Our under 16s are struggling to get a good start in the very competitive Leinster Premier League South. Having played two games and narrowly losing in both, the good performances do nothing to cheer the boys who desperately desire positive results. Starting the season well in the area 10 a side competition, hammering all their opponents, the side are struggling to cope with the devastating injury run. Hooker Kevin White has been out with a broken thumb and news is that he will be absent a few weeks yet. A big loss in a front row that has been missing Conor O'Melia (knee), Daniel Meighan (sickness) and 15s prop Jake Parker (toe). This has forced massive changes to the pack, with Captain Ben Moore filling in very capably at hooker. Although doing a fine job, his absence from the back row is all too noticeable. The back row has also struggled with flanker Garoid Conway missing the start with a broken ankle in the first game.

The back line has also had its share of problems with injuries to seasoned players Ray Flynn and Conor O'Sullivan, both back injuries and Mark Canavan, winger is now out (ankle). Scrum half Nial Kernan (ribs) is also on the casualty list.

Hopefully, when a fully fit squad is available for selection, the results will turn more favourably.

Some new blood is always welcome and this season brings some promising new talent. Peter Hall from Lucan started playing only weeks ago and has had to make starts in both League games at prop and lock. A physically strong young man, he shows great promise for the future already demonstrating very good handling skills.

Gavin Egan, who grew into a mature player last season with our all conquering U16s has continued his good form into this season and is sure to be one of the foundation stones of this years pack.

A number of players have joined the squad from last years Under 14s and are making an impact. Noticeably centre Joe Taylor and flanker Colm Finnegan who have well established themselves at this level with 9 and 5 tries respectively.

This weekend brings a local derby with the strong North Kildare team. Promoted to the Premier League after a runaway win of division one last season, they look a tough outfit with a very physical pack.

Yes! It's only 2 months away and we are having our annual private members draw which raises much needed funds for the club tickets cost €100 the draw will take place in the club house on the 9th of December at 9pm (only 100 ticket's)

1st Prize	€2,500
2nd Prize	€1,500
3rd Prize	€500
4th Prize	€200
5th Prize	€200
6th Prize	€200
7th Prize	€200
8th Prize	€200

For More Information Contact Eamon

GREYSTONES 1st in table

the second of four homes to Leinster clubs this season.have overall a pretty poor AIBL record at home to other Leinster clubs ; entertain Barnhall for the first time in three AIBL meetings ;have won four of their five AIBL games at home to Leinster clubs over the past two seasons ;unlike last season, don't seem to have any ‘foreigners' on their senior side at the moment ;are giving 20-year-old former Ireland Youths prop Jamie Hagan AIBL game time on the first XV at the moment ;have just won their two openers for the first time since the 2001 / 02 season. MOST POINTS: 11 James Power

BARNHALL 4th in table

the second of four away games in Leinster this season;first played AIBL against Greystones in the 2002 / 03 season when they won 38-15 at Parsonstown;are on a hat-trick of AIBL victories over Greystones ;lost their two AIBL games on the road in Leinster last season and beat D.University at College Park last week ;may have to face their former prop John Hannon in the Greystones scrum today ;scrum half Eoin Burke, one of the Burkes of Barnhall, is in his fourth season as captain of the Co. Kildare club ;have just won their two openers for the first time in three seasons.MOST POINTS: 29 Cathal Connolly

Ireland lock/flanker Trevor Brennan is one of three Toulouse players to have been cited for foul play in their side's Heineken Cup defeat to Ulster last Saturday.

Brennan, who started in the second row for his 31st appearance for Toulouse in the competition, along with Omar Hasan and Salvatore Perugini, two of the former champions' props, are all in the firing line after Scotland's Iain Goodall, acting as the ERC-appointed Citing Commissioner, lodged his report from the Ravenhill tie.

In total, five players - Ospreys lock Brent Cockbain and Cardiff Blues winger Mosese Luveitasau - have been cited for incidents which occured over the course of the Heineken Cup's opening round.

Each player is to appear by an independent Disciplinary Committee, with the hearings to be conducted as soon as possible.

The aforementioned citings cover both Friday and Saturday's round one games, while the 50-hour citing window for matches played on Sunday closes today.

