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The Newry U12 RFC team shone bright when they travelled to the Cooke Blitz at the weekend coming home with four wins from four games.
The first game started at speed with Newry fronting up with some big hits against neighbours Portadown who had possession for the first 3 mins but were sent backwards with Newry's defence dominant.
When Newry finally got their hands on the ball there was no looking back, phase after phase was quickly turned into points with Newry running out 3 tries to 1 winners.
The second game against Malone started in similar fashion with Newry dominating the contact and using quick ball to catch the opposition flat-footed.
Again, the pace out wide proved too much with Anthony Magennis helping himself to a brace of tries early on. This sparked Oran Hughes to help himself to a few more forays over the line.
Newry surprised Malone with changes of play from the base of the scrum with Finn Laverty bossing proceedings. The Blue and Whites continued to offer up a great display of total rugby to run out 5 - 1 deserved winners.
The focus switched to game three with Civil Service firmly in Newry’s sights and they began the encounter at lightning pace with a few quick passes leading to a straight-forward opening score.
Newry should have pushed on from this but were out of sorts for a spell and after a nasty head knock to Anthony Magennis Newry finally started to the back to basics rugby and ran out comfortably by 4 tries to 2.
Everyone at the club wishes Anthony a speedy recovery.
Everything now hinged on game 4 against local rivals Banbridge and Newry were up to the challenge.
The early exchanges between the teams were well matched, with both sides running and tackling hard, Newry were unlucky not to score on 3 occasions being pushed into touch in the right-hand corner.
However, the pressure soon paid off with Newry running over two quick tries in succession. Newry maintained their high-pressure tactics which forced Banbridge but then with pressure came the result, 2 tries in quick succession. The pressure was immense and forced Banbridge into a kicking game which yielded two tries for the Bann lads, but the Blitz was decided when Oran Hughes collected the ball deep in his own half to run in one of the tries of the tournament to secure a 3 tries to 2 victory to the Blue and Whites and make it four wins from four.
The Under 12 management and coaches were delighted with the performance of the lads who showed great character and love for the sport and gelled as a team for a well-deserved Blitz win.
