Back in September a group of girls from Old Wesley and a group of girls from De La Salle Palmerston joined together to create De La Wes. The ambition of the squad was to continue to play rugby at whatever level they could, to join forces to create a great team environment and to break down barriers with girls participating in rugby and to prove that combining two clubs can be a success.
On Saturday this squad of girls travelled to Balbriggan RFC to take part in a special match, this match was a league semi final, something that we had dreamed of, something that we had worked towards and now something that was reality. With the squad still missing several key players through injuries we took to the field with clear blue skies shining on us.
At half time we were down, but certainly not out. We rallied and came again and got our richly deserved try after knocking on the defensive door over and over again. The travelling support of parents went ecstatic as they knew how important the try was for the girls to know that they can come again and continue to play our brand of rugby. The result in the end was 5-32.
With Brigg continuing to lead from the full back position, Goldstein helped with the defence in key areas and our debutant Neary switching to scrum half the three girls played their heart out. Unfortunately the game came too soon for Steele who is now targeting the Metro games next month for her return from injury and along with McLoughlin and the older Neary, we are looking forward to the day that we have all the girls on the pitch playing for De La Wes.
The season isnt over yet, we still have three metro games to play in April (one of which is at Energia Park) while we are off to support the Irish Ladies 6 Nations squad at the Kingspan Stadium at the end of April.
If you would like to see what the squad does please follow us on Instagram at @Delawesgirlsu14rugby. This account was set up to increase the visibility of this squad and hopefully to increase the numbers – our long term goal – to have an AIL league team when they all reach 18 years of age.
