1st XV v UCD (A) by D. O’Brien – 10.11.2007
UCD RFC V St Mary’s College RFC
16 15
Belfield Bowl
Saturday 10th November 2007
In the last away game in Galway, it was by two points this time it was only one, but it is not really fair to crib, for we did not deserve to win this time. UCD are not a bad side but neither are they an exceptional one, they do the basics well and on the day they had more desire to win than we had. In fact that lethargy, noted last week, remained with us. However, Jonno Sexton must be mentioned, he was the outstanding man on the field. His hands were Velcro like, his kicking flawless and his passing and running superb, he also scored all of our 15 points, through confidently delivering five penalties, some difficult.
We played against a strong wind first half, giving hope of victory if we could even keep the score low in the first half, which in fact we did. We were contesting, and robbed several line-outs in the first 20 minutes with Conor Mc Inerney causing them grief, after the first half hour this pattern ceased and indeed their first try, on 32 minutes, was due to our own line-out failing to function correctly, giving them unexpected ball which they ran wide and Artemiev, their 11, scored in the corner. This followed a Lett penalty for them, on five minutes, for not rolling away from the tackle. We were competing reasonably well at this stage and a number of promising back movements initiated by Jonno, looked as though they might reap reward but failed when the necessary final pass was not delivered or support was not at hand and, as with last week, we came off second best on turnovers. Ronan Doherty had to go off with an ankle injury and was replaced by Frank Lynch, who went into the centre and did well, both in carrying and defending. After a few Choppo gallops through the defence; one on 38 minutes yielded a penalty, Jonno obliged so it was 8 – 3 at half time.
The second half started with a jolt for us, for they won the kick off ball and held on to it putting us under pressure and then a mix up in defence let Twomey, their 15, in. It was now 13 – 3 and we had, to put it politely, an incline to negotiate, which we started to do, putting some pressure on them, they killed the ball and Jonno made it 13 – 6, and soon afterwards 13 – 9, then 13 – 12 and from far out he held his nerve to make it 13 – 15. It was 23 minutes and we had hope, if we could hold on to the ball, which of course we didn’t and they won a penalty for coming in on the side, put it into the corner and tried to maul, we stopped them well, however they kept together picking and driving close to the line and crabbing out to near the posts, our defence held well but when they got to the middle of the field they let it back in a perfect position and over the drop went from Cummiskey; it was 16 – 15. We must get the ball back, but they took the ball from the kick off and only lost it very briefly, when Skipper Logie tried hard to make progress, but that was the pattern to the end. Their ball retention was admirable, they rucked, they drove, they picked in twos and threes and fours, and they held on to the ball. It must be admitted that our rucking and counter rucking looked feeble and uncommitted and that UCD deserved their win. This was one of our least effective or spirited performance in some time, again our discipline was poor, however we did get a bonus point.
If this sounds a bit gloomy, we should remember that we have nearly a team of players injured and there are only three games played, with a long way to go. There are many positives. We have many fine players and top class coaches and back-up men, all of whom spend long hours working for success; and it will come. There are many very tough games ahead and a few less testing; and lots of fun and interest for all of us, but we must support the team, they need it and deserve it. Our famed spirit will prevail. Next week we have one of the tougher ones, UL Bohemians in Limerick, so we need all of us to try hard to get there and give strong support.
D O’Brien.
Team 15 M Skelton, 14 D Fanning, 13 R Gannon, 12 K Douglas, 11 R Doherty (F Lynch36), 10 J Sexton, 9 M Darcy, 8 M Donnellan (V Ryan50), 7 H Hogan, 6 K Sheehan, 5 C Mc Inerney, 4 G Logan (Capt) 3 R Sweeney, 2 M Crockett, 1 M Duggan Richie Sweeney36).