10.12.2011 J4 XV v Old Belvedere (A)
| 10/12/2011 | 2:00pm | League | Old Belvedere | 16 – 22 | St. Marys J4 XV | Away |
Old Belvedere 16 St Marys 22
On a bitterly cold day out in Anglesea road the J4’s came through another tough battle to beat Belvo and remain hot on the heels of Greystones J2s who still top the J4 Super Six table.
The game started with a sustained period of pressure from the Belvo team and we were stretched at times to hold the line and keep them scoreless. With what seemed like our first attack of the match a lovely flowing move down the right led to Ted putting Wally in the clear and he galloped over the line to make it 0-5. Ted, feeling somewhat delicate from the night before, never looked at ease and his stats suffered when he hit the post with the conversion. Belvo came straight back at us and after huge pressure and some unusual calls from the referee they crossed the line for an unconverted try to leave the half time scores at 5-5. The game itself was more entertaining than the score suggests and with two men in the bin (Pyner again!!) the start of the second half was going to be tough.
Even with the 2 men in the bin we came out with a determination and drive to bring the game to Belvo. Again, we used our backs and after dragging the very physical Belvo pack across the park a few times the space out wide was exploited beautifully to put young Bam Bam in the clear and he showed electric pace to score in the corner. A difficult conversion from the touchline was nailed by Wally (Ted had decided it was not a day to risk the stats) and we found ourselves 12-5 up. Almost immediately from the kick off in a carbon copy move Bam Bam again got the ball in space and took off for the corner. He appeared to be bundled into touch just before grounding the ball but the ref was happy to award the try and another perfect kick from the touchline saw us move 19-5 clear and seemingly the game was sown up. However, Belvo got two cheap penalties and a try to leave the score at 19- 16 with fifteen minutes left. Some further heroic defending kept them from taking the lead and eventually we got a kickable penalty to make sure they would need a converted try to win the game. Relief came at last as the ref blew up and ended the game with a score of 16-22 to Marys.
A big thank you again to the guys who gave us a dig out due to injuries and other commitments. That’s it for 2011 and the defending champions are in a strong position to challenge for the title again. With Greystones stacking up the points it is a very hard task ahead of us, however the lads are confident that, in a fair fight, we can turn the tables on them.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the club members from the entire J4 squad!