‘The challenge is to make sure we go back up’

HE may not be around to oversee it but Kevin Lewis is confident that Greystones RFC will take two steps forward after this one step back.

After a season dogged with injuries, Greystones were relegated to Division 2B on Saturday following ninth place finish in Division 2A and subsequent play-off defeat to Navan RFC.

Six points was the losing margin at Dr. Hickey Park and it was a match that could have gone either way. As is often the case, it came down to the finest margins and Navan’s absolute dominance in the scrum - they won seven penalties from scrums - saw them edge Greystones out.

“It’s a tough one to take”, Lewis reflected. “It’s been a very fractured year for us. Our captain got injured in the summer and didn’t play at all this year. We’d so many injuries that I think it took us until Christmas to regroup.

“The play-off is a lottery. The team in the lower division is used to winning and the team in the higher division is maybe not used to winning. It was a very tight game on Saturday and it could have gone either way.”

Lewis admits he hasn’t even thought about his own position yet. He could well end up back at the helm for 2018/19 and if he does, scrums will no doubt be high on his list of priorities in pre-season.

“In cup rugby, set-pieces are vital. We dominated the line-out and did really, really well there. Unfortunately for us, their scrum was stronger than ours and they got those penalties. It could have gone either way but when they got under pressure they had those scrums and that was a big factor in the game.

“In fairness to our lads, they worked very hard and carried well and worked through multiple phases of play and at times, you’d think that the next pass would be it (the breakthrough) and then we get probably one of the tries of the season!”

Once they have gotten over Saturday’s disappointment, thoughts will turn to an automatic return to Irish rugby’s third tier. Lewis is tipping them for an immediate return and thinks that will be just the start of things to come.

“This is a good team. The scrum has been a problem for us all season long and when you go up in the leagues, you have to win your set-pieces. As a team and as individuals, they’re more than capable of playing in Division 2A and the challenge is now to make sure that we go back up to 2A next season.

“They’re all young players. They’ll stick with it and stick together. We’ve had a rough year. There were times when we had nine/10/11 players sitting on the sidelines. At one stage in December, we had four lads having surgery. They’re young players though and they’ve great careers ahead of them. I’ve no doubt they’ll be playing in Division 1 in a couple of years time but it’ll take