Greystones 25 - Stillorgan 13
J3 League - Jan 13, 2006
Well where do I start, in all my years playing rugby which if you
include my school years is around 25yrs that is the most Farcical ending
to a game I have ever played in. Anyway here is the match report from
what I remember.
We started off brilliantly the best start this year by a long way. We
were all over them for the first 15 minutes they could not get out of
their half, the forwards were Rucking really well, winning their own
lineouts, Backs were very dangerous nearly breaking through a number of
times. One time Garrett made a break down left for the fullback to try
and take my head off but we got a penalty for it. Another time ref blew
up early for late tackle when we had a clear overlap inside the 22 to
score a try but got brought back. Patrick converted the penalty from in
front of the posts to make the score 3-0. From the kick-off they won it
back and put pressure on us but we gave away a silly penalty very
quickly for entering a ruck from the back so they scored to make it 3-3.
They dropped the resultant kick-off and we put great pressure on them with Johnny and Wesley being very prominent in the loose. Garrett made a half break and passed back to Patrick who fed along to Fergus who beat his winger and then left the full back for dead to score a great try in the corner which Patrick converted. Greystones got a prop sent off for kicking Eoin in the back so were down to 14 men. From the kick-off we failed to clear our lines they turned over possession, they got the ball wide to their winger who got caught but the ball was recycled very quickly and they scored in our right corner. They missed the convert. We kicked off and put pressure on them and I think Bull could have scored in the corner. Greystones again put a lot of pressure on us and created a 4 on 2 overlap inside our 22, Garrett went for the intercept and luckily caught it.
With over 80ms to the line, I felt all my xmas excess and no matches in
a month as I ran in what looked like slow mode to the line hoping no one
would chase me. Their winger chased me and was catching me so a couple
of jinks made him me and I scored under the posts which Patrick
Converted. There was no more scores in first half and we went in with a
big lead.
Second half was a totally different story, Greystones improved and we
disimproved. They put us under a lot of pressure which led to a penalty
which they converted. They started to kick for Territory and were
winning the kicking battle out of hand. This is an area I think we
should work on in training our kicking from Hand and our place kicking.
From one kick down the right one of our players was in 2 minds to run or
kick and ended up doing half in half with a kick only a few yards ahead
into the middle of the park.
They ran this straight back and we were disorganised in defence, we
stopped them close to the line but they had an overlap and scored in our
far right corner. Their kicker converted the place kick. Greystones were
bullying us at this stage as the Stats will show. We did get up the
pitch and had a number of penalties and a pot at goal which Patrick just
missed. Then they were on our 22 and they scrum half just kicks the ball
straight out. The ref then blows up a full 6 and half minutes plus
injury time early - we are all in disbelief - at this stage ref had the
score as 18-17 to Greystones. We timed the second half and definitely
over 6 minutes left plus there was a J1 match on the pitch beside us. We
started about 5 minutes after this game and they played a further 5
minutes after our game was over!! So we all ask the ref how it is over
and he was having none of it. Then when we are walking in after the game
the Ref says that he miscounted the Score and Stillorgan had won 22-18
much to Greystones disbelief so nobody is sure what is going to happen.
I rang Leinster Branch today and explained what happened- they do not
have an official score in and are to ring me back later so we will fight
this unless they give us the win!!
Greystones 25 - Stillorgan 13 (replay)
J3 League - Jan 20, 2006
Well our League campaign is over well at least it went to the wire which
after the first game we would not have thought possible. With so many
injuries and players not available we were always up against it with
Carlos playing his first ever game at number 8 and a new front row and
Paul Fadden playing only his second game of the year in centre. We were
up against a much Bigger pack then the last time we played Greystones
and this showed as we got off to nearly an identical start as against
Clontarf with very big Greystones pack mauling us over from 5m twice
within the first few minutes thankfully they did not get the converts
and we were 10-0 down. We spent most of the first half camped in our own
half with their big pack taking it up - they had a very big second row.
We got one penalty in their half from a good bit out which we missed.
Their backline was pretty good with a strong first centre and good
fullback who ran back anything that did not find touch. With only a
couple of minutes left we let in a soft try where there winger broke a
couple of soft tackles to score in the corner. At Halftime we were 15-0
down.
Second half we started much better putting a lot of pressure on them in
their own half - this led a penalty 20m in front of the posts- Patrick
just about converted it any softer and it would have blown back to him.
15-3 to Greystones. They came straight back at us and put a lot of
pressure on us, there were a few first up tackles missed which gave them
momentum. This led to another 5 metre lineout which they mauled over
from again- a good organised Rolling Maul is very hard to stop so it is
one area we need to work on. With rarely the same pack starting week to
week with some very new players to forward play giving their all we can
only get better with practise. Score 20-3 to Greystones. Then the game
started to open up Liam intercepted on his 22 passed to Garrett who made
about 30 yards who switched with Patrick who then switched back with
Garrett to score a try. Greystones quickly replied the forwards did
really well to stop another rolling Maul, they quickly shipped the ball
on- centre got brought down but they quickly rucked over and their
winger got in - in the corner. Fair Play to everyone they never gave in-
Carlos passed the ball out to Patrick who made another break, Garrett
switched with him but got hauled down just short of the line.
The Greystones players came from the wrong side but ref gave them the
penalty!! We kept the pressure on and a loose kick was ran back
brilliantly by Marcin who beat a couple of player and passed to Patrick
to run it home. We kept going till the end but could not get back to
score so it finally ended 25-13 which is probably a fair result. Thought
the discipline was a lot better as well.
Match report by Garrett Fanning