Stillorgan 0-11 UCD
J4 League - Jan 19, 2008
A week of rain and a pitch that was just about playable meant that the type of mudbaths that chicks pay 100s of euro for were going to be ours for free.
That was the only good news for the J4s this weekend.
UCD once again decided they'd rather not actually play some rugby and failed to bring along props.
The match kicked off in a light drizzle that would get progressively heavier at the game went on. UCD started playing down the hill and took an early advantage when the ref set out his stall giving a very quick penalty for not rolling away right in front of the posts.
2 minutes in, UCD 3 points up.
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.
Donough's kick-off got stuck in the mud and failed to make the 10 meters. From the resulting scrum UCD made slow progress down the park and were assisted by more quick penalty calls from the ref, but in fairness we should have learned from the first penalty. A couple of moments later UCD went over the line in the corner but failed to make the conversion.
After this jolt we tried to play some pig ball but there was nothing doing, through a combination of some decent UCD defence and some panicky play from us.
UCD made their way down the pitch again and some back to the wall defence from us meant UCD didn't go over, but at a price. As we cleared our lines, Octo remained on the ground. After getting him off the pitch it seemed that he'd broken his nose. He's certainly turning into one ugly fcuker thanks to the J4s!
The first half ended with UCD leading 8 - 0.
Final score 19 - 15 to us.
Half time talks from myself and John Egan, who took over the captaincy, focused on discipline and how to play the pig ball.
The second half began much better for us, the pig ball was working and we were spreading the ball as and when needed to. It was looking as if a try was only a matter of time, but UCD did a great job of keeping us out and causing niggle. Niggle turned to scraps and the ref turned against us thanks to backchat.
The one time UCD made it into our 22 in the second half they came away with another 3 points.
With uncontested scrums there was no point in putting more props onto the pitch and early in the half Joe was subbed out for Nick and slightly later Mark took his leave, making way for Gareth. This gave us an edge going forward and Nick did a great job of winning turnover ball in tackles and made a nuisance of himself around the fringes.
With about 10 minutes to go the scraps got out of hand and there was a scuffle on the halfway line. This was soon broken up and we made our way to their five meter line where the scuffle resumed with Liam Kelly taking a UCD man to the ground, without Doddsy there to call "Sparta", it seemed everyone knew what to do anyway and most of those on field got involved. Two yellow cards later (one for Liam Kelly and one for the other guy) the game resumed. It wasn't long before Liam Rowsome was also making his way off for an early shower.
The game finished with us having been handed our first defeat of the year and the disappointment was evident on the faces of those who played and those stuck on the sideline.
Positives from the game:
In the worst of conditions we can play rugby. We can take the ball on, make the big tackles and involve the backs too. This time last year, we couldn't even do that in good weather! It's also significant that we can't accept an 11 point loss. Hopefully we can take something from this and build on it. If we can learn the lessons from this game we'll bounce back.
Negatives:
Discipline. The ref addressed the team before kick off. He only gave one warning: to put everything through the captain, no chat, no questions, nothing. It didn't take long for players to start questioning decisions, mouthing off and moaning. It has to stop. Channel the frustration into your game. If an opponent pi$$es you off, tackle them harder. If the ref pi$$es you off, tackle the oppostion harder. We're a good team, all we have to do is play some rugby, our captain can worry about everything else.
Panic. Just because we're chasing a game doesn't mean we have to tap every penalty. Our lineout works. Yes, we didn't have any props out there, but we had a functioning pod and we only need one. With the gaps the ref was insisting on we could have told the opponents where we were putting the ball and they still wouldn't have been able to steal. From there a maul could have been on the cards. As it stands, four penalties awarded in the closing moments were tapped, from those we lost possession twice and lost ground twice. We need to think about where we are and what we can do.
Man of the match:
Shane O'Connell. Great game, stepped up to play hooker and did a great job. Once again, he made it around the field, carried well and made big tackles.
Honourable mentions:
Milky. Nice job at fullback. Good to see him back!Nick. Despite coming on in the second half, made his presence felt, winning turnovers and playing well around the fringes of the rucks too.
Rob. Workmanlike performance at No. 8. Total commitment, fearless tackling and brilliant rucking.
Next week we play host to Bective. We beat these guys on their own turf last time around and they were pretty sore about it. They believe they played the better rugby that day and will be looking for some payback. Let's not give it to them, not in Fortress Bird Avenue and not after this week.
We should all be training this week and lets work on putting right what we did wrong this weekend.
For the Parish
Match report by Mike Kirwan