Two Wexford men put in fine displays against Welsh minnows the Dragons at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night in what was an unusually drab Leinster performance…
However, they did come out on top with a bonus point victory on a score-line of 34-6 in Cian Healy’s record breaking appearance for the Province.
The excitement levels for Charlie Tector and I believe Deeny also must have been off the charts as they played their very first match on the hallowed turf of Ireland’s International rugby stadium at the Lansdowne road ground.
Brian had a solid outing in the tight doing everything asked of him from the position of second row. He was also physical in contact and towering in the lineout.
He started out in fine fettle producing a nice carry with two Dragon’s players needed to take him down. Soon after, he was on Defensive duties mastering two fine tackles in a row on Welsh opposition. Unfortunately, his next contribution wasn’t the best, but it was the only big blot on his copy book with a poor penalty conceded at lineout time.
Smartened and upset by the error, Brian decided to go on a big powerful rumble for 10 metres in his next play down the right hand touchline, creating chaos in Dragons ranks.
The Wexford Wanderers’ man was professionally going about his basics now with a good strong hit on a Newport man, then followed up with a brilliant ruck clear out and more good tackling. Into the later stages of the first half, Deeny took and unbelievable line-out off the top, showing magnificent athleticism.
My appreciation for his nimbleness went up a notch with a beautifully impressive dip to pick up a loose ball close to the ground, showing great agility for a big man. He finished off the half strongly with a fabulous pick and go with later led to a Leinster try.
In the second half he didn’t have much time on the field to impress, being substituted on 50 minutes. Despite that, did have time to take a great lineout out soaring into the air and then aggressively ordering a massive Leinster lineout forward which later led to a try.
Charlie Tector produced a really good display from 12 , but did make a few errors in defence which he will look at and learn from. Following on from Edinburgh, his attacking physicality and his passing were wonderful taking on two men at a time often and crisp passing also.
He start the match well with a good clean tackle on a Dragons man.
Unfortunately then, a sweet pass off a Dragons move caught him out, missing a read on a nice line by the Dragons centre and left a big hole for a dangerous Dragons attack.
However the Rathnure man wasn’t to be fussed and followed up by two more really nice textbook tackles to sycthe down opposition players with fantastic determination. He was back in the groove and produced a stunning tackle to give a good belt to a Newport man on the attack. Tector then gladly got on attacking mode with a fantastic pass off the right to set up a brilliant Leinster attack down the right wing and the followed this with a bullying dint up the middle on attacking bring it into ferocious contact.
Later in the same move, he took a good hit but dominated the collision with a bit of Blackstairs toughness, got his hands free and off-loaded to Jack Conan who dotted down in the corner for a Leinster try. Charlie had showed great initiative and support skills by following the ball the whole way across the pitch to become assist in the try.
Charlie finished off the half with a great pass off the base of the ruck, as acting scrum half.
Into the second half, the Rathnure man made a great tackle and soon after made a fabulously technical and ferocious ruck hit which saw him and his teammates march through for Conan to turn over possession for Leinster. He hit another lovely ruck soon after to provided quick ball.
Next, Tector was on the war path running a good, hard line up the middle barrelling into two Dragons forwards, a second row and a back row and won the contact in an impress rampage which led to penalty advantage to Leinster. Soon after he was back playing the role of scrum half always alert to a missing Luke McGrath, thus speeding up this latest attack to keep the tempo up.
Again he was back making a nice run up the field. Just before he was substituted on about 60 minutes the Blackstair’s man did brilliantly to suss out the lightning bolt that is Rio Dyer, gave him little option in limiting his space to evade and then put in an amazing tackle on him, using intelligence to corral him and then great strength to take him down.
It was a great night for Wexford rugby to see a Wexford Wanderers man and a Enniscorthy RFC man hit the Lansdowne Road turf under the Friday night sky and play in a class stadium like the Aviva. It’s something that they would have dreamt about as youngsters.
It’s incredible for us as Wexford people to see the two of them progress in their careers along with Tadgh Furlong, Temi Lassisi, and Paul Boyle meaning every club in Wexford is represented with inter-provincial stars.
For local kids around Wexford rugby clubs, these guys are amazing role models and they provide huge inspiration to them with a clear message: it’s possible to make it to Provincial rugby – and even International rugby.
Byron Jones
From Wexford, Byron writes on Wexford lifestyle, history, sports, and nature.