17.10.2009 J4 XV v Terenure (H)
| 17/10/2009 | 3:00pm | League | St. Marys J4 XV | 34 – 15 | Terenure | Home |
St. Mary’s College J4 Terenure College J4
34 15
The J4’s played local rivals Terenure in Templeville on Saturday in their first home league match of the season. It was a perfect day for a game, with the sun out, a dry pitch and not a breath of wind.
Mary’s got an early penalty inside the Terenure half and it was kicked by Teddy for a 3-0 lead. This was soon cancelled out by a Terenure effort from around the halfway line.
The referee was utilising his whistle a lot with both sides on the receiving end but Mary’s soon managed to put a few good phases together starting from our own 22 and after stretching them wide on the right with winger Nick Cunningham only just being tackled by the last defender, Mary’s recycled and spread the ball quickly across the pitch for our other winger Chi-Yuen who managed to jink and dart his way over for the try. Mary’s couldn’t convert but led 8-3.
Terenure had an experienced team out and soon struck back, taking advantage of some lax tackling to score a converted try to give them a 10-8 lead at half time.
Whatever was said at half time seemed to work. From the kick-off, Terenure were under immediate, sustained pressure from Mary’s in their 22 resulting in scrum-half and captain, Ross Wynne darted through to score. Teddy converted for a 15-10 lead.
The match was proving to be an even contest, with both teams being liberally penalised by the referee, and Terenure quickly struck back with a short-range, unconverted try to level the scores at 15-15.
Possession and territory soon swung Mary’s way and the older Terenure team were starting to tire. Their second row saw yellow after cynically failing to roll away and killing the ball just a few metres from the Terenure line.
In his absence, Mary’s superior fitness and the numerical advantage saw us score 3 tries, through Ross’s second, second row Joe Doddy and No. 8 Padraig Nestor. Teddy converted 2 of the 3 to seal a hard-fought 34-15 win over the old enemy. The return leg in Lakelands in January promises to be interesting!
Gavin Rafferty