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.
So this Saturday sees Rainey Old Boys RFC, currently sitting on top of Ulster Bank League 2B with 8 wins from 8, visit Fornaughts where Naas are unbeaten all season. We were hoping for a top of the table clash this week but the weather had different ideas, as our game last Saturday away to Ards RFC was postponed due to the bad weather and unplayable pitches. So without playing we drop from 2nd place to 4th in the table…
| Pos | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Rainey OB | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 250 | 72 | 178 | 5 | 0 | 37 |
| 2 | NUIM Barnhall | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 299 | 102 | 197 | 5 | 2 | 31 |
| 3 | Nenagh Ormond | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 185 | 104 | 81 | 3 | 2 | 29 |
| 4 | NAAS RFC | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 211 | 100 | 111 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| 5 | Boyne | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 163 | 130 | 33 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| 6 | Armagh | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 185 | 93 | 92 | 3 | 1 | 26 |
| 7 | Navan RFC | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 151 | 131 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 25 |
| 8 | Skerries | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 146 | 119 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 21 |
| 9 | Suttonians | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 156 | 193 | -37 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 10 | Sundays Well | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 154 | 209 | -55 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| 11 | Sligo | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 98 | 179 | -81 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 12 | Clonakilty | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 149 | 226 | -77 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| 13 | Instonians | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 136 | 241 | -105 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 14 | Thomond | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 116 | 171 | -55 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 15 | Ards | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 77 | 166 | -89 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 16 | Connemara | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 60 | 300 | -240 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
This is going to be a big game for both clubs as it could go a long way to determining where the division 2 title ends up at the end of the season.
Our U21’s game against Old Belvidere RFC was also called of last weekend and has been rearranged for tonight (Thursday) and hopefully they can also keep their good run going with another victory which will help them take another step to bringing the JP Flanagan Pendant to Fornaughts. Currently then sit on top of the table in Phase 2 with 4 wins from 4 after they toped pool 1 in Phase 1 with 4 wins from 5 matches.
| Pos | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Diff | Bonus Points | Deductions | Points |
| 1 | Naas | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 26 | 74 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 | Dublin University | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 41 | 42 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| 3 | Old Belvedere | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 55 | -32 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 4 | UCD | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 29 | 44 | -15 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | IT Carlow | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 85 | -69 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
This will be a very busy weekend for Naas RFC with the U19s, U17s and U15s all playing at home on Saturday and the U18 & U15 Girls playing away in a blitz in Portarlington.
Sunday sees the start of the Provincial Towns Cup with our J1s away also in Portarlington – its always tough for our J1s with their senior squad commitments but the are coming into this fixture with a good away win against Suttonians 34 -10 on Monday Night last in the J1 Metro League, which they are also in the number 1 spot with 5 wins and a draw from their 8 matches so far.
As for the mighty U12s we had no rugby last week with unplayable pitches so the boys are looking forward to training on Saturday and a fixture away to Navan RFC on Sunday
The U11’s are away to Boyne and the U10’s are at home to Clondalkin all in the Metro
Best of luck to the Wolfhounds on Friday in Galway and seeing as there’s no provincial or international rugby on at the weekend why not get out and support grass roots rugby go visit your local club or come visit us in Naas.
Keep up to date with Naas RFC weekly progress on twitter @NaasRFC
