SCHOOLS RUGBY: BEN SWINDLEHURST POST-MATCH REACTION
Swindlehurst rues slow start
By Daire Walsh
A strong opening half made all the difference in Donnybrook on Thursday last, as Newbridge College were on the receiving end of a 32-0 reversal to Gonzaga College in the opening round of the Leinster Schools’ Junior Cup.
Newbridge’s 2014 campaign had ended in a heartbreaking quarter-final defeat to Terenure College, but with Eoin Barr delivering a commanding performance for their Ranelagh opponents, they were chasing the game from a very early stage.
New Zealand native Ben Swindlehurst (who has been a stalwart of Newbridge RFC for a number of years) is the coach of Newbridge, and he felt that the concession of early scores had a major bearing on the outlook of the contest.
An early Barr penalty was followed by a 7th minute Max Neville try, and although Swindlehurst felt this was against the run play, he acknowledged that it is difficult to respond to a set-back of this nature.
“Yeah, it was a tough game. I think we conceded early points and we just found ourselves hard to get into the game after that. It wasn’t a lack of effort from the boys there. They did the college proud there today, but just not our day,” Swindlehurst remarked.
“I felt if we got a score early in the second half, I thought it would have opened up the game a little bit. We were camped down in the ‘22’ for a bit, and we didn’t quite get the score. I thought that would have made a difference, and would have got us in the game.”
When you consider how Newbridge have performed in the competition in recent times, this loss will understandably be a hard one to take. Swindlehurst and his coaching team were pleased with their preparation for this game, and although it didn’t happen for his side on the day, he is confident that they can learn from the defeat in the years to come.
“The boys have got a few more years left in the college and hopefully when they leave college they play rugby. You learn from losing games I think, and we weren’t calm at all in the first half. Hopefully when they get to Senior Cup they can be composed and they don’t have to rush everything and they can just enjoy the game and play it,” Swindlehurst added.