Old Wesley 15 Lansdowne 6, Ballycorus Rd. 07/03/2009

Hard Graft

In writing these match reports I am constantly striving to be more of a smartarse than I was last week, to out-do myself, as it were.... But reflecting on the Killer Bees performance against Old Wesley, the honesty of the performance demands an honest report.
Perhaps our league is gone for another season, perhaps the team at times lacked cohesion and direction, and perhaps we are not the greatest rugby players to set foot on a pitch, but I defy any man to tell me that 15 lads ever put more into a game of rugby, that the collective sum of this team far outways its individual parts... Call me a liar and I will slap your bitch ass.
In so many ways Wesleys victory was a foregone conclusion: a better balanced team, bigger stronger forwards and more talented backs. And yet we harried and hastled them to a point where the most creative thing to do was get sent off!
To see Paul "dumptruck" Harvey bearing down on their fullback, or Nick "nock" Jones break through a haze of opposition again and again does my heart good. To witness Ross "nern irn" Bloomfield erect a "thou shalt not pass" sign in midfield, and Gabriel "le balboa" Portier repeatedly congratulate and cajole his teammates is, to be honest, the reason why I get up on a saturday. Rob "sshhh, I'm sleeping" Moore seemed to be tied to the ball with 10 feet of invisible string and Justin "the fags keep me onside" Comer is slippier than a greased chicken who hasn't paid his taxes. Make no mistake... We're good.
But we lost. 3 tries to nil. How did that happen?
The answer may be maturity, we are a young and sometimes headless team.
With wisdom and direction perhaps we could have put a try away, or stolen a few more balls on the ground, or flipped someone over in the tackle...
These things can be learned, but we must make the decision to open our ears and learn in order to develop as players, and develop as a team. A few canny auld hoors would do a lot of good in this team, but we don't have them, so its time for the cream to rise to the top.
In this world there are two types of people... There are sheep and there are shepherds. Which one are you...?

written by Philip McGoldrick

Team

1: Gabriel Portier 2: Chris Reid 3: Peter Geoghegan 4: Paul Harvey 5: Robert Moore 6: Matt Allen 7: Patrick Mallone 8: Nick Jones 9: Conor O'Sullivan 10: Oisin O'Cuinneagain 11: Jeff Iszeham 12: Eoin Gantly 13: Justin Comer 14: Gearoid Carvill 15: Keith Herman (c) Subs: Kevin McDermot, Ross Bloomfield and Will Sparks.

match photos taken by Millan Alonso