What a weekend of Rugby

We had no adult teams in action last weekend but we had another good week for our youth teams as all five age groups in action got through to the next round of their respective cup competitions.At home on Saturday we hosted the Midland qualifiers for the 10s and 12s, to see who would go through to the Leinster finals and both did indeed get through.The 12s had a really excellent day in winning all of their games scoring 29 tries and conceding only one in the very last play of the day. The 10s also had an excellent day winning three of their games, losing just one by a try. They scored 14 tries and conceded just 4.The 13s were given a walkover by Ratoath in their cup game and will face Navan in the next round on April 4.The 18s travelled to Kilcock for their cup game and had a good win over North Kildare by 41-10. They now face Athboy in the next round to be played in Mullingar on Saturday next.On Sunday the 15s side went to Dublin to play Terenure and came away with an excellent win and will face Boyne in the semi-final at a date and venue yet to be deceided.Again last Saturday with approx 160 players, coaches, parents and supporters in Mullingar for the qualifiers, our ladies played a blinder with all visiting players and supporters being fed in an excellent well organised manner and again a big thank you to all who helped organize the days activities. Every Saturday whether its training or a game we have a First Aider in attendance and it takes a lot of worry away from the coaches if there are any knocks or bumps to be taken care of. The coaches are extremely grateful for all the work of this group of helpers.FixturesSaturdayUnder 8s, 9s and 10s away to Coolmine. Bus leaves at 9.45 from club.Under 11s TrainingUnder 12 s away to Ballinasloe. Bus leaves at 9.15 from club.Under 13s Navan game to be confirmedUnder 14s Cup game away to Birr KO 1pmUnder 16s Plate game away to Nth Kildare TBCUnder 18s Cup game at home to Athboy KO 1.00Sunday3rd XV Anderson Cup at home to Ashbourne KO 3.00Well done, IrelandIt was fabulous to see the Grand Slam achieved on Saturday in Cardiff and in Declan Kidney we have the perfect man manager in charge. Indeed Declan paid tribute to all of those who helped in achieving this feat and mentioned youth coaches who give kids a love of the game and help in their development. We are fortunate in having a great body of coaches, parents and supporters to carry on this work in Mullingar and it won"t be too long before we are going to Landsdowne Road to see one of our youth players graduate to full international status.Congratulations to Mark Flanagan who again last Friday played for Ireland Under 20 in their 6 Nations game against Wales and they had another win and ended their campaign in second place, losing out on points difference to France who they beat in Athlone. Mark featured in all of Ireland"s games and we look forward to seeing him continue in the green shirt.Under 18 have great start in the CupMullingar 41 North Kildare 10Mullingar got back to winning ways with an excellent 7 try performance away to North Kildare on Saturday morning.Mullingar haven"t had a game since there League final in Donnybrook 3 weeks ago and apart from the first 10 minutes, in which Mullingar let North Kildare come at them, this was a very one sided affair.Mullingar coaching staff have made a few changes to their team since they were narrowly beaten by Wicklow in the final three weeks ago and these changes seem to work a treat with Alan Brabazon been outstanding at 10 and Stuart Flynn making great line breaks from first centre. This combination change looks like it will bring a lot more scoring opportunities for this team. David Butler reverting back to full back also worked as he is very sound under the high ball and returned every ball he got with interest making some excellent line breaks. The introduction of Robert Allen to hooker has helped the pack around the fringes.The score could have been a lot higher with Mullingar having three tries disallowed. Mullingar scored seven tries in all two by Alan Brabazon, one by Jonathan Cribbin. Robert Bourke also scored a great try and little Philly Butler who was man of the match scored three tries.Mullingar have beefed up their pack knowing that they were bullied a bit in the final. They have taken a new image and a new style of play using bigger men and with more emphasis on running rugby. With more competition for places making it easier to use the bench and make impacts. In fact all four subs made a huge contribution when introduced on Saturday which makes competition for places even harder which in turn will make the team stronger.Next weekend sees Mullingar under 18s take on Athboy at home in the second round of the cup at 1pm so any supporters please come out and see your team as this is the last time they will be playing at home this season.Under 15 Cup Quarter FinalTerenure 15Mullingar 22This was a great win for the Mullingar lads after a cracking game of Cup rugby. The day after Ireland"s Grand Slam heroics was a good day to be visiting one of Leinster"s 'Mecca"s' of rugby and Mullingar acquitted themselves well scoring four tries