Thurles U18 Boys, Bristol Tour 2016
On April 29th, the Thurles U18s team left their clubhouse for England to start their Bristol tour. During breakfast on Saturday morning, rumours quickly spread through the room that Southmead RFC, our first opponents, were unable to play the game planned for that afternoon. Soon, this was in fact confirmed by coach John Shaw. To make the most of it, the team travelled down to the grounds to do a training session. This was difficult as the ground on the pitch was rock hard and unforgiving. After about an hour of a training session, the boys the watched an entertaining end of season match between Ashley Down Old Boys 1st XV and their Over 30's Players. It's fair to say, no quarter was asked, or given.
On Sunday, 30th April, Thurles RFC had a game scheduled against Artesians RFC. After arriving at their clubhouse, the boys quickly got warmed up and within no time, the game had began. Within 5 minutes, Eoin Kerrane had opened the scoring for Thurles with a fantastic leg drive along the ground to get over the line. He was quickly followed by Darren O’Sullivan after selling the opposing 12 with a dummy and a quick hand off to a prop, a prolific dive just beside the base of the post made it 10-0 to Thurles..
At the re-start, Conor O’Hagan received an offload from Darren O’Sullivan inside his own 22 and ran the entire length of the pitch, using speed and agility to out manoeuvre at least half of the Artesian team, to score one of thej outstanding tries of the weekend. After a briskly called lineout move, Thurles were back over the line as Cillian Kavanagh cleverly released a ball from the back of a ruck out to Kieran Dunne, who was facing about a 9 on 1 situation in his favour. After taking a mere step he was over the line for yet another try for Thurles. After a quick move across the back line, Dylan O’Shaughnessy found himself with the ball and once again used agility and cunningness to go over the line for Thurles in the right-hand corner to continue racking up the points.
In true “Touring” fashion, the game became a very light hearted affair at this stage, which only made it more enjoyable to be a part of. After several rucks close to the try line, Seamus Telford, the Thurles captain who, by the way, was described as a credit to his team by the referee, went over the line to score a typical forwards try. Eoin Kerrane’s nifty pick-and-go from the back of the ruck, coupled with an unbeatable hand off to the 15 brought Thurles yet another 7 points clear. The same man then made an outstanding run down the touchline, making ground by selling dummies to almost all players that stood in his way, and if it wasn’t a dummy, it was the use of his dancing f
eet that got him to the line. An ankle tap proved costly however, as the referee deemed that the ball had not been grounded before Kerrane’s feet had touched the touch line after a heroic effort. Furious with the referee’s decision for disallowing such an outstanding try after he’d had confirmed it with his TMO, Thurles then carried on, continuing with the light hearted spirit of the game. After 3 Artesian tries, Thurles then replied through Jack Kavanagh. The stand in fly-half, using his prop instincts, picked a ball from the back of a ruck and used brute force to barge past 2 Artesians players to go over the line for Thurles.
The team then returned home on Monday 2nd May. Massive thanks from all the players, to all involved, particularly head coach, John Shaw for organising an exceptional weekend away. It was a fitting end to a very good season fot Thurles U18 Boys, and for all involved to have such a great weekend. A special word of thanks to Aretians RFC in Bristol, and congratulations to Mr Ian “Muddy” Waters, on refereeing his 400th game of Rugby.
