Navan cruise to Towns' Cup win

The snowfall that forced the cancellation of this original fixture only served to postpone the inevitable as Navan opened the defence of their Provincial Towns" Cup with an easy victory over Newbridge at Balreask Old on Sunday. Newbridge travelled to Navan in the hope of avenging their earlier Leinster League Div 1 defeat, but instead they were handed a rugby lesson in how to retain possession, win turnovers and score tries from breakdowns and set moves. Just a week after claiming the league title and a place in the All-Ireland League play-off round robin series, Navan showed no signs of a hangover as they forced Newbridge onto the back foot for the majority of the contest. On a blustery and bitterly cold afternoon this game was never going to turn into a kicking contest and that suited Navan as they are still without their hugely influential out-half Ryan Roberts. However, Simon Donnelly deputised as fly-half and was very potent as an attacking threat, especially in bringing the ball into contact and securing phase after phase of possession for the hosts. Scrum-half Kieran Mattson was also willing to make the hard yards as his sniping attacks kept the Newbridge inside forwards busy for most of the afternoon. If there was a criticism, it was that Mattson didn"t spray the ball wide on enough occasions when Navan had men over. It is understandable that the scrum-half chose to keep the action tight because of the unpredictable wind, but when Navan did enjoy a couple of breaks and wide attacks in the latter stages of the contest they managed to run in two tries to prove their superiority on the scoreboard. Navan were dominant in every sector. The scrum was over-powering, the line-out was an effective tool with Bernard Smyth stealing several throws and at full-back Karl Manning was as solid as a rock and as quick as lightning on the break. The chasm in quality was immense. Newbridge tried to restrict Navan, but too many mistakes, especially from their diminutive full-back Karl Darragh, allowed Navan in for six tries. Despite Darragh"s difficulties in handling, he did provide his side"s only bright point when he kicked and gathered a superb up and under in the 32nd minute and set up David Hogan for the Kildare side"s only score that made it 5-12. The brilliance of that score didn"t detract from the gulf in class between the two sides. The power and impact of Sylvanus Iro was difficult to stop and with John Duffy, Eddie Dunne, Paul Feeney and Smyth also excelling Navan were capable of creating chance after chance. It was only by the grace of an over-fussy referee who gave grounded players very little time to release possession that Navan didn"t rack up a much bigger total. The windy conditions were a direct contribution to Navan"s opening try after seven minutes. When Newbridge were punished for a high tackle on Iro, captain Donnelly opted to kick for touch, that was the trend for the afternoon as neither side kicked at goal when handed penalties. From the line-out Conor Brady overthrew because of the wind, but Eoin King gathered at the back of the line and powered through to make it 5-0 with Donnelly missing the conversion. Seven minutes later Darragh"s mistake allowed Navan gather from a knock-on, work through the phases before Simon Hogan weaved his way through several tackles before touching down. Donnelly kicked the extra points to stretch Navan"s lead to 12-0. Darragh made amends with his superb contribution to Newbridge"s only try to close the gap to seven points (5-12) at the break. It only took Navan four minutes of the second-half to reaffirm their supremacy. A terrible put into the scrum by Hogan saw the ball pop out the far side of the set piece and Mattson was quickest to react to gain possession and dive over the try line. Donnelly was short with the difficult conversion into a biting wind. A superb block by Morris McAuley led to Navan"s fourth try. Donnelly"s dummy pass skipped Hogan and landed in the grateful arms of Mark Harrington and the inside centre strolled through for an easy try. A plethora of substitutions disrupted the pattern of the game, but the result was never in doubt. Once Navan settled into their rhythm again they managed three more late tries with the magnificent Iro, who moved to outside centre, claiming the last two and Thomas Geraghty also getting in on the act. It was just the result Navan needed to maintain their winning run with the AIL play-offs very much to the front of their minds. Navan - K Manning, M McAuley, S Hogan, M Harrington, S Donnelly, K Mattson; E Dunne, C Brady, E King, S Byrne, J Duffy, P Feeney, B Smyth, S Iro. Subs - D Harlin for Brady, C Joyce for Mattson, D King for Dunne, T Clarke for McAuley. Newbridge - K Darragh, G Duffy, D O"Callaghan, P Doyle, N Hannigan, B Swindlehurst, D Hogan; C Whelehan, N Duggan, M Doyle, L Heavey, M Foley, S Melville, S O"Brien, R McAnn. Subs - P Young for Doyle, I Burns for McAnn, R Behan for Heavey, Heavey for O"Brien, R O"Connor for Hannigan.