RUGBY: DAVE BREW REACTION
Brew happy with confidence booster ahead of Junior Cup
By Daire Walsh
FOLLOWING a dramatic Leinster Schools’ Junior League Division 1A showpiece with Kilkenny College, Newbridge College coach Dave Brew emphasised the important role that physicality played in his side’s triumph.
The John Shanahan-led outfit took the fight to the Noresiders in the early stages of last Monday week’s contest in Donnybrook Stadium, but despite being pleased with the way they fronted up, Brew nevertheless praised Kilkenny for the way they subsequently forced their way back into the reckoning.
“The objective of today was to start the game really physically, especially up forward, just to really take the battle to them. Keep it tight, play conservative, but really try and tire them out a bit,” Brew remarked.
“I thought it was going well, but I though Kilkenny played extremely well in the second-quarter. They owned the ball for the majority of it, and that try they deserved just before the half.”
A Sam Cahill try nine minutes from the end had halted the momentum of Kilkenny, before the Marble County boys were awarded a penalty deep inside the Newbridge half. Fly-half Charlie Tector took the three points on offer to reduce the gap to two points (22-20), but having witnessed Kilkenny opting for touch on a number of occasions, Brew was relieved that they didn’t attempt to manufacture another try.
“It was a strange one, the way they were coming roaring back at us at the end. I was extremely relieved when they took the kick at the end, I have to say. I can’t lie, but it got back up to half-way again, and we played well then. We got control of the ball again for the end of the game.”
Brew had previously expressed a desire for this final to take place before the Christmas break, but with their Junior Cup opener against St Mary’s College due to played on February 10, they will have just under four weeks to prepare for a mammoth encounter.
He believes that this is a suitable build-up period, and is also hopeful that securing league silverware will boost the confidence on his squad ahead of their Cup campaign.
“We’ve three and a half weeks now. When you have the longer break without the league final, you can really have a bit of an off-season and a bit of a pre-season again. Whereas it wasn’t possible with this. We had to keep all burners burning to get this done, and we’ll take stock now for a few days. We haven’t mentioned Mary’s yet. It doesn’t matter to us until this is out of the way.”
“It’s always good to have a trophy to take back. It makes a success out of the season. I suppose it gives us a bit OF belief as well, We’re a big game team, and that’s two really big games we’ve played here, and we’ve come out on top in both of them. That’s certainly some confidence to give us going into the Mary’s game,” Brew added.