Leinster opened their Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive 37-20 victory over Gloucester at Lansdowne Road on Saturday... more

Ulster stunned Toulouse today in an outstanding first half display at a packed Ravenhill... more

At College Park in the centre of Dublin next Saturday, Dublin University play Barnhall in an AIB League Division Two fixture. D. University have been around rugby fields for more than 150 years and are, in fact, the oldest continuously playing rugby club in the world. Barnhall, from the Leixlip / Celbridge areas in Co. Kildare, were founded in 1969 as the Irish Meat Packers and attained senior status 30 years later, so becoming Leinster 's most recent senior club still competing in the AIBL.

The Trinity membership is drawn from graduates of the establishment and includes university dons and alumni, medical consultants, judges, solicitors, accountants, captains of industry and leaders in the business and financial world. Match days and social events, mostly golf outings and dinners, provide an opportunity for networking among the professionals.

Barnhall would not have such a high profile support base. Many members are technicians, sales representatives, public service employees, tradesmen in the building industry and small business firm personnel. Their president this season, Liam Coleman , is a retired army officer.

DUFC recruit their playing membership from the top rugby playing schools in the land and, indeed, from abroad. When archbishop John Charles McQuaid removed the ban on Catholics attending Trinity in the early 1970s the gates were opened for rugby players to arrive in from the schools of Dublin and its surrounding counties. The current club academy, under the direction of Tony Smeeth, awards bursaries each season to help the young students make ends meet.

Barnhall, on the other hand, look to their successful local underage youths section for their adult players. Unfortunately, not enough young players, nurtured by the club over the past few decades, have made it through to the senior side. On leaving school, many high calibre young players enter an apprenticeship and find it difficult to be available for training and weekend matches. As a consequence, there are a few ‘foreign' accents to be heard in their AIBL squad but these numbers are decreasing by the year.

Trinity is a student club whose haul of Leinster Senior Cups ( 22 ) was overtaken by Lansdowne only a few seasons ago. The club today is not the power in the land it used to be but found itself back among the elite when they performed in

the first division during the past two seasons. The present strength of the ‘Trin' lies in the U-20 section where they have captured Leinster and All Ireland trophies in recent seasons as well as supplying players to Ireland and provincial and U-21 squads. Barnhall is a family club solidly based in the community. Underage rugby thrives at the club. The Blue Bulls have been, and are, extremely successful at teenage level – the U-16s swept all before them in Ireland last season – and six players represented the club at Leinster U-18 Youths level a few weeks ago. Grannies, adolescents, and tiny tots all turn up on match day and the place is jammed with buggies and carry-cots The club does a rare trade in crisps, burgers, chips and minerals on such occasions.

Barnhall have no feeder schools although Confey College Leixlip has recently appeared in Leinstter Schools Junior competitions. Confey is the alma mater of Trevor Brennan, Barnhall's only Irish international player to date ( DUFC can lay claim to 127 Irish internationals in their card ). Brennan is a living legend out Parsonstown way and groups from Co. Kildare frequently visit his hostelry in Toulouse on weekend getaways.

Ian ‘Moggie' Morgan supplies the major connection between the two clubs on the pitch today. A Leinster Schools Senior Cup medal winner with Terenure C. in 1984, Morgan won his first of four rugby Colours at D. University in 1987. He captained the student club from the full back position in 1990 / 91. While at Trinity he and his two brothers, Ken and Colm, made nine Dublin Colours appearances between them, a record at DUFC. After short stints with Terenure C. and Old Belvedere, Moggie arrived at Barnhall as player coach in the early 1990s. Almost immediately Colm joined him and scored 265 points for the first XV. Moggie is presently in his eleventh season as senior coach at Barnhall. Along the road, he has captained and coached the Leinster Junior XV for a few seasons and was later appointed Leinster U-20s coach.

Eddie Fitzgerald is another very prominent member out Barnhall way. He was their first captain back in 1969. Previous to that, he had won a Leinster Schools Junior Cup medal with Belvedere C. in 1961. Eddie has been Director of Rugby at the club for over a decade and has used his considerable organisational skills to put the club on a sound financial and administrative footing. He was financial controller of Rye Valley Foods, great supporters of Barnhall RFC, before he and the company linked up with the Kerry Group a few years ago.

