Stillorgan 19 - Bective 5
J3 Cup - Apr 09, 2007
First of all would like to thank all our supporters and Subs sorry you did not all get on for coming Down yesterday to see our match, it was greatly appreciated.
Well we lost the Toss again so ended up playing down the hill in the first half. It did not take us as long to get going this time the Tone was set with huge hit by Alan driving one of their players back. The forwards tore into them with Danny, shane being very prominent. Our pressure led to a couple of Penalties, Garrett just missed one from just inside the halfway. From the next penalty, marcin whose kicking to touch was very good all day found touch 5ms out. Danny throwing which was spot on found his man and the Forwards had a fantastic maul to towards the line, I think they got stopped the first time. A couple of minutes later they had another go and Bull managed to get the ball down just on the far right- garrett did not convert. After that try our intensity dipped a bit and Bective were attacking our line but our defense which was immense all day held out.
Again we got back into their half and put pressure on them but we gave away a few stupid penalties for Backchat which is totally unacceptable. They were trying to run the ball out but some huge hits by Padraig and finn put them back. Our offensive Defense led to another penalty which we kicked to touch, From another great lineout and maul by the pack Ross ended up scoring in the corner- Garrett got the conversion (the practise with my 5yr old over the w/end had helped). We had a couple of other chances but at times took the wrong option when we took on the man rather then drawing and passing which could have led to a score. Danny had to go off so we had to reshuffle the pack bring donnacha on and Ross took over the throwing. We went into half time leading 12-0.
Second half we were playing up the hill which is always difficult so we found it hard to clear our lines to get into their half. Bective upped their intensity and they spent most of this very long half in our half. Our defense was immense with forwards fanning out across the line and not committing themselves to lost causes like they might have done in the past. They were putting alot of pressure on our scrum giving Bull some poor ball. Our rucking was immense in this half and we constantly putting them under pressure at ruck time. Sometimes we need to up our communication around the rucks because we ran into each other alot with ball in hand which led to easy turnovers. We eventually got into their half and after some good initial work the ball was fed out to Padraig on the cut who ran really hard right through half their pack for a great try wide on the right- Garrett converted to leave the score 19-0.
Again they came back at us and they seemed to be camped inside out 22 for the last 20 mins but our defense was fantastic. They nearly scored from a cross field kick which Milky juggled behind his line. Well into injury time which was nearly 12 mins they got a consolation try when their Fullback (their best back) scored getting through a gap out wide, the only clean break they made all day. They did not convert to leave the final Score 19-5 for a great win.
Moment of the Match Johnny Plunkett managing to sin bin himself. 3 mins before Half time, Johnny decided he was going to play outhalf for Bective received a lovely pass from their scrumhalf. The ref was not impressed and gave him a lecture and looked like took his name down. Johnny thinking he was Yellow carded removed himself from the pitch. So we play final couple of mins of first half with 14 players. 3 mins into the second half we get a scrum so we ask the ref can we bring on a sub prop. Ref asks why?? We say because prop was yellow carded, he said he never sinbinned him as never showed him a card. A red faced johnny P rejoins the action.
Stats
Rucking
We won 90% of our ball (excellent)
30% of their ball
Lineouts
We won 82% of our throw which is a huge improvement on last match, great throwing by Danny and Ross when he took over We won 25% of their ball We won 53% overall
Penalties
12 Penalties for us and 13 against us
Areas that we need to concentrate on
Scrums- we were under alot of Pressure at scrumtime at times with them wheeling some which led to poor ball or turnovers. We also need to protect the scrumhalf better as often their players were getting hands on him meaning he not could pass out the ball or gave sloppy ball
Communication- need to keep talking to each other, pig ball etc so that we do not collide with each other close to rucks, mauls. Also forwards were getting between the Scrumhalf and outhalf they need to get out of the way so we can clear the ball
Discipline- It has been pretty good but giving away a Penalty for Backchat is unacceptable one player I believe gave away 2 for backchat. This negates all the Hard work done by the other players - If a player continues to give away penalties for Backchat they Will be Substituted!!
Intensity- We need to keep it up for the whole match, I didn't feel the intensity was as good as the Terenure match and there were times when we seemed to fall asleep. We cannot afford that against Better teams.
Backs - There has been alot of positional changes but we have not clicked yet in attack and need to continue to work on our depth and running lines. Lets stick to the moves we know well and use our strenghts.
Overall Excellent performance with a great win without playing to our full potential. Wanderers beat Barnhall 27-5 - given Barnhall finished 3rd in other section is a big result. We need everyone down training on Thurs night no excuses as the match could be this Sunday (trying to get it posponed). Lads destiny is in our hands lets not give it our all and Knock the Chaps (wanderers) out of the cup!!!
Match report by Garrett Fanning