U18.5 Conference 3

Nenagh 26 – Newport 20

Report by Barry Meehan

Nenagh had to dig deep to extend their winning start to the Munster conference with a gritty 26–20 win at home to Newport on Sunday. Both sides needed a win to stay in contention for a place in the Munster Cup, and Newport threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Nenagh. However, Nenagh, playing into the wind, started the better team and worked hard to gain a foothold in the Newport half but they were undone by handling errors in the difficult conditions. Aided by the wind, Newport took full advantage and scored the first try of the game with a strike play off a scrum inside their own half. They also kicked two penalties to lead 13-0 after 25 minutes. Nenagh didn't panic and used their lineout maul to gain territory into Newport 22. They were rewarded with a try in the corner to leave the half-time score at 13-5.

While Nenagh played with the wind in the second half, Newport gifted them nothing and extended their lead to 20-5 early in the second half.  Nenagh's response was impressive; the one thing they weren't missing was effort. The forwards rolled up their sleeves and started to take control of the game. Some great work at the breakdown allowed Nenagh to break the gain line and retain possession to put Newport under sustained pressure.  Nenagh's efforts were finally rewarded with two converted tries. They still trailed 20-19 with time running out. While Nenagh enjoyed most of the possession and territory, Newport always looked threatening. Nenagh fronted up, kept working and scored another try in the corner and kicked a touchline conversion to lead for the first time in the match 26-20. That meant Newport now needed a converted try to win with 5 minutes remaining. Newport won the restart and recycled the ball to move into the Nenagh 22, but Nenagh showed great composure in defense and won a turnover with the final play of the game.

While not at their best, Nenagh found a way to win from 15 points down against a difficult opponent. Nenagh are next away to Bohemians on the 9th of November in the final round of the conference with both teams remaining unbeaten.  It should make for a fascinating battle.