Remax leinster League

[jimmy the bone]

Who are the promotion contenders???
Div 1 Monkstown to win Garda, Enniscorthy to be relegated
Div 2 Wicklow to win with Roscrea Coolmine and Newbridge to fight for second. Railway and Athy to go down
Div 3 Tullow and Clane go up

[groundhog]

Jimmy,

Welcome Aboard, Naas are putting a big push into promotion this year and will be contenders as will Skerries who are rebuilding but have retained a lot of plyers plus have a few returning heros. Think you might be right on the relegation front, Cill Dara are lacking in strength in dept, could be a concern, bonus points will be crucial. Division 2 will be interesting, Edenderry have a new coach, Johan Taylor who has a tremendous pedigree and their home ground is already a fortress, throw in Coolmine, Roscrea, Newbridge, NK, Wicklow, New Ross and Portarlington, going to be tough to get out of that. Malahide are developing and will have learnt from last season and Clane should bouce back.

Div 1
Predictions: Winners Naas, Relegated: Garda (has to happen sooner) and Enniscorthy.

Div 2
Predictions: Winners: Roscrea, Promoted Edenderry Relegated: Ashbourne, Railway Union

Div 3
Predictions: Winners Malahide, Promoted: Clane

[Sea_point]

Who are the promotion contenders???
Div 1 Monkstown to win Garda, Enniscorthy to be relegated
Div 2 Wicklow to win with Roscrea Coolmine and Newbridge to fight for second. Railway and Athy to go down
Div 3 Tullow and Clane go up

Here's what Dr Kildare the Munstefan thinks on the Munster Rugby site...

Remax Leinster League
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2006 16:31
Sorry folks but The vast majority of rugby people in Leinster outside of Dublin are Munster supporters. As a result all the teams in the Leinster league are provincial teams. We had this thread on the leinster website but the muppets in Donnybrook changed the format of their message board and now its rubbish. So if you don't mind we would like to move our thread to our country brethern. For what its worth here are my predictions for next season.

Div 1 Monkstown to win
The Gaurds and Enniscorthy to relagated
Div 2 Newbridge to win with Wicklow 2nd
Railway Union and Athy to be relegated
Div3 Tullow to win Arklow 2nd

[groundhog]

Sorry folks but The vast majority of rugby people in Leinster outside of Dublin are Munster supporters.

That's absolute rubbish, pointless in saying Lunsters don't exist as they do but they are far from the majority.

[Eve]

Lads - that thread is being discussed elsewhere

http://forum.leinsterfans.com/viewtopic ... 32&start=0

Let's keep this thread for discussion of the Remax Leinster league

[Tommasi]

Div 1 Monstown Up Garda & Kilkenny Down
Div 2 Roscrea & Wicklow Up Ashbourne & New Ross Down
Div 3 Clane & Longford

[jimmy the bone]

know Wicklow had a good year last year but they probably missed their chance. Newbridge have put together a very strong squad alot of ex Newbridge College players with senior experience and along with Bernard Jackman they seem to have all the amunition however Roscrea and now that Edenderry have recruited Johan Taylor along with teams like Coolmine its going to be very difficult to get out of that division.
As for division 1 lets hope Naas get relegated

[Sundy]

know Wicklow had a good year last year but they probably missed their chance. Newbridge have put together a very strong squad alot of ex Newbridge College players with senior experience and along with Bernard Jackman they seem to have all the amunition however Roscrea and now that Edenderry have recruited Johan Taylor along with teams like Coolmine its going to be very difficult to get out of that division.
As for division 1 lets hope Naas get relegated

Is Jackman not allocated to clontarf again this year? Thats what the offical site lists as his club anyway..

[groundhog]

Is Jackman not allocated to clontarf again this year? Thats what the offical site lists as his club anyway..

Jackman coaches Newbridge RFC, he coached Tullow before them, building a good rep as a coach.

[Eve]

Is Jackman not allocated to clontarf again this year? Thats what the offical site lists as his club anyway..

Jackman coaches Newbridge RFC, he coached Tullow before them, building a good rep as a coach.

Interesting - didn't know that! Thanks groundhog

[jimmy the bone]

I believe former Connacht and Clontarf prop AJ Clarke is just about to put pen to paper for Naas. He will be a very healthy acquisition for Naas still don't think its enough to make them contenders. Monkstown to win but will not go up

[Tommasi]

know Wicklow had a good year last year but they probably missed their chance. Newbridge have put together a very strong squad alot of ex Newbridge College players with senior experience and along with Bernard Jackman they seem to have all the amunition however Roscrea and now that Edenderry have recruited Johan Taylor along with teams like Coolmine its going to be very difficult to get out of that division.
As for division 1 lets hope Naas get relegated

Newbridge seem to put together a strong squad every season, J the B.What you guys lack is the mental character to take you up another level but good luck to you.Maybe you might be able to convince your new u 20's coach,young Jamie Heaslip, to tog out for you

[8M LEINSTAW]

JTB,

Would agree with the last comment. The barrier to Newbridge getting promotion is not the other teams, but what's in their heads. Newbridge wouldn't be the first team bursting with potential to not reach the level they should, but a little more time out spent every week getting the team mentally sharper and mentally stronger for the full 80 min would go a long way...

