20.02.2010 J4 XV v Old Belvedere (H)
| 20/02/2010 | 3.00pm | League | St. Marys J4 XV | 7 – 24 | Old Belvedere | Home |
St. Mary’s College J4 V Old Belvedere J4
Mary’s hosted league leaders Old Belvedere in Templeville on Saturday and began brightly with some good rumbles from our forwards and a couple of lively breaks from captain and scrum-half Ross Wynne.
We soon began to fall foul of the referee at the breakdown however and Belvo missed 2 early, long-range shots at goal before kicking a subsequent penalty to touch. From the ensuing lineout, they mauled the ball to the line and over for the score and a 7-0 lead.
We continued to fall foul of the referee’s interpretation at the breakdown and Belvo tacked on 2 more penalties for a 13-0 half-time scoreline.
Mary’s enjoyed more possession in the second half and put width on the ball but Belvo’s defence was aggressive and stood firm as we struggled to get over the gain line. After a turnover in midfield, Belvo chipped over the Mary’s defence and the bounce beat the covering Ross Wynne to fall right into the hands of a Belvo chaser who made it to the line to extend the lead to 18-0.
Mary’s began to exert more pressure and achieve more territory and Belvo conceded a series of penalties in their 22. When the ref saw the same culprit for consecutive offences, the yellow card was shown. Mary’s tapped and went and prop Marc McKay crashed over under the posts after some good up-close work by the forwards. Teddy added the extra points to make it 18-7.
Unfortunately Belvo took advantage of a harsh penalty awarded against Mary’s for throwing the ball away when it was a Belvo lineout to slot another penalty and they converted a final chance to seal a 24-7 win.
Mary’s have 2 remaining games against Coolmine and Blackrock in the league and will be looking to maintain the intensity of the second half performance here as a foundation for retaining their J4 Cup title.
Gavin Rafferty
15. Paul Whyte 14. Richie Pyne 13. Darragh O’Neill 12. David Carpenter 11. Chi-Yuen Hui 10. Teddy Moran 9. Ross Wynne (c) 8. Padraig Nestor 7. Phil Conway 6. Tim Henderson 5. Andy McCarthy 4. Kenny McArdle 3. Ross Wynne 2. Eamon Moran 1. Marc McKay