remaining seven games, including a 17-0 win against Glenstal in the penultimate game of the season. The only other loss was away to arch rivals Bandon but again the team showed their character by avenging that defeat with a 17-5 win in the return fixture.

With such a large squad to pick from, competition for places was intense and two B fixtures were arranged to ensure that all players had the opportunity to impress. These fixtures resulted in a 22-20 win against Glenstal and a 24-29 defeat to Kilkenny College.

The team played an expansive brand of rugby with the foundations laid by a hard working aggressive forward pack. Mark Twomey and Greg Chambers missed large chunks of the season through injury and in most other years the loss of such good players would have been difficult to overcome. In their absence Andy Colton, Thomas Turkington, Alex Spink, Killian Abernethy and Andrew Lenihan competed for the three front row positions. The second row pairing of Stephen England and Pierre Ponchon put in big performances on a regular basis. At No.8 Adam Colton was strong and aggressive on the ball with wing-forwards Shane Murphy and Stuart O’Sullivan making up an effective and hard working back-row unit.

In the backs, Rory Hurley nailed down the scrum-half position allowing Alex Siminon and Stephen O’Brien to form a creative centre partnership. The team was captained by Ned Hodson from the out-half position and he led by example with some outstanding performances during the season. Daniel James also put in classy performances on a regular basis either from full back or in the centre. Ben Mitchell and Louis Farnham could be relied upon to put in gutsy performances when selected. Speedsters John Sweetnam and Marc Hornibrook were regular starters on the wing in an exciting backline that had the fingerprints of John Levis all over it.

I would like to express my thanks to Mr Levis for all his help and assistance throughout the year and a special mention must go to Peter Abernithy, Sam Lynch, Nathaniel Ottman, David Stead, Timmy Bourke and Owen Monaghan who were the most important members of the squad. It was their contributions to training and matches that provided the necessary competition for places within the squad and that made the season a most enjoyable one.

See photo below.
KS