This week’s club notes come from Bruff, Newcastle West and Waterford City rugby clubs.

Click here for Bruff club notes

Click here for Newcastle West club notes

Click here for Waterford City club notes

Bruff RFC

Courtesy of:- Seamus Sheahan, Club PRO

UBL Division 2C Bruff v Navan

With only two games remaining in the league nearly every team in Division 2C has something to play for. The Top five teams can still have a say in the promotion race, while the bottom 4 teams are battling relegation. All of these factors are going to make for a very interesting conclusion to the season.

Bruff took a major step in trying to secure a play-off place on Saturday afternoon recording a 26-15 win over visiting Navan. The reverse fixture in September was a tight affair with Bruff coming out on top thanks to a late try from Brian Cahill, which Tony Cahill converted.

Navan lead 6-12 at half time on Saturday scoring trys on twenty and thirty eighth minutes, while Bruff had two penalties from the boot of Deccie Bannon after ten and twenty five minutes.

Bruff were aided by a strong breeze in the second half and reduced the lead further to 9-12 shortly after half time with a third Deccie Bannon Penalty. On fifty minutes Bruff made a number of changes to freshen things up and it was substitute Danny Keogh who scored the first of Bruff’s three second half tries. Keogh picked the ball up around the Navan 10 metre line and made a break which he’ll remember for some time to come beating three defenders on this way to scoring in the corner. Keogh has made a name for himself as being one of the best tacklers and ball carriers in the club but this try showed that’s he’s got another string to his bow. Bruff now lead 14-12 but Navan regained the lead shortly after with a penalty to make it 14-15. The Bruff backs have produced the majority of this seasons tries but it was the forwards who took over the duties on Saturday. Bruff we awarded a string of penalties in the Navan 22 which lead to Bruff having a number of lineouts in corner. Bruff won a good ball at the back and the resulting drive ended with Brian Morissey touching down for the second of Bruff’s tries which Deccie converted to make it 21-15. Try number three came with only a few minutes remaining and again it was Danny Keogh who got the touch down from another Bruff lineout maul close to the Navan line.

With Wanderers losing to Midleton in Dublin at the weekend the result moves Bruff into third position with just the two games remaining away to Tullamore on the 26^th of March and Home to Dundalk on the 2^nd of April.
Bruff Team : 1.Dave Horan 2.Johnny Hogan 3. Keith Laffan 4.Neilus Keogh 5.Brian Morissey 6.Cillian Rea 7.Mikey Carroll 8.Paddy Clery 9.Davy O Grady 10.Tony Cahill 11. Paidi Kilcoyne 12. Sean Darcy 13.Declan Bannon 14.Barry Enright 15. Brendan Deady 16. Keith Laffan 17. Danny Keogh 18. Barry Laffan 19 Graham Whelan 20 Mark Cosgrove

Munster semi Final Action for u16’s and u18’s

Both the U16’s and u18’s were in action in the semi-finals of the pan Munster competitions at the weekend.
It was the u16’s who were first up when they travelled to Bandon on Saturday. Bruff had come through a tough test beating Midleton 16-12 in the Quarter final and knew that Saturday’s game would be tight. Bandon like Bruff have produced some very competitive underage teams over the last few years and they are now reaping the rewards with their Junior team sitting on top on the Munster Junior league.

Unfortunately the game ended in the narrowest of defeats for Bruff going down 3-nil to the west cork side. Well done to all involved for getting this far, they now have some local cup competitions to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Team : 1 Fionn Flanagan 2 John Sheehan 3 Kieran O Dwyer 4 Eoin Cronin 5 Craig Ryan 6 Darragh O Connell 7 Pa Maher 8 Dylan O Leary 9 Pa Lloyd 10 Gerard Dunworth 11 Evan Hudner 12 Adam O Dwyer 13 William Carroll 14 Dylan O Shea 15 Joe Johnston 16 Eli Whelan 17 Jack Keogh 18 Sean Reeves Wasik 19 Ethan Butler 20 Niall Mitchell 21 Alan Hanley

The u18’s had a better result reaching a Munster final for the third year in a row after beating Dolphin 5-0 in another tight game in Bruff on Sunday. The game was played in poor conditions on a heavy pitch which wasn’t helped by a two hour downpour prior to kick off. Both teams missed a number of chances in the opening half which resulted in a 0-0 half time score-line.

Is wasn’t until the 43^rd minute that the game winning score came. Bruff attacked the right hand side of the Dolphin 22 through the pack before moving the ball all the way to the left, for wing Dean O Shea to score in the corner. Both team battled hard for the remainder of the game but Bruff’s experience was enough to see them through to the St Patricks day decider which is scheduled to be played on the main pitch in Thomond Park Vs the winners of Waterpark and Dungarvan.

Team :1 Dave Barrett 2 Thomas Quigley 3 Jack Fitzgerald 4 Daniel O Shea 5 Tadgh O Dwyer 6 Ferghal Cooke 7 Paul Tracey 8 Simon Divilly 9 Cian Clifford 10 John Bateman 11 Dean O Shea 12 Liam Barrett 13 Mikey O Grady 14 John Bulfin 15 Mattew Lockhart O Dea 16 Cormac Daly 17 Joseph O Connell 18 James Hanly 19 Liam Cunningham 20 Stephen Dunworth 21 Richard Bateman 22 Jason Fitzgibbon 23 Callum Winship.

