Dublin University 15-19 Stillorgan
J4 League - Jan 5, 2008
t was a bright day, very cold and the wind blowing across the field made it seem that much colder again.
Kick-off was delayed by the late arrival of the referee who was (he says) sent to the wrong venue. This didn't help either team much with players doing what they could to stay warm.
The first thing to spring to mind looking at the trinity team was that half the team seems to have been dropped since the first game and replacements included a new No. 8, a new second row (a giant of a man and a bit too mature to be a student), new half backs, new wings and full back.
The game itself started slow. We got over the 10 minute hump without conceding a score and having kept Trinity inside their own 22 for a period of time, their wing was sucked into the defence of a long sequence of pig-balls, leaving a gap for Hops to exploit and crossed the line untouched. Liam Rowsome, taking up kicking duties for the day slotted over the coversion quite well when the wind and the angle were factored in.
The restart from Trinity went straight out and we took the scrum on the halfway. Trinity turned it and the ref, not understanding the J4 scrum rules awarded the put in to Trinity. We returned the favour and got the scrum back. After this some sloppy play on our behalf and some mouthing off, our concentration lapsed and Trinity went over the line for a soft try. The let off was that they missed the conversion.
It was a wake-up call that was badly needed and everyone seemed to refocus again. The pack stuck to the gameplan, pigball, pigball and some more pigball ably assisted by Hops and Liam Rowsome who used the wind and the sideline to great effect gaining territory when needed. In much the same fashion as Hop's try Ciaran Lehane crossed the line but this time the conversion was missed.
The half finished 12 - 5 in our favour.
The second half started poorly for us, a combination of indiscipline, soft penalties and bad decision making (the keystone cops routine from Frank and Matthieu for example) handed Trinity an easy try and only the missed conversion kept us in front.
Some more scrappy play ensued for 20 minutes with neither team showing any dominance, but to be fair Trinity played most of the rugby for this passage of play and were eventually awarded when their outhalf slipped 4 tackles, handed off to their giant 5 who, having dispensed with two more defenders carried on to cross the line. The conversion was drop kicked low, short and wide, but it was enough to give Trinity the lead.
Strong words under the posts during the conversion attempt refocused the minds of the pack and they set about their business. There were quite a few back line moves but to no avail. With five minutes to go, we were awarded a penalty (only our second, and last in that half). Rather than kick to the corner, the option was taken on the field to run it, it nearly blew up in our face as we were dispossessed, only for them to spill the ball. From the resulting scrum the ball came wide to Dave Strong who sucked in two defenders and timed his pass perfectly to Matthieu who sidestepped the outhalf and went over to retake the lead. The conversion, taken by Eoin just about made it over,but that's all that was required.
The last four minutes were frantic and and the backs attempted to make the most of possession and played a key part in keeping Trinity pegged back. Their No. 5 kept up the pressure on us, but this time tackles were being made.
Final score 19 - 15 to us.
Some points to take from the game. Trinity play with niggle, they did it to us last month and again yesterday. This led to a lot of bitching, infighting and mouthing off, losing us our concentration and game plan, not to mention the ref. In the second half just about every 50:50 call went against us. We can't let this happen again, particularly against better teams than we played yesterday. If we can't keep our mouths shut and get on with the game, we're screwed. Only two people should be talking to the referee, the Captain and the pack leader.
Positives: Pig ball. It works and we're good at it, however we need to know when to stop and spread the ball out wide. How do we know when? When the Scrum half says so. Twice the ball went out exactly when Eoin wanted it, and twice we scored directly from it. Resolve, when we went behind we refocussed and did what was needed. Just a shame we had to fall behind before getting back to the script. Rucking, effective and we turned over quite a bit of ball.
Individual performaces of note: Liam Kelly. Never seems to put a foot wrong (hands in the ruck once maybe) and covers the pitch with ease. My pick for man of the match.
Shane O'Connell. A player transformed since last season, this is the first 80 minutes I've seen him play and even towards the end when he had nothing left to give he kept going. Strong ball carrying and some important tackles.
Hops: Good play, great decsion making and some good running with the ball. It was great to see some training ground moves attempted, even if the one to Liam R almost gave them a try. Thank the gods for that guy's cack handedness!
Well done all. We can gloss over the things that went wrong, but we'll learn more from this than any of the positives. See you all at training this week.
For the parish
Match report by Mike Kirwan