Wicklow lose on the road in Div. 1A opener

DE LA SALLE

29

WICKLOW

26

WICKLOW RFCs Senior men kicked off their 2017 League campaign with a tough away assignment to De La Salle Palmerstown. Wicklow have had an injury hit start to the season and a lack of games told against John Jenkinsons men in a bruising and niggley encounter against the Kilternan men.

Wicklow got off to a flying start with a try from Ben Porter of a scintillating break from Billy Ngawini. DLSP responded with two tries of their own, including one from a blocked down kick. This made it 12-5.

Wicklow were conceding too many penalties in the early stages and a thrird DLSP try put them 17-5 up.

Outhalf Brian Keegan added a good penalty to make it 17-8 but on the stroke of half time DLSP scored again to leave it at 22-8 at the break. Wicklow had been down to 13 men with two yellow cards.

The rain was coming down in torrents and Wicklow gamely stuck to their task and clawed their way back into the game. Good early pressure in the second half saw Keegan add another three points to make it 22-11. He soon added another from an identical position and it was 22- 4.

Wicklow had their tails up but they were soon back on defence and a bonus point try from DLSP put them 29-14 with 15 minutes to go.

Wicklow never gave up and a powerful surge into DLSP territory saw Eanna Killeen score a well taken try. Keegan added the extras and it was 29-21.

Remarkably Wicklow scored again and although the conversion was missed it was 29-26 with five minutes on the clock.

Wicklow attacked again and had DLSP in dissarray. They were awarded a very kickable penaly which would have tied the game up but decided to kick to the corner and seek what would have been a bonus point win. From the resultant lineout and subsequent scrum DLSP forced a turnover and cleared their lines. The final whistle went and a jubilant DLSP side celebrated.

Wicklow were disappointed but will take a number of positives out of the game. A very disruptive preseason has come to an end and the team will relish getting stuck into the quality games they have over the next few weeks.

This weekend sees Monkstown FC travel to Ashtown Lane on Saturday.

The firsts will kick off at 3pm with the seconds at 1.30pm. This is a hugely important game for the club and we are asking all of our supporters to make a special effort to get to Ashtown Lane for our first home game in Leinster League Division 1A.

Wicklows seconds had an outstanding win away to DLSP. A second half try from Stephen Duffy put them well in control at 14-31 ten minutes into the second half.

DLSP responded with an unconverted try of their own before a brilliant kick chase by Aidan Kearney put Wicklow out of sight at 36-19.

DLSP scored a late try after some dubious defending by Wicklow to leave the final score at 36-26

Firsts: David Quinn, Jack McKenna, Jason Byrne, Stephen Swan, John Jenkinson, Liam Gaffney, Wes Wojnar, Eoin O’Sullivan, Dennis Higgins, Ben Armstrong, Shane Farrar, Ben Porter, Tim Spencer, Billy Ngawini, George Naoupu, Eanna Killeen, Stephen Duffy, Mark Cullen.