BARNHALL

8th in table

the first of four away games in Leinster this season; today travel to play Trinity for the fourth time in five AIBL fixtures with them ;have played Trinity in Divisions Two, Three and Four but had no fixture with them during the last two seasons ;have lost all seven games on the road in Leinster over the past three seasons ;today play the first of two consecutive Div. Two games away in Leinster ;

wonder if assistant coach Mike Brewer will be at College Park or Lansdowne Road today ?

even without captain Eoin Burke, did just enough to avoid a hat-trick of defeats by Malone last weekend.

DUBLIN UNIVERSITY

5th in table

the first of three homes to Leinster clubs this season;

first played Barnhall in the 1999 / 2K season in Div. Four, won 19-17 ; lost 6-15 to Barnhall the last time ( Dec. 2002 ) the Co. Kildare club came visiting in the AIBL ;won one, drew one and lost three of their five Div. One games at home to Leinster clubs during the last two seasons ;today play the second of two openers against Leinster clubs this season ;have arranged their Dublin Colours match with UCD for Fri. 17th Nov. this season ;

the recent short tour to the USA provided the foundation for last week's success against in-form Old Belvedere.

MOST POINTS: 10 Jonny Watt

The Website had to be closed down due to unforeseen circumstances. But all problems have been sorted. I would like to apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Michael Mousley

PREVIEW OF THE 2006 / 07 AIB LEAGUE AND CUP COMPETITIONS

ALL IRELAND LEAGUE
* The 17th All-Ireland League season, sponsored by AIB for the tenth consecutive year, kicks off on Sat. October 14 2006 the same weekend as last season.
* Sixteen clubs compete in each division; eight clubs get eight home dates and eight clubs get seven home dates ie. each club has 15 dates. All 16 clubs in each division are due to play on each date - no club is idle on a League weekend.
* 120 fixtures ( eight games x 15 dates ) are due to be played in each division during the League series.
* The venues for all games in all three divisions have been reversed since last season.
* An initial block of four games is followed a break of three weekends; three dates in early to mid-Dec. are again followed a break of two weekends; all January Saturdays bar the 13th are League weekends.
( NB: the 13th is the AIB Cup first round date )
* At the end of the regular League series, the top two clubs will be automatically promoted out of Division Two and Division Three and the bottom two clubs will be automatically relegated from Divisions One and Two. The bottom club in Division Three will be replaced by the winner
of the Junior clubs round robin.
There will be no promotion / relegation play-offs in any
division.
* No AIB League games have been scheduled for the three Autumn
International dates nor for the five Six-Nations weekends. However, the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Cup will be played on Sat. 3 / 02 / 07
( Ireland play in Cardiff the following day ).
* All AIB League dates are covered by a Celtic League/Heineken Cup weekend.
* The Super 12 system of scoring continues: four points for a win and two points for a draw plus two opportunities for collecting a bonus point ( a ) one BP for losing by seven points or less and ( b ) one BP for scoring four tries or more.

THE CHAMPIONSHIPS
On completion of the regular League series, the top four clubs in each division will enter knockout competitions called the Championships; The play-off semi-finals in each division ( the club placed first at home to the club placed fourth and the club placed second at home to the club placed third ). are set for Saturday 28 / 04 /2007
( Division One ) and Saturday 21 / 04 / 2007 ( Divisions Two and Three). The Championship finals day in all three divisions is fixed for Saturday 5 / 05 / 2007.

ALL IRELAND CUPS
These competitions will again be sponsored by AIB. Seventeen League clubs will again participate in the senior AIB CUP competition : Leinster have been again allocated six club slots, Munster five, Ulster four and
Connacht two. The four AIB JUNIOR CUP provincial branches will nominate their clubs after action in the Sept. / Oct provincial cup / league competitions. A preliminary Cup game will be played on Sat. 25th. November. Sixteen clubs will then enter a draw for the first round proper on Sat. 13th Jan. The quarter-finals are due up on Sat. 3rd Feb. and the semi-finals on Sat. 31st March. The Cup Final ( venue tbc ) is timetabled for Sat. 14th April, the weekend after Easter.

Injury hit Ray Flynn on the run for the 16's

Former blue... John Hannon could face Barnhall this Saturday for Greystones

True blue... Trevor Brennan

Ben Harrison (Middle) showing the All Ireland Trophy the team he captained won last season held up by fellow Leinster team mates Ray Dufficy Jnr. (Left) and Padraic Beatty Jnr. (Right)

Riann Erasmus A.K.A BOK takes the easy way round (Well for him!)

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