Stillorgan open new season with last-gasp victory.
07 September 2003
Clondalkin 11 - Stillorgan 15
Stillorgan got their season off to a positive start with an late away win to Clondalkin mainly thanks to new arrival to the club Octavio Bandaras (reportedly related to the one only gun slinger himself Antonio).
Stillorgan started the game fast and won all the early ball in the loose and were unlucky not to open the scoring with some strong running from both forwards and backs. Clondalkin opened the scoring with a penalty and Stillorgan returned with a penalty from Leo who stepped into Alan Stewart's kicking boots. Despite some good open play SRFC trailed 6-3 at half time.
Clondalkin started the stronger in the 2nd half using their advantage in the tight with good mauling and lineout possession and scored a try from a 5 yard scrum. But SRFC didn't drop the heads and kept plugging away with their strong running and open play tactics pulling back a try with Octavio on his debut finishing a good move through the backs right in the corner to put the scores at 8-11. With the final whistle beckoning SRFC piled on some pressure as Clondalkin tried to run from their own 22 yard line, our amigo Octavio popped up again, intercepted and waved goodbye to the Clondalkin gringo's as he touched down under the posts for the winner and last play of the game.
Good performances in the forwards came from Wesley, Colin, John, Ray and Breon, while in the backs Rossie, Eoin, Alan, Octavio and Leo Blanco (despite his eagerness to let the ball bounce before he caught it just to make life difficult) shone the most. Well done to everyone but we still have much work to do in our scrums and lineouts with training every Tuesday and Thursday 7pm sharp.