01.11.2008 J4 XV v Lansdowne (A)
| 01/11/2008 | 2.30pm | League | Lansdowne | 12 – 45 | St. Marys J4 XV | Away |
St Marys College RFC J4 V Lansdowne J4
45 12
Ballycorus
The J4’s faced their toughest test of the season so far, against Lansdowne at Ballycorus on Saturday. A delayed arrival due to tailbacks on the M50 didn’t effect the Mary’s team, who hit the ground running.
After spending the opening minutes in the Lansdowne half, a knock-on on the right wing gave Lansdowne a scrum and a chance to clear their lines. Scrum-Half Ross Wynne pressured the Lansdowne out-half who fumbled the ball in his own in-goal area and was forced to concede the 5 metre scrum. Mary’s spread the ball wide and Wally Moran went over from the first phase ball.
Mary’s continued in this vein and further tries from wingers Chi-Yuen Hui and Nick Cunningham, as we used the full width of the pitch, gave us a 19-0 lead after 25 minutes.
Unfortunately we took our foot off the gas a little and with a bit of possession, Lansdowne played a pick-and-drive game and scored 2 tries to make it 19-12. Only much-improved tackling and defence from the pack held them out from scoring another before half-time and Chi-Yuen added to his earlier try despite a late tackle after he scored. Half-time score was 26-12 to Mary’s.
Mary’s kicked it up a gear in the second half, which turned a bit niggly. Lansdowne had a man binned and their sizeable entourage on the sideline were less than happy with the ref’s performance.
Tries from Darragh O’Neill, who looked dangerous every time he and centre partner Wally took the ball on, and 2 more from the pack sealed the win for Mary’s. Teddy had a great day with the boot (finally!) and his performance seemed to benefit from playing against a couple of workmates with whom he had several bets on the result. They had predicted a tough day for Mary’s and had sent Teddy the attached picture!!
The pack were excellent and the backs moves all seemed to come off for our best performance so far this season.
Final score: St. Mary’s 45-12 Lansdowne
1. Alan Godfrey 2. Eamon Moran 3. Ross Kelly 4. John Twomey 5. Joe Doddy 6. Lord Andy McCarthy 7. Phil Conway 8. Padraig Nestor 9. Ross Wynne 10. Teddy Moran 11. Chi-Yuen Hui 12. Paul Moran 13. Darragh O’Neill 14. Nick Cunningham 15. Paul Whyte
Our next game is on Friday night under lights in Donnybrook against pool rivals Old Wesley, who knocked us out of the league and cup (after extra time) last season. All support will be gratefully accepted and it could be a good start to a weekend, so please come down and give the lads a cheer. Kick-off is 7.30.
Gavin Rafferty