01.11.2009 U20 Premier XV v Wanderers (A)
| 01/11/2009 | 2.30pm | J.P. Fanagan League | Wanderers | 9 – 36 | St. Marys U21s 1st XV | Away |
St Mary’s U21’s JP Fanagan V’s Wanderers U21s
36 – 9
Apologies for the delay in sending out this report because it certainly deserved mention.
In glorious winter sun, the guys were certainly up to the task and the inclusion of Sean Preston (Bisto) at No1 made a significant impact to our scrum. His baptism of fire in the AIL league has definitely stood to him.
After only 10 minutes, following an excellent run out of defence by Steve Toal-Lennon, Ray Crotty too an excellent pass from Steve and ran in for a wonderful try under the posts. Ray converted.
Following good forwards pressure, St Mary’s employed what could have been construed as their newest lineout tactic. Losing their own ball confused the opposition and Wesley Wojner chased down the loose ball and grounded the ball in the corner.
A good conversion attempt from the side line by Ray was spoiled by the strong cross wind.
Bisto showed his class in open play also and made several mid-park incursions. Following one 40yrd charge and ably supported by Robbie Field and Owen Mc Gill, Wanders gave away a penalty on the 25yrd line which Ray converted easily.
There followed a slightly less impressive period where St Mary’s got a bit loose and gave away several sloppy penalties which the Wanders kicker gratefully accepted. (6 points to Wanders).
Just when Wanders though their game was turning, Ray Crotty and Steve Toal-Lennon showed again why they are such a dangerous combination. This time it was Ray who broke out of defence from the 25yrd line to the opposition 10yrd line. Ray put through a kick for Steve to chase and he showed his pace to collect the ball and run in under the posts. Ray converted easily.
Wanders kicked another good penalty but this was to be their last points of the day.
Colin Sheridan , who had controlled the back line well all day went down injured and was replaced by Darrah Fitzgerald. Mick Byrne replaced Francois, Sean Tevlin replace Robbie Field. Claus Lehane replaced Ronan Lennon, Ritchie Mc Micken replaced Steve Toal-Lennon.
St Mary’s however were not done yet and an excellent back move involving Edouard, Ray put Ian O’Neill (Nellie) in under the posts. Ray Converted.
And then the came the second “new” line out of the day. St. Mary’s again lost their own line out and Chris Lilly took advantage of the confusion. He collected the ball and then added blistering pace to his list of obvious talents and scored under the posts. Ray Converted.
David Callanan then replaced Rory O’Donovan and Simon O’Donnell replaced Chris Lilly.
While this was an excellent result we still lost far too much turnover ball, our scrums are not as strong as they could be and I’m not sure the unorthodox line out will generate long term results.
On a very positive note, it is a real pleasure to watch the talent in this team. When they believe in themselves and each other they play some beautiful rugby and are a real force to be reckoned with this year.