Instonians' superb AIL home record in spotlight for visit by league leaders Old Wesley
Instonians' superb AIL home record in spotlight for visit by league leaders Old Wesley
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Instonians' superb AIL home record in spotlight for visit by league leaders Old Wesley

Ciaran Donaghy 🕒︎ 2025-10-27

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Instonians' superb AIL home record in spotlight for visit by league leaders Old Wesley

Inst are four points behind the Donnybrook side and - having won all 28 of their AIL games at Shaw’s Bridge since regaining their senior status - captain David Whitten is determined to make home advantage count. “Shaw’s Bridge is usually good for that and, hopefully, we'll have a big crowd there on Saturday to support us again,” said Whitten before the weekend clash “This is their first time outside of Leinster this season. “It's been a tough stretch of games here, they look like a good side and they've had three good games where they've sort of won well in all of them or scored a lot of points in all of them anyway...so, yeah, it's going to be tough. “They're pretty direct, they come hard at you. "So it's going to be a day where we're going to have to front up and get a really good start with them. “We'll need to get into them early and let them know they're in for a battle. “I think Wesley have very good hands and try and keep the ball alive. "And it looks like their starter plays are pretty dangerous, so it'll just be about trying to not let them on the front foot that much and negate their carry metres. “But it's hard to know, you've just got to play what’s in front of you on the day. "You can do all the video analysis in the world, but when you're out there in the thick of it, video doesn't really matter.” Whitten knows Inst will need to make a better start against the Dubliners than what they did against Garryowen. “They're a good team,” he said. “They played on top of us a fair bit and I think we let them out to too big a start with 19 points to nil. "But we brought it back really well and then we just didn't throw a shot in the second half.” Only five points separate the top six in the league while Wesley are the only side to have won all three games. “I don’t think we thought it was going to be easy,” said Whitten. “And the first three games have been what we expected. “I think we just have to ensure that we're with the right sort of mindset going out each week, it was a tough start with having to do the two Munster trips back-to back and going to to hard places like UCC and Garryowen. “I suppose 10 points out of a possible 15 is still a very good start.” Inst will give a debut to Ulster hooker John Andrew. It’s second against third in Division 1A as Ballynahinch travel to Cork Con. Ethan Graham scored six tries last time out against UCD and starts on the left wing, with Aaron Sexton on the other. Hinch are missing Bryn Ward and Marcus Rea, who are both in South Africa with Ulster. Dungannon are second in Division 2A with three wins from three and they host Shannon at Stevenson Park. Ballymena face Wanderers while Banbridge entertain Cashel. In 2B, Malone have won all three games and travel to leaders Galwegians, Clogher Valley are at Sligo and Rainey visit UL Bohs. In 2C, Ballyclare tackle Bruff, while Belfast Harlequins tangle with Clonmel.

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