ER

Our second in-house game of the season was played in unseasonably fine weather last Saturday. Once again, it managed to throw up a few more headaches and keep the Emergency Rooms of Brussels ticking over.

We lost Shane Ryan in the first outing and last Saturday we picked up a few more injuries. Denzer ended up in A&F with his wrist, Paddy joined him with one broken finger and one dislocated for good measure. Al Rowan exited late on with a pulled hamstring. They join an already lengthy list of concerns including the likes of Giller, Pearce, Mull, Lynchy and Laffan.

This leaves our panels for the first outing of the year next weekend decimated to say the least.

It was not all doom and gloom though. Having so many injured people means we could afford two managers and two stats men for the game!! Manning the whistle on this occassion was Ray MacDonagh, an experienced referee who the girls found. Again, as with Willie the last day, it makes a big difference to have a proper referee. He gets the right balance in terms of physicality and the game flowed nicely. In recent tournaments we have played, players have been earning frees far too easily by appealing or falling over! The game is nearly moving in the direction of being non-contact but guys enjoyed Saturdays more robust exchanges.

The game itself threw up some tasty battles, particularly between Crusher and Timmy who went at it all guns blazing from the start. In the end, the 'Reds' won out on a score line of 2-16 to 3-5, led by an impressive debut from Corkman Paul Kelleher at full forward. The game was also notable for the return of Will at midfield.

The biggest thing our lads are missing is match practice and the experiences that brings. The pitch at the VUB is very accessible for us on a Saturday so we will do it as much as possible as the year progresses.

The players approach to the game helps as well as they all see the value in it. The players pay for the pitch themselves and both teams were properly prepared in terms of organisation, warm-up, switches etc. Everyone brought a competitive edge to it. Even afterwards, it’s clear who won and who lost and that has to be healthy.

Looking towards the weekend, the injury situation means we are still in the process of confirming the panels and will not be able to do so until we see who we have after training tomorrow night. Watch this space!