Mullingar Mavericks lose to Old Wesley

Mullingar Mavericks entertained the might of one of Dublin's big rugby clubs Old Wesley but were not overawed by their reputation or swagger.Mullingar Under 21s are a great group of lads and are not afraid of any team in this strong league and with Mullingar lying just 1 point behind Old Wesley at the top of the league this was always going to be a big encounter. Mullingar started very strong with great hits from Adam Karroum and Ethan Connolly able assisted by Colin Mc Cormack and Mark Reilly who cleared out all Wesley jerseys in the ruck. With good ball from the pack came the first big move into Wesley territory with Robert Allen playing 7 turning over one of the Wesley rucks and the quick thinking David Butler spun the ball to the ever exciting outhalf Alan Brabazon who skipped pass right out to Patrick Simpkin who cut through them like butter and went in under the posts which Stuart Flynn converted easily and the score was 7 nil. Like always Mullingar gave away 3 points straight away after they score a habit that has to be eradicated and something we need to work on mentally. Mullingar were more than capable of holding their own scrums and were much better in the lineout than they have been but we were losing the odd ruck again and we allowed Old Wesley territory. John Hughes and Daragh Daly were playing their hearts out and it was these 2 players able assisted by Greg berry that powered over a Wesley ruck to allow David Butler swing another ball to Alan Brab and with a clever chip /drop goal attempt Patrick Simpkin picked up the ball feed Kevin Pyke on the wing who cut back inside slipped the ball to Gareth flowers who then released Patrick Simpkin in the corner for another try. Stuart Flynn stepped up and nearly made a very hard conversation into the wind to leave the score 12 points to 3. Mullingar then again nearly let their opposition in from the kick off but some good work by James Neale and Alan Brabazon put Patrick Simpkin on the outside and from inside our 22 he ran into their 22 and decided to pass to Kevin Pyke when the right option was back inside to Adam Karroum who would have been clear to the line and under the posts to leave the score 19 to 3 and surely out of reach but alas it wasn't to be. With 7 minutes of injury time played and a penalty to Wesley inside their own 22 they kicked to our 22 took the lineout and a serous of short drives and 4 minutes later went over in the corner for a try to leave the score 12 to 10 at half time. On such games little things like a simple pass the wrong way games are won and lost and this last score although now 11 minutes into injury time. Second half the game plan was to play with the wind into Wesley's 22 but this went out the window when Wesley brought 7 players off the bench all better than what was on the field from the start and these lads took control taking ball after ball up in the forwards and not letting our lads get their hands on the ball at all. Mullingar's Defence was great and the introduction of Philip Butler and Connor Murphy was a huge benefit to the team as Philip in Particular tackled very well and made ground every time he got the ball. But Wesley were in control and we forgot our game plan and tried to play our way out of trouble rather than use the boot and we were penalised for entering the side of a ruck which was clearly a incorrect decision but the ref gave it and Wesley went ahead by 13 points to 12 And then a strange decision from the restart Stuart Flynn kicked the ball into their 22 it bounced and rolled just over the try line they touched it down and the ref said scrum back which was a incorrect decision as it should have been a 22. This was harsh considering directly from this scrum Wesley made a move into our 22 and got another dubious penalty to leave the score 16 points to 12 in favour of Old Wesley and only 10 minutes left on the clock.For some reason this sparked Mullingar into action and there was only one team in the last 10 minutes with Mullingar Throwing everything at their opponents and the new legs of Dan Kenny helping in the drives. Mullingar were all over Old Wesley at this stage and they got a penalty in front of the posts but the Referee said last play so Mullingar Ran it and for 4 minutes the last play went on with Mullingar going within inches of a try firstly from Philip Butler and then Alan Brabazon then John Hughes was held up over the line and then just when it looked like we had a overlap a bad last pass went forward and that was it a brave effort but only a losing bonus point and Mullingar under 21s first defeat at home.Mullingar Mavericks are still on course to make the Semi Finals but will have to improve on decision making and confidence in their own ability because our heads go down thinking these are better than us when we proved by no means were they better just the score went away from us because we lacked the killer tactic. Now most importantly and the big difference is not skill level as our lads have more skill than their opponents but our opponents were fitter and calmer under pressure and that comes from training as the Dublin teams have 2 or 3 training sessions a week where we only get to train on a Friday night as all are away. So over Christmas we need to take advantage of our time off and make sure we get fit as we have only 2 games left in the league before the knock out stage and we need to increase our intensity as one thing this game has proved is that if we want and intend to compete at this level with the super powers of club rugby then we need our commitment and fitness up. SO let's get stuck in lads we deserve better Mullingar RFC needs to know the future is good with our 21s so let's work hard over the next few weeks.Many thanks to all the subs not used Stephen Woods, Blaine Healy, Robert Bourke and Owen Mc Cormack these are the lads who are at training every week and are pushing hard to get on that field so thanks lads and we need everyone pushing for his place.Training this Friday night 7.30 then on Sunday Lunchtime we are going to do a workout in the gym a plyometric workout and you will all get a text on that time.Thanks to all the parents and spectators who came along it was good to see there was a good support for these young men and it makes a difference when there are people supporting them.