Newbridge RFC
Newbridge and Roscrea compete at the lineout in Spollenstown.
Leinster League Division 2A
Newbridge opened their Leinster League Division 2A campaign with a trip to newly promoted Roscrea in Streamstown and came away with an important bonus-point victory after an entertaining contest in perfect conditions.
The visitors started brightly and dominated the early exchanges. A pass from centre Caleb Aiulu released full-back Eimhin Conroy, who raced clear for the opening try. Tim Murphy added the conversion before slotting a penalty to give Newbridge an early 10-0 advantage.
Roscrea had a powerful series of close-range drives that eventually saw the hosts force their way over to reduce the deficit to 10-7.
Newbridge responded well. Murphy broke through several tackles before powered his way under the posts for an excellent individual try. His conversion restored a 10-point advantage at 17-7.
Despite Newbridge spending much of the closing stages of the half deep in Roscrea territory, the hosts broke out and worked their way downfield. After initially being held up close to the line, a series of pick-and-goes eventually produced a try with the final play of the half, leaving Newbridge 17-12 ahead at the break.
Roscrea carried that momentum into the second half. A Newbridge handling error was followed by a kick ahead which fell kindly for the home side, allowing them to score and level the contest at 17-17.
With some early-season rust beginning to show, Newbridge needed a spark – and Gavin Houlihan provided it. After collecting a kick deep inside his own half, Houlihan produced a superb mazy run, beating several defenders before eventually being hauled down inside the Roscrea 22. Newbridge recycled quickly and moved the ball wide to Chris Leech, who finished off a brilliant passage of play to restore the lead at 22-17.
Newbridge were beginning to take control, but the newly promoted home side's resilience was impressive. Time and again, Roscrea repelled the Newbridge attack before Robbie Waters finally spotted a gap and danced through for the crucial bonus-point try. The conversion stretched the advantage to 29-17 and looked to have put the contest beyond the hosts.
Roscrea weren't finished. A loose Newbridge clearance found its way to Mark Dwyer, who evaded several tackles before racing in under the posts to set up a nervy finish.
Newbridge held firm, however, and a late Donal Cashman penalty pushed the margin back out to eight points and secured the result.
Delacy Byrne, Sam Carey, Alex Moloney, Brian Doughan, Cormac Murray; Mark Dwyer, John Lillis; Peter Hennessy, Gordon Michael Shannon, Cathal Ryan; Oisín O'Shea, Ben Spencer; Fionn Hogan, Andrew Hodgins, Seamus Treacy.
Michael Fitzgerald, John Maher, Ben Armitage, Mark Armitage, Ben Quinlan.
Eimhin Conroy; Gavin Houlihan, Caleb Aiulu, Robert Waters, James Kennedy; Tim Murphy, Nathan McDonald; Scott O'Keeffe, William Jennings, Jack Barry; Mark Bennett, Cameron English; Eoin Walsh, Chris Leech, Max McLoughlin.
David Morgan, Aaron Donnelly, Scott McMullan, Patrick Corbett, Donal Cashman.
