POST-MATCH REACTION: NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE COACH JOHN JOYCE
Newbridge avoid upset after slow start
By Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING a tricky encounter at Kilbogget Park last Tuesday afternoon (February 2) against Gorey Community College, Newbridge College coach John Joyce was delighted with his side’s 25-15 triumph.
Joyce felt that his charges had taken Gorey for granted in the early stages of the contest, but was still pleased that they were able to overcome the opening hurdle in this year’s Leinster Schools’ Junior Cup.
“Well look, it’s cup rugby. It’s the first round of the cup. We knew Gorey were a strong side. We’d heard they were on the back of three 30 point wins,” Joyce remarked afterwards.
“We came, we took them for granted, and it was just the guys were a bit slow out of the box today. Look, we’re just delighted with the result at the end of the day.”
Indeed, it was Gorey who broke the deadlock with an early try, but Newbridge quickly responded with tries from Bill Kavanagh and winger David Higgins. Joyce revealed that the management team had full confidence in the ability of the squad, and is hopeful that they can increase their performance levels in their forthcoming quarter-final.
“We know, we’re 100% confident of what the guys have in them. We really are, they’re a fantastic bunch of honest players. We knew they had the resolve in them.”
“It was just, like I said, the windy, blustery conditions. It’s a real leveller. Thankfully, the lads managed to re-group and come back. They’ve far more rugby in them than that. Hopefully now the next day, they’ll really bring it.”
However, Gorey did restore parity in time for the interval, and they were also on top of possession in the early stages of the second half. Newbridge eventually moved back into the ascendancy, though, and Joyce acknowledged that they started to execute their game plan to a greater degree in the latter stages of the encounter.
“The big thing is, once we started playing to our own game plan. Once you start playing the elements, and we had the wind behind our backs. We played into it in the first-half.”
“We knew once you put ball into territory and play for it, we knew that we could really build on it. I think the lads eventually did that, and they really showed, I suppose, 10 minutes or so, what they can actually do.”
Following their disappointing first round defeat to Gonzaga College last year, this result means that Newbridge have reached the last-eight of the competition once more.
They last featured at this stage in 2014 – when they suffered an agonising last-gasp reversal at the hands of Terenure College in Donnybrook. The key to their success may well come from their impressive line-out, which paid rich dividends in Seapoint RFC. Joyce agreed that this was a strong area of their game, and given the amount of work they put in on the training ground, he was thrilled that they were able to prevail on the day.
“We’ve some fantastic ball players in there. Especially Oisin Halpin, he’s a great jumper in fairness. They’re an honest bunch of lads. Like I said, they’re real hard-working, the time and effort they put in. It would have been an awful shame if they hadn’t gotten something out of today, because they’re really deserving of it,” Joyce added.