Navan in the pink after a facile win

BALREASK Old was the proverbial hive of activity on Saturday afternoon. All the pitches at the venue were utilised at one stage with youngsters of various ages and sizes taking part in competitive games. At least they looked competitive which couldn"t be said for the main event of the day - the Leinster League Div 1 encounter between Navan and Wicklow. Navan were simply in a different class and the scoreline raises the old point. Were Navan this good or were Wicklow as abject as the result suggests? Some pointer to that question was that Wicklow were without eight regulars. One of the busiest people of the afternoon was the young scorekeeper who had little time to take a breather as the home side racked up score after score, particularly in the opening half. Also busy was Navan scrum-half Kieran Mattson who was in sparkling form running in three tries. The Kiwi, who has Irish connections, was lightning quick around the scrums. Karl Manning also capped a fine display with a hat-trick of tries. Every time Navan got the ball the visitor"s backline looked as vulnerable as a US bank hit hard by the credit crunch. The new rules encourage teams who try to counter-attack and Navan certainly did that at every opportunity. When it came to rucking, mauling, passing and kicking the home team were dominant although they will know it won"t get much easier than this. The home side wore pink for the afternoon as part of their awareness drive about breast cancer service and research. Maybe they will wear the distinctive jerseys for the rest of the season. Pink was very much the theme of the afternoon with even pink champagne on offer for those who wished to imbibe. Last year over €7,000 was generated for breast cancer research through the fundraising exercise. The hope is that they have improved on that this time around. The whole idea of pink day came from player / coach Brad Harris who saw how it could work so well back in his native Australia. It was fitting that Harris grabbed the opening touchdown in Saturday"s try-fest. The conditions were dry and perfect for running rugby on Saturday and Navan didn"t have to be asked twice to exploit the acres of space to slice through the Wicklow defence. Perhaps when the grounds get heavier Navan will find things a bit more difficult, but this was as good a start to the season as could be expected and an ideal warm-up for next weekned"s test away to Boyne on Sunday. The Navan players know that it is unlikely to get as easy as this anytime soon. 'This was a great start for us, but we"re not reading much into the scoreline, we have Boyne next and it"s always a very tough game, ' said Trevor Conaty. By half-time on Saturday it was 57-0 with tries from Karl Manning (two), Harris, Mark Harrington, Sylvanus Iro, David King, Mattson and Ryan Roberts setting the home side on their way. While there were plenty of fine displays from Navan players, Manning was outstanding with his pace and ability to side-step an opponent. One of Manning"s two tries within a minute of each other midway through the opening half was exceptional. He won the ball in midfield, kicked a garryowen and was in place to win possession from the bounce before running 30 metres to get the touchdown. Roberts also tagged on seven conversions in the opening half which included one fine effort from out on the right. Ragged as they were, Wicklow showed a little bit of pride in the second-half and at least contained Navan who made a series of substitutions to give players a run-out. Still, Navan were dominant and further tries from Mattson (two) and Manning and two conversions from Simon Donnelly wrapped up the big win on an exceptional day for the Balreask Old outfit. Navan - K Manning, M Harrington, R Conaty, S Donnelly, S Hogan, R Roberts, K Mattson; E King, C Brady, D King, B Harris, P Feeney, T Clarke, B Smyth, S Iro. Subs - E Dunne for E King, E Hanratty for D King, J Duffy for Harris, P Regan for Feeney, T Geraghty for Hogan. Wicklow - N O"Rourke, S Copeland, P Flaherty, M McNulty, R Andrews, A Byrne, D O"Rourke; S Norton, E Killeen, P Jameson, B Armstrong, C Bonus, S Donoghue, J Kearney, M Geraghty. Referee - Noel Branigan (Leinster Branch).