14 Sep Men’s 1st XV Suffer Tough Day Against Clinical Bective
Leinster Senior Pennant Final – 12th September 2026
Bective Rangers 75 Navan 14, Energia Park, Donnybrook.
(Half-Time: 42-7)
Navan Scorers
Tries: Euan Groenewald, Jack Smith.
Conversions: Mark Farrell, Philip Smyth.
Navan RFC Men’s 1st XV endured a challenging afternoon at Energia Park, Donnybrook on Saturday, 12th September, falling to a powerful 75-14 defeat against a clinical Bective Rangers side in the Leinster Senior Pennant Final.
Reaching the decider marked the club’s first senior competition final appearance since 2009. However, the Dublin side asserted their dominance from the opening whistle, delivering a high-tempo, physical performance built on suffocating rush defense and rapid ball recycling that proved difficult to contain.
Bective opened the scoring early with tries in the 3rd and 11th minutes to build a 14-0 cushion. Navan responded brilliantly on 18 minutes when flanker Euan Groenewald powered over for a well-worked try, converted by out-half Mark Farrell, to slice the gap in half at 14-7.
However, Bective struck back decisively, capitalizing on space out wide to score four more converted tries before the interval, leaving Navan trailing 42-7 at half-time.
The second half proved equally demanding as Bective maintained their relentless pace, running in five additional scores. Despite the scoreline, Navan continued to battle to the final whistle. In the 80th minute, substitute forward Jack Smith crossed for Navan’s second try of the afternoon, with Philip Smyth adding the conversion to round out the match.
Scrum-half Kit Waddington was Navan’s standout player on the day. Under constant defensive pressure, Waddington delivered crisp distribution from the base and constantly posed a threat with his darting runs around the breakdown.
While the result was deeply disappointing, reaching the final provided Head Coach; Dan Van Zyl’s squad with valuable pre-season exposure against top-tier opposition. The lessons learned under the floodlights at Energia Park will serve as vital preparation as the squad regroups ahead of the national campaign.
Navan’s focus now turns entirely to the opening round of the Energia All-Ireland League Division 2B, which kicks off on Saturday, 26th September, away to Skerries RFC.
Navan RFC Men’s 1st XV Matchday Squad
Starting XV:
1. Alex McGoey, 2. Fionn Craik, 3. Gary Faulkner (C), 4. Eoghan Noonan, 5. Ben McCreary, 6. Niall Hurley, 7. Euan Groenewald, 8. Alex Carter, 9. Kit Waddington, 10. Mark Farrell, 11. Luke Dolan, 12. Declan O’Connor, 13. Shaun O’Reilly, 14. Greg Edogun, 15. Shane Walshe.
Replacements Bench: 16. Shane O’Connor, 17. Michael McAteer, 18. Jack Smith, 19. Callum Michael Breeds, 20. Andrew Beggy, 21. Philip Smyth, 22. Sean Walsh, 23. Luke Bryan.
A sincere thank you to the Travelling Navy and Sky Blue support who made the journey to Donnybrook to back the team!