It is now almost 1 am on Thursday, March 20th. The bus has just returned from our 3rd match against a club in Tipperary called Clonmel RFC. We are staying in a hostel in Cork and it is about a 2 hour drive to the club. Our matches of course were Wednesday night but with the long ride home we passed into Thursday. However, it is best to report while everything is fresh in one’s mind so despite real fatigue here goes:
Clonmel originally had planned to have two games simultaneously but as they were building bleachers on one of their main pitches they chose to have our 2nd XV play their U16 squad at 6pm followed by their U18s playing our 1st XV. Our 2nd XV played a great game and moved the ball well in the tight and controlled much of the loose.
However, as one might imagine, these lads who have been playing together since the age of 10 showed great skill on the outside and were able to crack SDs defense at the corners. There was no quit in our boys but eventually they fell to the hosts 17 to 7.
The 1st XV and the Clonmel U18s then came on the field and with all of the usual pre-game emotional promotion the kick off to begin the match was at 7:10pm. It appeared from the get go that our boys would be in over their heads, somewhat like the match versus Ashburne’s U18 side. And this was confirmed with an early try in the corner. This was a very skilled and physically strong side, certainly as good or better than the Ashburne lads. But something magical seemed to prompt our boys and they somehow managed to keep covering the field and spoiling what often looked like sure tries. Locks were coming across to support the backs and made huge tackles on their outside runners to time and time again spoil their efforts to cross the try line. 
After much of the first half being spent defending, one of our big props went for a ramble and suddenly became unstoppable and just when the Clonmel finally managed to bring him down, our #10 was there and our prop made a beautiful off load allowing our fly half to scamper in between the posts for our first blood. As the game progressed, South Delta’s confidence seemed to keep growing and our defense just kept getting stronger. So it had to, because the Irish sides show amazing skill at steeling ball in the loose and have kicking skills learned from years of Gaelic Football. Our deep backs seemed to sense the distance and their positioning throughout allowed their side to keep returning and penetrating. SDs fly half avoided several tackles behind his 22 and managed to get away a kick that did not come close to touch, but he had the foresight to chase his kick and snatched it from their fullback and scored the next try.
The second half proved to be a bit more testing for the boys as the host side was not about to walk off the field as losers to this Canadian side. But something seemed to keep pumping the Delta side up and they were just not going to let the Irish in. Eventually the Clonmel lads scored an unconverted try and this seemed to give them a lift and put us back on our defensive heels for much of the half. But again we broke out and eventually after some praiseworthy rucking and rolling mauls another of our props crashed over the line and another converted try was on the board.
The score was now 21 to 5 but the Irish side was determined but with each flurry of great back play, our defense was just not about to let down. Eventually they crossed over again but could not convert so the score now about half way thru the second half was 21 to 10. They just kept coming and managed to score again but with no conversion. The South Delta side however just kept battling realizing that a converted try would result in a win for the hosts. When the final whistle blew with the score 21 to 15 for our side, the entire squad of 39 boys was elated.
I cannot remember watching a game with so much heart and so much commitment. Our team somehow reached a new level in pace to the breakdown and defensive skills. Most interesting was the fact that the second half was over 50 minutes. It seemed that the ref who was also the U18 coach was having a problem with the time keeping side. However, he eventually blew the final whistle only yards from our goal line and that paved the way for some superb hospitality. This is a club worth hosting and certainly worth visiting again. We are the first Canadian side they have played and I think the boys did the country proud.
What is also very noteworthy is the conduct of these young men from South Delta. They are incredibly polite where ever they go and deserve a lot of praise for how they have handled themselves on this trip. A bit of a lie in tomorrow, breakfast at 10am, bus departs at 11am to Bunratty Castle, then onto our hostel in Limerick. On Friday morning they will have a training session with the Munster RFC coach so much is expected to come from that.
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