Roots & All is a project where we pick a few teams that don’t normally make the spotlight week in week out and feature them regularly throughout an entire campaign.
Well the season is just flying along, we are up to the “Autumn” Internationals already couple of Heineken Cup rounds under our belt and ¼ way through the All Ireland League.
So after 4 games with out a loss Naas RFC sits proudly on top of Division 2B.
I say proudly as its been a while, the past couple of season we were looking at how we were going to get out of the relegation battle and believe me, this is a much better topic of conversation in the Clubhouse after games.
Since my last piece we have played another 2 AIL games. First up was Skerries away in round three of the Ulster Bank League, Division 2B
Whilst Naas took an early lead following a long range penalty by David Aherne, they did not make the most of their territorial and possession advantage in the first period and had conceded too many penalties giving a significant advantage to Skerries. By the interval, Naas were trailing by 6-12 with all of the scores resulting from penalty kicks by Skerries outhalf, Conal Keane and Naas fullback David Aherne. However Naas took the iniative early in the second period, following an outstanding try scored by their wing Brian Fitzgerald and converted by David Aherne, to edge them into a single point lead which they further extended with two additional penalties in the third quarter. Despite a valient fight-back by Skerries with a well taken try in the 68th min when they leveled the scores at 19 -19. Determined defending by Naas in the closing stages resulted in Naas winning a penalty 47m out in the 78th-minute and David Aherne kicked superbly for what proved to be the decisive score of the game and gave Naas a narrow 3 point victory with a final score of 22-19.
Having now won their opening three Ulster Bank League games, Naas would be looking forward to their next game on Friday, 2nd November when they would host League leaders Navan. This would be the only Friday evening game of the season for Naas.
This game was played under lights at Forenaghts on Friday evening (2nd November) in perfect conditions and proved to be a very exciting encounter, with both teams set up to attack at every opportunity. The Navan strategy seemed to be to confine Naas inside their half with long range accurate kicking from the boot of their influential out-half, Alan Hickey. However the Naas defence dealt with this approach competently and used their possession effectively to set up successive expansive attacks which offered greater scoring potential. In the final analysis Naas had outscored Navan by 3 converted tries and 2 penalties to Navan’s 4 penalties.
The First half was a tight affair with only the 2 penalties each 6 all at the break and it was evidend however that it would likely turn in favour of whichever team scored the first try. That converted try came early in the second half and settled the spectators nerves a little. A second try came in the 61st min after a penalty for Navan leaving the score 20 -9 in favour of the home side. Navan battle hard to get back in touch and were rewarded with another penalty only for Naas to get another converted try with 4 mins left on the clock. For the remaining few minutes Naas tried to secure a bonus point 4th try but Naas ended the game defending their own line.
Next up is Boyne, away, in round 5 on Saturday 17th November, and we have two further home League games ahead of the Christmas break against Suttonians on 1st December and Thomond on 8th December
Lets hope the unbeaten run continues for another few weeks.
On the social side we had a very successful business lunch with Mick Galway, Alan Lewis and Billy Keane as guest speakers and Brian O’Brian as the MC on the day. 220 guest were wined dined and entertained for the day to raise much needed funds for the club.
Youths and Minis are moving along nicely and this weekend sees the boys form the first team, on their weekend off, visit the minis training session to put them through their paces and pass on some valuable tips. They have already given their time to the youths which is also bonding the senior and youth sides of the club, one club, the future look bright.
Till next time – Best of lucj to the Boys in Green or Black & Green over thenext few weeks. MC
