J5 XV v Monkstown (H) 18.11.2016

On Friday night, the J5s travelled to Sydney Parade to play Monkstown RFC in the Metro Section 11 league game.

It was a very cold night with a strong polar wind blowing. We were down a man before kick off when our centre Colin O’Neill cried off that day with a sore knee. Our J5s are very resourceful bunch and they managed to start with 15 and had 4 subs which were to be used very quickly. Our captain for the game was Padraig Fox who stood in and up to the call when our Captain fantastic Gary Masterson had to miss the game due to work commitments.

The game started with the St Mary’s pack rucking well up the pitch, this led to our first try by Taylor Berliant who drove for the line carrying two Monkstown men on his back. Unfortunately, the conversion blew to the left from Cal Gray’s boot who was having a perfect kicking game out of the hand putting Monkstown back on every occasion. Score now 5-0 to us. After the restart, we again drove up the pitch, with great driving from No 8 Chris Kane and rucking from the pack, especially our two second rows Perkins and Foxy. We received a penalty just outside their 22. Cal Gray again stood up to take the kick.

This time the direction was right but the ball fell short of the posts. Eric Dunne had followed the kick and recovered possession for us, his pass to Barry Norman was intercepted and they ran the length of the pitch, a sure try only to be tacked by our glorious fast fullback Andreas from Chile. After that ruck they spread the ball and scored under the posts, conversion slotted 7-5 to them. We then gathered the ball after the restart and drove up the pitch, ruck after ruck, we drove, cleared out, Rhino left, Rhino right, then Charlie and Andrew Perkins was pushed over the line, try and conversion score now 12-7.

This all happened in the first 20 minutes, then Cal Gray our outhalf who was having a super game, hyper extended his elbow in an awkward tackle. Christian our other Chilean came on as replacement. Seconds later our wing forward Bfoot (James Hynes) felt the slap of a boot at a ruck, and had to leave the pitch with claret pouring from the wound. The medical bag was well emptied, Vinnie Murray and Flats were like St Johns Ambulance men putting on slings, and paper stitches. Then the casualty ward began to fill, Donagh Ryan calf strain, Taylor AC, Perkins neck, Barry ear, all our subs were on.

The second half started with Christian given the clear instruction to kick the ball down to their 22. It was lost in translation as he ran everything he got.

Monkstown were now throwing everything at us. They had brought on a giant of a man at half time, he looked like a bigger version of Keith Gavaghan.

Fagan was propping against him and was winning the battle even having time to smile to the bench as he tried to screw his man. They started to play our game driving up the middle, trying to give their giant the ball. and when he did get the ball he was tackled low by flanker Dan Hegarty, as thought, in school and the giant fell like a freshly cut oak tree. The ref called last play, and we found out why Christian had not kicked, as his kick to touch to end the game went up like a Garryowen, backwards and just reached the sideline. The final whistle blew, relief.

We battled hard, tackled everything and came away with the win.

Stephen Teggart the coach was delighted with the heart shown, and never give up attitude from the lads.

They must do it all again in two weeks time as they host Monkstown in Templeville.

On Friday nigh the J5s travelled to Sydney Parade to play Monkstown RFC in the Metro Section 11 league game.It was a very cold night with a strong polar wind blowing.We were down a man before kick off when our centre Colin O’Neill cried off that day with a sore knee. Our J5s are very resourceful bunch and they managed to start with 15 and had 4 subs which were to be used very quickly. Our captain for the game was Padriag Fox who stood in and up to the call when our Captain fantastic Gary Masterson had to miss the game due to work commitments.The game started with the St Mary’s pack rucking well up the pitch,this led to our first try by Taylor Berliant who drove for the line carrying two Monkstown men on his back.Unfortunately the conversion blew to the left from Cal Gray’s boot who was having a perfect kicking game out of the hand putting Monkstown back on every occassion. Score now 5-0 to us. After the restart we again drove up the pitch ,with great driving from No 8 Chris Kane and rucking from the pack ,especially our two second rows Perkins and Foxy.We received a penalty just outside their 22. Cal Gray again stood up to take the kick.This time the direction was right but the ball fell short of the posts.Eric Dunne had followed the kick and recovered possession for us,his pass to Barry Norman was intercepted and they ran the length of the pitch,a sure try only to be tacked by our glorious fast fullback Andreas from Chile. After that ruck they spread the ball and scored under the posts,conversion slotted 7-5 to them.We then gathered the ball after the restart and drove up the pitch,ruck after ruck ,we drove ,cleared out ,Rhino left ,Rhino right ,then Charlie and Andrew Perkins was pushed over the line ,try and conversion score now 12-7.
This all happened in the first 20 minutes,then Cal Gray our outhalf who was having a super game ,hyper extended his elbow in an awkward tackle.Christian our other Chilean  came on as replacement.Seconds later our wing forward Bfoot (James Hynes)felt the slap of a boot at a ruck and had to leave the pitch with claret pouring from the wound.The medical bag was well emptied,Vinne Murray and Flats were like St Johns Ambulance men putting on slings,and paper stitches.Then the casualty ward began to fill,Donagh Ryan calf strain,Taylor AC,Perkins neck,Barry ear,all our subs were on.
The second half started with Christian given the clear instruction to kick the ball down to their 22 .It was lost in translation as he ran everything he got. Monkstown were now throwing everything at us .They had brought on a giant of a man at half time, he looked like a bigger version of Keith Gavaghan .Fagan was propping against him and was winning the battle even having time to smile to the bench as he tried to screw his man. They started to play our game driving up the middle, trying to give their giant the ball.and when he did get the ball he was tackled low by flanker Dan Hegarty,as thought in school and the giant fell like a freshly cut oak tree.The ref called last play,and we found out why Christian had not kicked ,as his kick to touch to end the game went up like a Garryowen,backwards and just reached the sideline .The final whistle blew ,relief.We battled hard,tackled everything and came away with the win. Stephen Teggart the coach was delighted with the heart shown,and never give up attitude from the lads.They must do it all again in two weeks time as they host Monkstown in Templeville.