Newcastle West RFC

Courtesy of:- Martin O’Sullivan, Club PRO

Munster Junior League Div 1

Two great bonus point wins away from home over the last 2 weekends have given us some breathing space in the battle to stay afloat in Division 1. Travelling to Waterpark and Old Christians and coming away with the points is a real boost to the club coming towards the end of the season. With only 1 league game left we’re now almost guaranteed to remain in Division 1 but a home win in our last league game is a must to finish off the league season with a flourish.

We return to knockout rugby action this Sunday when we travel to Limerick to take on Garryowen in the Munster Junior Plate. All details below.

Fixture: – Munster Junior Plate

Sunday March 13^th Garryowen RFC v Newcastle West RFC in Dooradoyle @ 2.30 – Extra Time will be played if necessary.

Mini fixtures for next weekend
All mini teams from u6 to u12 incl training in Kilelline from 10:30am to 11:30 am.

Youth fixtures for next weekend

3 of our Youth teams are in semi / final matches this weekend. Please continue to support them so we bring home silverware again this year.

Date	Time	Fixture	Team 1	V	Team 2	Pitch
13-Mar-2016	14:00	U16 League Final	Newcastle West/Estuary	V	Ennis	Annacotty
13-Mar-2016	12:00	U14 League Semi Final	Bruff	V	Newcastle West/Estuary	Kilballyowen
13-Mar-2016	12:30	U15 Semi Final	Ennis	V	Newcastle West/Estuary	Lee’s Road

Lotto

Results from Friday March 4^th Lotto Draw

Numbers Drawn 1, 13, 18 & 30 – NO WINNER

Lucky Dip Winners
Dan Hartnett, Ballypierce
Ita Copse, Ballingown
Ciara & Lauren Sweeney
Michelle & Bridie O’Mahoney
Monty Goulding, The Hill, NCW
Julie Shine, Old Mill NCW
Sheila Tracey, Strand
Promotors Prize – Joe Lee

Next week’s draw will be in The Silver Dollar Bar on Friday 11^th March. The jackpot stands at €15,400

Waterford City RFC

Courtesy of:- Deirdre Barry, Club PRO

Munster Junior League
Presentation 6 v WCRFC 19
T: Michael Hayes C: Michael Hayes P: Michael Hayes 3
MOM: Simon O’Hara

City were set a target of remaining unbeaten in the league for 2016 and kept up their impressive league form with a convincing 19-6 win against Presentation on the 3G Astroturf surface in Garryowen RFC, a day which went down in Damian Kennedy’s lifetime a day to rival his wedding day.

Presentation have been somewhat of a bogey side for City over the last few years, and following on from the 10-9 away win in Kinsale, head coach Peter Jones challenged his troops to continue this impressive away form and was delighted with another win for this resurgent City side. The surface suited City’s fast paced game but Presentation as always proved a hard nut to crack in the first half. City were guilty of a few handling errors in the first half, meaning City failed to get a constant amount of phases placed together. However, with Michael Hayes in impressive kicking form, City entered the break at 6 all and with a wind behind there back in the second half, confident of a result.

At half time, City knew if they continued with their game plan and improved their phase work, then the game should be there’s. City began the half moving the ball well and using the conditions. Darren Walsh was looking as lively as ever and beginning to dictate the pace of the game with some sniping runs, but unfortunately succumbed to a concussion injury. However, such is the strength of this city side, Michael Hayes slotted in seamlessly to scrum half and we a kept the tempo we had been striving for. As always, the back row of Foskin, Delahunty and O’Hara put down a marker as surely one of the best back row units in the division by continually getting us over the gain line and doing a huge amount of defensive work with second row Alex Fitzmaurice assisting with some dynamic ball carrying. Strength in depth is crucial to City squad this year and the impact of a five substitutes made a huge impression on the game as City maintained the tempo that ultimately Presentation couldn’t live with. Hayes continued to penalize Presentations indiscretions and with ten minutes to go, saw a gap and ghosted through ala Darren Chicky Walsh for the game winning try to seal the game.

Presentation continued to fight, showing all the experience of a hardened side but City’s defence, led impressively by the forward pack and Connor Power as defensive talisman, held firm for a momentous victory for City.

As always, many thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors Done Deal and the Kingfisher club.
Next up is a home league clash vs. Ballincollig.
Karl Reade, Dave O’Connor, Andrew Condron, Alex Fitzmaurice, Ben Duggan (captain), Simon O’Hara, Clan Foskin, Joe Delahunty, Darren Walsh, Jack Caffrey, Mark Hayes, Connor Power, Aidan Power, Damien Kennedy, Michael Hayes, Brian Walsh, Liam Hayes, Jason Power, James Halligan, Stephen Walsh

U16’s Challenge Match
The U16’s travelled to Clonmel this Sunday for a challenge match. City played a great game and finished victorious with a score line of 12-54 to City.

Club Dinner Dance
The Waterford City RFC Dinner Dance is on April 22nd in the Woodlands Hotel. Tickets on sale every Sunday morning at the club house or you can contact Club President Jemma Jacob directly. Tickets 40pp. All welcome, parents, players, friends and family.


Waterford City Squad 2016