Navan Rugby Football Club

Navan travelled to the heartland of Munster Rugby to take on Nenagh Ormond in New Ormond Park last Saturday and while coming away with a bonus point and restored pride they will feel that the left a victory behind them.

When the two teams met last year at Balreask Old, Nenagh emerged the winners by a single point 9-8, in a bruising encounter so Navan travelled to New Ormond Park
knowing a result was within their capabilities, despite the heavy loss at home to an exceptional Cashel team the previous week.

Navan started brightly and were camped on the Nenagh line in the fifth minute, in the process of trying to work the ball out when a loose pass was fly hacked down the pitch for a Nenagh try to give them a 7-0 lead. Although the Navan forwards were dominating their opponents Nenagh struck again in the 20th minute when their midfield broke through a soft defense,o add another converted try and give the home side a 14-0 lead.

With the Navan forwards shunting Nanagh off their own ball and the srum and lineout giving Navan an excellent platform a try before half time was required, this time when Navan worked the phases to gain a scrum on the Nenagh line, Leigh Jackson made no mistake when Navan drove Nenagh back getting the vital touch to narrow the gap to 14-5.

At the start of the second half Nenagh enjoyed some good posession but Navan held firm and put together some good phases of play with the backs starting to show some enterprising moves. With the Navan forwards now in the ascendancy, the backs were finding more space out wide and a lovely switch pass enabled Mo McAuley score in the corner to narrow the deficit again to 14-10. A few minutes later Riaan v der Vyver scored another of his trademark tries, where he mixed individual brillance with quick feet and genuine pace to score
a try through the middle of the Nenagh defence. The score was easily converted and Navan now lead 17-14, with fifteen to go.

Nenagh wasted little time in putting Navan under pressure and they were within kicking distance when a Navan infringement gave them a chance to draw level, which they gladly accepted 17-17. Almost straight from the kick off Nenagh had scored again, with the ball worked out wide and a pass that had more than a suspicion of being forward over the head of David Geraghty accepted by their winger and touched down for a try in the corner which went unconverted 22-17

Having been behind for most of the match and then working their way in to the lead, Navan set out to try and come back into the game again with the fowards again betaing their Munster counterparts at their own game and working their way up the pitch. With Navan on the front foot with seven minutes to go, the referee awarded a penalty to Navan which came back off the upright.

Navan kept up the pressure, continuing to boss the set pieces with some ferocious tackling and work from the forwards in particular Paul Feeney.

The game looked set for a grandstand finish in the final minute when Navan were awarded a penalty on the 22 and elected to kick for touch, but to the relief of the home supporters the kick was just overcooked and went into touch over the line and Nengh held out for the win.

Navan Head Coach Leon Jordaan felt that although the players were gutted with the defeat, there were a lot more positives than negatives to come out of the game.
" It was a big performance from the lads and a great turnaround from the previous week against Cashel where we were outclassed " " We came down to Muster and out-srummed them, dominated the line-out and rucked them off their own ball, it was just a pity that we could not close out the game when we hit the front"
" We will go and prepare properly for Armagh, who are in a similar position to us and I expect another big performance.

Club President Brennie Farrell echoed those sentiments " It was a huge improvement on the previous week and at 17-14, we really should have finished the game off, a lot of the Nenagh officials feel that the better team lost today and that they were lucky to get out of jail"

15 M McAuley, 14, D Geraghty, 13 R vd Vyver, 12, D Sheridan ( J Davis 63), 11, S Hogan, 10, J Mullins, 9 D Delahunt ( R O'Brien 56), 8 L Jackson, 7, S Dawson,
6, Paul Feeney, 5 T Boyle, 4, J Duffy, 3 D. King, 2. J McGahy ( C Brady 65), 1. Matt Liddle