to Terenure"s three3 and deserving their win.The first score went to the hosts after five minutes, touching down in the corner. It looked like it could be a difficult day for Mullingar but in fairness to this team they know how to knuckle down and get results. Seanie Daly scored a fine try after a kick ahead and followed up with a great conversion to make it 5-7.Mullingar found space out wide and David Whelan used his pace to score the second try for the midlanders. Again Daly converted and followed up with a penalty for offside under the posts, leaving the halftime score at 5-17 to Mullimgar, facing into a strong wind in the second half.Huge pressure was applied by Terenure for the first 10 minutes of the half eventually yielding a score after some good defence was broken. Mullingar then showed character to get back up the pitch and a good chip through by Daly got Whelan in for his second and Mullingar"s third try of the day. Terenure replied with strong runs by their big forwards and got through for a 3rd score late in the game.This was a good all round performance from Mullingar and only their second game of the season in this age group.Final score 15-22 to Mullingar.Squad: David Garvey, Ciaran McGuinness, Neil Harrison, Larry Razinskas, Garry Burke, Robert Jones, Graham Dowling, David Faulkner, Luke Peppard, Eoghan Gantley, Cathal Burke, Sean Daly, Killian Daly, Adam Moore, David Whelan, Declan Murphy, Conor Blythe, Sean Mullarky, Luke Corless.Under 12 Qualify for Leinster Finals with a Grand Slam performanceAfter training on Wednesday evening the coaches had to pick the 16-man panel for the Leinster Qualifiers that were in Mullingar on Saturday last. With a full turn out of 34 players on show the selection process was made even harder. The honesty of the whole squad is to be commended and when the 16 names were called out there was only words of praise from those not lucky enough to be selected this time.Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for rugby. First up for Mullingar were Edenderry. The intensity from the start was brilliant. Bobby and Adam were at every breakdown and the rucking led to Mullingar getting an ample supply of ball. At the final whistle Mullingar ran out winners but they were pushed all the way by a determined Edenderry team.Next up were Birr. This match saw another step up from the lads. The forwards were again winning great ball lead by William and Aidan and with that platform the backs ran some great lines and ran in some great tries. James and Andrew showed glimpses of brilliant back play. At the end of another good performance Mullingar ran out winners again.Longford were our next opponents. If we won this game the lads knew that we had booked our place in the Leinster Finals in Ashbourne at the end of April. Again we made a great start. The forwards again provided an excellent platform for the backs to exploit. Eoin and Donal played with enthusiasm and where everywhere on the pitch. Liam and Eoghan ran straight at the Longford defenders and made great yardage and with this type of play, tries followed from a very well organised and committed Mullingar Team. At the end of the game Mullingar had the win they needed and had booked their tickets for the Leinster Finals.Last up for Mullingar were our neighbours, Tullamore. This was a real cracker of a game. Again the backs moved the ball with real purpose and Colm and Hugh showed some marvellous handling skills to convert this possession into scores. At the final whistle Mullingar had ended the day with our Grand Slam, four games and four wins. We can now look forward to a great season finale in Ashbourne.Next up is training on Wednesday and then we all travel to Ballinalsoe for matches on Saturday next, March 28 with the bus leaving at 9.15 sharp from the club.The full squad was: Bobby Gonoud, William Hayes, Sean Kennedy, Donal Liddy, Edward Nally, Kevin Smith, Colm Hogan, James Butler, Liam Cassidy, Bill Mc Namara, Hugh Broderick, Adam Brennan, Eoghan Moore, Aidan Leahy, Eoin Hayden and Andrew CorbettUnder 10s qualifyfor Leinster FinalsWhat a victory. Well done to all our Under 10s who did themselves and the club proud on Saturday at the Leinster Qualifiers, held at Mullingar Rugby Club. There were fine performances by all the panel. We had to play four matches in all. The first match was against Edenderry and we played very well running out winners by five tries to one. In the second match we came up against a very good Birr side. Birr won the match and we then knew we had to pull out all the stops in the remaining two games. Next up were Longford and the Mullingar lads bounced right back from the Birr game to win this one by six tries to two.The last match of the day was against Tullamore and we knew that a win was needed if we wanted to qualify for the Lienster Finals. In a great game of rugby Mullingar ran out winners by three tries to one and qualified for the Lienster Finals which will be held on April 4.Next week our Under 8s, 9s and 10s are all away to Coolmine for a friendly. The bus will be leaving at 9.45am from the Club.ResultsUnder 18s Cup North Kildare 10. Mullingar 41.Under 15s Cup Terenure 15, Mullingar 22.