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.
Two more rounds of the Ulster Bank League see Naas RFC hold onto 3rd spot.
Round 11 - Naas Come Up Short at Palace Grounds to a score line of 28-13
Naas travelled to Palace Grounds on Saturday (23rd Feb) last to take on Armagh in round 11 of the Ulster Bank League. After starting positively with an early converted try scored by their influential centre Daragh O'Shea they dominated both territory and possession in the first quarter. However Armagh responded early in the second quarter with a superb try by wing, Josh Morton to get on level terms. A further converted try in the 31st-minute for Armagh scored by their talented captain, James Morton was a statement of intent and they closed out the first period with a narrow but significant 4 point lead. Naas struggled throughout the second period to gain any continuous possession and were kept pinned back in their territory through the skilful tactical kicking of Richard Reaney, the Armagh standoff. On the occasions when Naas did threaten the Armagh 22 they allowed themselves to get isolated and also conceded far too many penalties. They allowed the game to slip away especially in the last 10 minutes and will be disappointed not to at least have secured a losing bonus point.
Naas seniors were next in UBL action on Saturday, 2nd March when they hosted Nenagh Ormond who were currently in 4th place overall. Their loss to Armagh at Palace Grounds, has seen Naas drop one place to third overall due to the fact that local Kildare rivals NUMI Barnhall had a bonus point win against Connemara and gives this next home game added significance. The second home game for Naas in March is against Sunday's Well which is scheduled for 23rd March.
Round 12 - Naas Return to Winning Form at Forenaughts
Saturday, 2nd March 2013, Nenagh Ormond were the visitors and sat one place by only a single point below Naas in the League table
Naas returned to winning form on Saturday (2nd March) by the closest of margins following their round 12 Ulster Bank League encounter against Nenagh Ormond at Forenaughts. With Naas in third league place overall and Nenagh trailing them by a single point this game had all the hall marks of an ultra close contest and it so it proved to be. Despite Naas getting off to a dream start following an outstanding try by Johnny Delaney in the 1st-minute and a second try by Jock Toland in the 38th-minute together with Naas having built up a significant 12 point advantage at the interval, Nenagh fought their way back into contention and outscored Naas in the second period by three tries to one. In such a close game all scores are crucial but in the final analysis it was the long-range kicking skills of Naas fullback, David Aherne which proved decisive and Naas closed out the game in injury time with a single point advantage which mirrored the pre-match league position.
With a couple of tries in the first half the score 15-3 at the interval but the game was tighter than the score line would suggest and we all knew we were in for an exciting second half, and both teams didn’t let us down a couple of tries were exchanged and a couple of kicks added by Nenagh were only part of the drama. As the game approached injury time with the score 20 – 15 in favor of the home side Naas conceded a further penalty for going off their feet on their 22. Nenagh took the lineout option on the right flank and subsequently spread the ball wide to the left where they had a sizable overlap and wing Sam Nash again crossed for his second try. The conversion by Rory Whelan gave a score of 22-20 in favour of Nenagh.
With the clock rapidly expiring Naas made one last foray into Nenagh territory the restart was collected by Naas and after a couple of plays tried and failed at a drop goal. The restart from the 22 lead to another couple of plays and fortunately with about 3 or 4 mins of injury time played Naas won a penalty on the left flank just inside the 10m line. David Aherne showed his considerable kicking skill to slot over from 40m range with a match winning kick and Naas celebrated another win, their 9th of the season, which was especially significant as it represented a new record for the most Ulster Bank league wins in a season to date.
Naas seniors are next in action on Saturday, 23rd March when they host Sundays Well who are currently in 12th place overall in the league. Their win over Nenagh Ormond, has seen Naas retain their third place overall ranking behind Rainey Old Boys who are currently 10 points clear and NUIM Barnhall who are 4 points clear. Unfortunately Sligo were not able to hold out against Barnhall who won the game with a last min intercept try to win the game 17-13 otherwise the table would look a little different.
Remember the promotion race is First 2 go up and 3rd goes into a playoff.
| Pos | Team | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Rainey OB | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 356 | 133 | 223 | 6 | 0 | 52 |
| 2 | NUIM Barnhall | 12 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 408 | 170 | 238 | 7 | 3 | 46 |
| 3 | Naas RFC | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 343 | 198 | 145 | 3 | 1 | 42 |
| 4 | Armagh | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 263 | 143 | 120 | 3 | 2 | 39 |
| 5 | Nenagh Ormond | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 258 | 163 | 95 | 3 | 3 | 38 |
| 6 | Boyne | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 247 | 191 | 56 | 3 | 3 | 38 |
| 7 | Navan RFC | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 249 | 236 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 34 |
| 8 | Skerries | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 251 | 205 | 46 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| 9 | Instonians | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 202 | 289 | -87 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| 10 | Sligo | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 171 | 247 | -76 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| 11 | Suttonians | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 218 | 290 | -72 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 12 | Sundays Well | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 202 | 291 | -89 | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| 13 | Clonakilty | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 179 | 295 | -116 | 1 | 4 | 17 |
| 14 | Thomond | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 185 | 244 | -59 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
| 15 | Ards | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 169 | 313 | -144 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 16 | Connemara | 12 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 127 | 420 | -293 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Meanwhile the U21’s and the J1 have two crucial league fixture this weekend if they both win it will be 2 league titles for Naas RFC in their 90 season.
The J1’s are at home against DLSP at 3 pm on Sunday the 10th and the U21’s away against Dublin University again on Sunday at 12:30
Best of luck to them both.
No North Midland rugby for the Minis this week but the U12’s are of to Clontarf with 4 squads on Sunday morning and the U11 and U10 are at home against Skerries and Barnhall all in the Metro.
Till Next time Happy Rugby and keep following us on twitter @naasrfc for all the match and league updates hopefully we will be still in contention and best of luck to the Irish Boys and Girls against France.
