It’s been a tense few weeks for the coaches and supporters of Villanova College.

Just a week after letting a lead slip in the final stages of their opening round match against Iona, Villanova leaked two tries in the second half against St Peter’s last Saturday.

Trailing by six, Villanova found a second wind in the dying stages though and scored back to back tries to steal an important AIC victory.

“We went from six points down to eight points in front in a matter of minutes which was really pleasing, particularly after conceding two late tries in the loss against Iona,” Villanova coach Paul Davey told Rugby News.

“It would have been tough to bounce back from two close losses but fortunately the boys had the spirit and the ability to fight back and win.

“I’ve got to admit, it was pretty intense on the sideline, but I think that’s going to be the trend for the season right across the entire competition really.”

The win sees Villanova jump to third spot heading into a crucial clash against Marist Ashgrove on Saturday.

“We probably weren’t consistent enough across the 70 minutes in either of our first two games to be honest and that’s something we need to fix before we play Ashgrove.

“We know Marist are very strong at set piece, particularly in the scrum so we’ll need to be strong up front.

“They’ve also got plenty of depth and they’re a team that is well organised and structured so we certainly can’t have lapses like we’ve had in the games against Iona and Peter’s.

“We’ll need a complete performance over 70 minutes to beat them. I’m confident that we’ve got the cattle to do it, but we need to turn up and perform on Saturday.”

While Davey admitted his side will need to produce their best performance of the season to date to beat the competition heavyweights, he seemed confident that Villanova had the cattle to cause an upset.

“When we have our good periods, we’ve got all 15 players focused on playing our style of rugby and if we can do that for 70 minutes, we’ll be right in the mix,” he said.

“With Iona losing last weekend to Pat’s, it means if we can get past Ashgrove on the weekend then we are in control of our own destiny for the rest of the year.

“Both the teams ahead of us are teams that we play in the coming weeks and we think we’re a chance in both of those games, which makes Saturday even more important.”

In other AIC action this weekend, Iona host Lauries, St Pat’s play Padua and Eddies take on St Peter’s.