Stillorgan 3-45 Terenure College
J4 League - Oct 20, 2007
Ok guys, here's my take on the game, from what i remember of it. Im sure Mike and Octo will have more to add based on what they viewed from the sidelines.
Captain Frank started the game with an excellent kick off. This was retrieved by Frank with a mighty leap into the air. Frank then single-handedly mauled the opposition back into their 22, before spinning the ball wide to Frank, who scorched into the corner for a scintillating try.
Woops, sorry guys, had a bit of an identity crisis there. For a second i thought i was a former Stillorgan club captain, one who was famous for the modesty of his match reports! Now back to reality, here's my recap on the game.
A young and fit Terenure side managed to beat us in our first league game of the season, but the scoreline did not do a brave performance justice. The game began with us conceding our traditional early try, with Terenure taking advantage of a massive overlap created when we left too many players arseing about in a ruck even though the ball was lost. This was a major problem for us in the early stages, but we did improve on it as the game went on.
We responded well, with our forwards laying siege to the Terenure line, finally mauling the ball over the line, only for the referee to harshly judge that it was held up. We eventually earned a penalty, which John Lynch converted. We then battled well for the rest of the half. Our forwards were very competitive in the scrums, and held their own in the loose, but the lineout was seriously malfunctioning, and very little clean ball was presented to the backs. Unfortunately, Terenure got a couple of tries towards the end of the half, after we missed a couple of tackles, which put them well ahead at HT.
The second half saw more of the same. We battled well, and had plenty of possession, but not much fast, clean ball so it was difficult for us to threaten a tough Terenure defence. Too often our half backs, Rossy and Eoin were getting bad ball, with the Terenure backrow right on them as soon as they got it. Terenure dominated territory, thanks mainly to their green haired out-half's big boot. Our line-out continued to struggle, so we found it difficult to get enough good ball to attack with.
Then with about 15 minutes left, our heroic captain got himself involved in a scuffle, and was sent off for throwing some of the girliest punches ever seen on Bird Avenue's hallowed pitches. Terenure then ran in a couple of late tries to finish up a disappointing game.
*Players:*
Special mention has to go to Kiwi Nick, who had an absolute stormer, and at times seemed to be our only player on the pitch. If we could all play with the heart and aggression he showed, we would be a far better team. Rossy and Eoin did their best to clean up bad ball, with both taking a fair pounding from the opposition back row. Liam tackled like a demon in the centre, while our entire pack fronted up pretty well, with the obvious exception of the line-out. Our outside backs did not get much ball to show what they could do. We have so many players to pick from this year, that we are going to have to do some squad rotation from game to game, so please take no offense if you do not make the squad in any given week.
*Matters to work on:*
Lineout needs to be sorted, we must have only won 25% of our own ball. We had great success in this area during our cup run last year, and we may need to consider bringing in a couple of Tony's old moves - Wales ball, and Plus/Minus.
Defence : If the ball is lost in a ruck, get out and fan across the pitch.
At one point in yesterdays match, Terenure had overlaps on both sides of the pitch, with all our players tied up in the ruck. We need to communicate with each other much better, and call the numbers out into defence.
Tackling : We are all guilty of tackling too high, and getting bounced off as a result. Tackle players low, and bring them down. Going for the big hit is too risky.
Rucking : We need to be a lot more ruthless in this area. Too much ball was lost, or was incredibly slow in coming back. Both forwards and backs need to work on this.
And most importantly : If you are going to get sent off for punching, make sure you actually *HIT* the fuc&er. Flapping about like a girl, and throwing air punches, will NOT be tolerated at this club.
See you all at training on Tuesday.
Match report by Frank McSharry