Harris Wright delighted with -relieving victory

AIL DIV 2A REACTION Head coach heaps praise on excellent team performance

After Navan’s immaculate winning performance against Malone, Navan head coach Jason Harris Wright gave the Meath Chronicle's TOM GANNON his reaction and he was delighted with the victory over their relegation rivals which was huge for Navan in terms of trying to secure their safety in AIL Div 2A.

“That was a massive win for us today. Nobody was under any illusions of how big today’s game was. Firstly, to get the win but to also get the bonus point is fantastic. I’m just after speaking to the lads there and to be fair to them they worked really hard today It’s a huge result for us.”

Navan were in a commanding position at half-time following a dominant first-half performance. Harris Wright was delighted with the way his side continued to ride that momentum into the second half and right up to the final whistle.

“We potentially could have had a bigger lead at half-time. I think the key moment in that first-half was seven minutes before the break. We got a penalty and kicked to the corner and we got a maul try. That was a big momentum shifter. We continued that momentum in the second-half and we were largely on top in that second-half as well, so that was pleasing.”

Navan’s full-back Rory Gordon has been a consistent performer for the Meath side all season. Gordon had a man of the match display on Saturday afternoon. He was extremely accurate with his place kicks and his pace and power made him a constant threat when going forward. Harris Wright was very complimentary of his star player on the day.

“Rory (Gordon) was absolutely fantastic for us. We all know how good Rory is. He is a huge attacking threat. He kicked some unbelievable conversions throughout the game. I was very pleased with something he did late in the game actually. I think it was the 82nd minute of the game, they had the ball but we had the game won at that stage, and Rory absolutely smashed someone with a tackle. That was very pleasing to see. It says a lot about his hunger and his performance on the day.”

Two of the three tries that Malone scored on the day happened to be conceded in the opening minutes of each half. That would suggest a little bit of complacency at the restart on Navan’s behalf.

Harris Wright admitted that that was something that they were working very hard on to eliminate. However, the head coach was very pleased with his side's ability to stem the opponent's momentum on the day.

“You could put the two early tries at the start of each half down to complacency. That complacency is something that we are constantly trying to work on. There are big moments in games and there is always going to be momentum shifts. We are working very hard on trying to stem the tide when it starts to turn against us.

"We have had some close losses and probably haven’t managed the momentum shifts as well as we could have in previous games. I think though today, despite conceding early in each half, we were able to counteract that momentum against us pretty well.”

Harris Wright finished up by explaining that he feels his side has been unlucky on some occasions this season but also is delighted with the fact that this win will be a huge boost for his side.

“The win will be a massive confidence booster for us for the remaining games. We have done a lot of good things this season and performed well on plenty of occasions.

"We probably have not gotten what we deserved out of certain games. I think we have been a bit unlucky in that regard. The group knows that when we are mentally switched on and tuned in, we can put in some really good performances," concluded the head coach.