Bective Rangers 7-27 Stillorgan
J4 League - Nov 10, 2007
Stillorgan travelled up to a windy and wild Glenamuck to take on Bective. We chose to play with the wind and the hill in our favour for the first half, so it was imperative that we got off to a good start. The first 15 minutes or so of the game were very even, with us preventing any early tries being conceded for the first time this season. Then, following a kick from Liam (flyhalf) which was chased down and retrieved by Kevin Reid on the wing, we went through a couple of phases before Eoin O'Driscoll made a blindside break, drawing their winger and passing out to Kevin on the wing who galloped over the try line to open the scoring.
We soon added a second, following some Barbarian style rugby from our front 5. Shane O'Connell make a break and gave an excellent offload to Eoghan O'Neill who showed great pace to run in a try from 35 metres out.
We were unable to add to the scoreboard for the rest of the first half, and it looked doubtful at half time if we had done enough, bearing in mind we were up against a strong wing in the second half.
However these worries proved unfounded, as the second half saw us play some of the best rugby i have seen from a Stillorgan J4 team. With us unable to kick against the wind, we kept ball in hand and played some excellent 15-man rugby. About 10 minutes into the half, we went through a number of phases, going from touchline to touchline, before Keaven was sent flying through towards the tryline. Unfortunately he was tackled just short, but showed great presence of mind to pop the ball up to Eoin who scored the try.
We continued to put them under pressure. Their kicks invariably ended up down Keavens throat, and he was only too happy to return them with interest. Whenever they tried to run the ball, our experienced centre partnership of Bull and Hops were only too happy to knock them back on their backsides. As they ran out of ideas, we took complete control of the game. Our rucking was much better, giving a good supply of ball to Eoin and Liam at halfback, and allowing them to control the game.
We finished the game off with our fourth try, when Bull showed great determination, and questionable generosity (Keaven was WIDE open!!) to finish off a nice backline move.
We MAY have scored another try after this, but if we did it has been erased from my memory.
Unfortunately Bective managed to grab the last try of the game when we fell asleep and left a huge overlap down the blindside, but that was a mere consolation as far as the game was concerned.
Anyways, its great to finally get a win, but no point in getting ahead of ourselves. We will face better opposition and need to prepare for that. Its difficult to single out individual players after a good team performance, but special mentions have to go to Eoin at scrumhalf, who was back to his best; Liam Kelly who made a ridiculous number of tackles; Liam Rowsome who was immense at fullback; Keaven who put the fear of god into them every time he got the ball; our front row who scrummaged well and still got about the park; and Kevin Reid, who lost his try-virginity and was so wasted by 3pm that he had to go on the water.
If anyone has anything to add, go right ahead!
Match report by Frank McSharry