J1 XV v UCD (H) by D. O’Brien – 14.01.2018

/in , /by

St Mary’s College RFC J1s V UCD RFC J1s

37 42

Templeville Road

Sunday 14th January 2018

Metro League 1

Overall

If this game had been a meal item, it would have been a dessert, a delicious soufflé. It was an effervescent contest of fast running rugby, as might be expected when playing a University team. It may not have been exactly Leinster V Glasgow of earlier but most entertaining all the same and a credit to the tow sides. It was reminiscent of the old Firbolgs team of years ago, with rules of no touch kicking in your own half. It ended with five tries to Marys and six to UCD. After an even, tit for tat game, it looked as though we would shade it but were unfortunate not to score with the last play, held up under the posts. So, UCD gained five points while Marys garnered two.

The score might be indicative of there being more emphasis on attack than on defence, and so it was, with errors and some Dublin Bay-wide gaps in defences on occasions.

Besides the entertaining quality of the game, there were also welcome reintroductions after injury of David Fanagan, who enjoyed the style immensely, Jack Dilger, who looked strong and eager and Ian (Nelly) O’Neill who was full of running and scored two of the five St Marys’ tries. The scrum looked strong and was dominant, with Emmett Ferron, James Coolican and Brendan Cullinane in the front row. There were several good performances, with Robbie Glynn showing his rugby brain and abilities, Conor Gilsenan and Mathew Timmins as usual put in a substantial performances and U20, Ronan Watters, again showed his strong potential and emphasised his skills and hot pace, while scoring an individual try.

It has to be said that there has been a significant improvement in performances over the last three or four games and Rodney’s influence is clearly grinning out at us for the better.

D O’Brien

Team (Rolling Replacements) 15 D Fanagan, 14 L O’Regan, 13 C Gilsenan, 12 M Joyce, 11 O’Neill, 10 M. Timmons, 9 R Glynn, 8 J Dilger, 7 R Watters, 6 D McDonnell, 5 N Murphy, 4 E Conroy, 3 B Cullinane, 2 J Coolican, 1 E Ferron. N McEniff, D Lyons,D Daly, E Clynes.