On Saturday St Gerards travelled from Bray to Pirrie Park to play Methodist College in a School’s Friendly.

Whether it was because Methody were missing 4 players on Ulster duty, or because the game was played over 3 x 20 periods, but this was a most ‘unMethody’ like performance. There was an early season rustiness as the team lacked cohesion, coordination and penetration.

The early stages of the game were tentative from both teams. Eventually, on 16 minutes, St Gerard’s took advantage of a flat Methody defence. Oisin Denver chipped over and won the race to the touchdown for an unconverted try. Four minutes later Benjamin Sloan gathered the ball outside his ‘22’ and evaded despairing tackles to outflank the defence to score an unconverted . . .