Dee set off early on Saturday to County Cavan for a semi-final clash in the Gordon West cup against Virginia. Half way through the journey they were rerouted to Cavan RFC due to a frozen pitch in Virginia.

Dee’s captain Matthew Stockton returned to the backline with the versatile Robbie Ingham slotting in at fullback. The starting pack was unchanged from the previous game except for Daniel Onstwedder who filled the number 8 position. The coaching team opted for a 4 to 1 split on the bench which was bolstered by Sam Ingham on his return from injury.

Dee got off to a fast start and put together a number of phases that took them into Virginia’s 22. After several attempts at scoring it was young scrum-half Pete Causby who eventually forced his way over the line. The conversion missed narrowly to leave the score 5-0 to the Dee.

For the rest of the half Virginia had most of the possession and territory and questioned the Dee’s defensive prowess multiple times. To their credit Dee defended well, with Stockton organising his backline and the back row of Chris Hamilton, Ryan Butler and Daniel Onstwedder leading the tackle count.

On the 20 minute mark Virginia reduced the deficit to two points when they kicked a penalty after Dee were penalised for a high tackle. The rest of the half followed a similar pattern with Virginia pushing for a score but the Dee defence standing up to the onslaught, including a great try saving turnover by Adam Russell on the stroke of halftime.

Just as the second half began the referee lost his patience with the number of high tackles and sent a Dee player to the bin. The next ten minutes proved to be decisive for the outcome of the game. Virginia took full advantage of the extra man and scored almost immediately when the winger went over in the corner. The difficult conversion was successful to give Virginia a 10-5 lead.

Virginia’s tails were up and a few minutes later won a turnover just outside the Dee’s 22. The Virginia player took a quick penalty and offloaded to his winger who scrambled over to score another try. The conversion was again successful to push the score to 15-5.

With Dee now back to full strength they saw more of the ball and had several visits to the Virginia 22. Unfortunately, they were unable to convert these into points, mainly due to Virginia’s solid defence. The rest of the half was evenly contested with both sides giving their all.

However, in the last play of the game, a clearing kick by the Dee found a Virginia player who danced his way past several tired Dee defenders to score under the posts. Final score 22-5 to Virginia.

The Dee team were applauded off the pitch by the large group of Dee supporters who had made the trip and appreciated the hospitality at such short notice by Cavan.

Next week the Dee are back in league action when they welcome PSNI to Donaldson Park, k.o.2.30pm.