Monkstown 22 - Stillorgan RFC 7
J4 League - Jan 6, 2007
The match took place on a very sunny afternoon, with a slight breeze blowing down the pitch.
The J4 brotherhood seemed to be made up of forwards and we struggled to make up a back line, with players out of position all over the field. Fidel started at center and Keaven (spl?) made a guest appearance at 15. John Stokes also guested at 10.
Monkstown started the game with the sun and the breeze at their backs. Roused by a stirring pre-game talk by Ross and the now customary face-slapping routine led by Fidel, Stillorgan definitely had the better of the opening exchanges, keeping the hosts in their own half for most of the first 20 minutes. Curiously, our line-outs, which have been bullet-proof for the season to date, let us down and let Monkstown off the hook when we could have pressed home the territorial advantage. Tackling this week was much improved and support was quick enabling us to ruck out ball and regain possession.
Oddly, Monkstown seemed reluctant to take advantage of the conditions and kick high balls to the backs, but nevertheless, started to gain ground in the second quarter and were awarded an easy penalty on the 30 minute mark, which was put over to give the hosts a 3 - 0 lead. Two more penalties were missed and were a let off for us as our discipline started to slip at the breakdown.
The proplems at the breakdown continued in the second half with Monkstown putting in a try from a tapped penalty after Frank Mac got binned for slowing the ball down. A second try followed not long after that as our defence started to look less and less organised.
Our try came from an up and under kicked by Greg Owen, who had come straight from the Airport for the match. This was chased up and the pressure on the fullback saw the ball come loose to be picked up by Keaven, who came from nowhere to collect the ball and cross the line under the posts. Easily coverted by John Lynch. After the try there was a lot of to and fro before Monkstown went over again, this time converted.
Notable performances this week were supplied by Keaven, who, despite never having played FB before, did a great job at collecting anything sent his direction and was fearless in taking the ball into contact. Keith Lynch had a superb game, fighting for any scrap of possession and keeping the hosts honest around the fringes. His loss in the second half, due to having had fingers in his eyes was noticable. John Lynch played well at OH, distributing well to the backs and putting in some good kicks too. Ross once again, marshalled the forwards with gusto. My back was sore for hours from slap at the back of the ruck! I can only imagine what he might have done if someone actually planned to put hands on the ball!
All in all, there are a lot of positives to be taken from the match. The pack are showing more and more that they are up for the fight and will take the game to their opposition. The backs are becoming more confident with the ball in hand and tackling has improved greatly.
Fitness betrayed the J4s this week, being the first game back after the christmas break, but with only two games left, clearly effort at training will be repaid with better performances.
Match report by Michael Kirwan