Thirds 0 – Princeton 27

Wegians thirds shook off the cobwebs on Sunday with a match against the American touring side Princeton.

Princeton got off to a great start when a penalty attempt hit the post and the American chasers were quickest to react claiming a try from their efforts. The conversion was easily added by their number 10.

Princeton kept pressing forward and made the next breakthrough when a chip into the Wegians 22 put the defence under pressure. Joe Kerins looked to have done enough to kill the action and give away a 5m scrum but the ref saw it differently and granted Princeton the try when again their eager chaser pounced on the loose ball in the end goal. The match tape has been requested for an enquiry! The score at the break, 12-0.

A wet day lead to plenty of handling errors on both sides; which in turn left it to the packs to give the pitch the look of a muddy festival. The Wegians pack looked much improved on the previous days endeavour and stood toe to toe in the scrum.

The backs put together some nice moves despite the conditions but could not make the final yards over the line despite threatening on a few occasions. Princeton were well organised and kept chipping away, they ran in three tries in the second half with no response from the thirds.

John Folan’s K9 friends looked to have rattled the Americans when cries of “There’s a pooch on the pitch” could be heard but unfortunately the visitors kept to the job at hand and closed out the game.

Man of the match: went to Rob McClelland who put in an excellent performance on the wing. This was his first full game in the sky blue and with his age being the right side of blackjack, he has a bright future in the game.