[jimmy the bone]

There might be some truth in this however when you consider that only three seasons ago Bernard Jackman took over a club that had only won one competitive game in two years winning Div 3 in his 2nd season with fixtures away to Railway, Aer lingus and Athy who would have been considered strong sides in that division. Ally that with a league pennant last year for the Newbridge J2's along with our twenties only missing out on a JP semi spot in their first year of asking purely because Wesley withdrew resulting in us losing a game in hand on Trinity. I think you will agree this is a very healthy picture. When your forward pack is centred around Munsters finest like Johnny Downey and Morgan Foley mental strenght is not an issue. However if newbridge are to become a force they most deliver on their promise this season. If we were to be promoted it would be a huge turn around in four seasons. As also proven by Cill Dara if hard graft is put in small unfashionable clubs can be hugely successful. With the prospect of 3 Kildare teams in Div 1 a real possibility it bodes well for rugby in the area.

[8M LEINSTAW]

JTB,

Ever hear the phrase 'Yesterday's bread is soon forgotten?'. Nobody else in LL2 cares about how far Newbridge has come in 3 years. They're all concentrating on the here and now, something I suggest you and Newbridge do too instead of cooing as to how far you've come.

There's a general perception amongst teams that play Newbridge on a regular basis that if you really put it up to them for a sustained period of time during a match that the pack will wilt or the backs will make daft decisions in attack and defense and scoring opportunities will appear for the opposition. I don't doubt the hardness of Foley and Downey but what happens when the opposition decides to target someone else or a different area of the park?

You need to lose this softness tag if you want to be successful. It's not about height, weight or fitness test results or with what club or what level some of the players have previously played at. It's about really wanting promotion and doing whatever it takes to win the match. When's the last time Newbridge won a game it didn't deserve to?, or beat a better team while playing badly only because they were too stubborn to lose?

[groundhog]

8L,

Yesterday's bread is soon forgotten?'

Think you're actually wrong there, success breeds success and winning trophies is great for confidence. Newbridge's J2's success shouldn't dismissed to quickly as it shows good strength in dept, a definite requisite at this level. When Cill Dara marched through the divisions their J2's were the most successful in the province, Cill Dara struggled last year and it was the no coincidence that their J2s were at their poorest in 4 years.

Not sure about the mental toughness either, Newbridge won their fair share of tight games last year, the win in Clane springs to mind, a must win game for both sides.

It will be an interesting season for them, they're heading in the right way and it will be mighty craic to have them in Division 1 next season.

[8M LEINSTAW]

Groundhog,

Don't want to turn this into a Newbridge slagging match BUT in league and cup fixtures - with the exception of Clane who were really in freefall anyway - the record isn't great. Sorry Clane but the final league position doesn't lie. Clane caught Newbridge with a couple of early sucker punches before the real Newbridge and the real Clane showed up.

Newbridge has not won a lot of matches it could have won. In the league last season Newbridge firsts COULD have beaten Dundalk, Wicklow and Enniscorthy but lost to all three. Newbridge SHOULD have beaten Portarlington, Edenderry and New Ross, but only got a draw from the New Ross match. Yes they beat Rathdrum in a tight one over there, but they nearly blew that too. They also had Tullamore in bother in the PTC R1 but let them off the hook to go on a run and win the cup.

I completely agree with you observations about the J2s and I'd include the U20s in that too, but my point is they're not the J1s, and at the business end of LL1 and LL2, there's a big difference between playing J1 and J2 rugby. On average 5/6 J2s or U20s would be good quality J1 material - so consider them the subs that makes the 20 man squad. At the end of the day, you can only field 15.

I'm a Newbridge RFC member. I've been to a lot of Newbridge matches in the last couple of seasons and it would really lift me and a lot of the supporters if the firsts could start to win some big matches against top ranked opposition.

To conclude - as a first team - fitness levels, experience, skills and speed or weight and other successful teams in the club will get you so far and beat a certain percentage of teams. When you're up against a team with similar attributes you need that little bit extra. Newbridge are very close to the real deal - they just need to work on their mental game before and during games. I know these lads are not softies, they just need to go out on a regular basis and prove it to the opposition.

When you're out of breath and on your hands and knees in the freezing mud in somewhere like Edenderry or Kilkenny. The opposition and their supporters are going baloobas, there's a score in the match and not a Newbridge fan to be heard.

Q. Are you willing to find the energy and bloodymindedness from somewhere deep down to deny them the win knowing it's really going to hurt you?

A. Only the players can answer that one. If the answer is no, we're in trouble. If the answer is yes, prove it.

I'm probably showing my age with the 'Yesterday's bread is soon forgotten' quote...

[jimmy the bone]

I guess we will have to do our talking on the field

[groundhog]

Good win on Sunday, were Carlow's J1s really that bad or did you guys play exceptional..

[jimmy the bone]

None of the above Carlow were muck for a senior club with ambition to field that sort of sh*te is worrying for them. We were no great shakes missing eight guys, to be fair not all of them would have been alot better than what was there, still room for optimism...