Things got off to an inauspicious start as midfield general, Will McEvoy drop kicked out on the full. A measure of his poise and maturity is how he shrugged off this (and several more blunders - see below) to put in another commanding performance overall, but also set up the try that soon followed. From their half way scrum, our back row, Will Sadlier harassed their half backs into a mistake that brought us into their 22 meter and we stole back the ball in the maul that followed.  Scrum half Afonso Mendonca (who has finally acclimated to our weather enough to shed the long-johns) was spoiled for choice with natural outhalves on either side of the maul to chose from: JJ Walsh wearing 10 but Will Mc in deep disguise at 12. Will took the ball on the left and seemed to drift wide, before cutting back inside and finding a gap. Looking inside, who should he see charging on his shoulder but captain, second row and let’s face it, genetic perfection, Michael Whelan. Yes thanks, said Mikey as he charged the remaining 10 meters to score the first of many tries that evening under the post.  Apparently, Will converted, but your correspondent was being revived with the recently installed defibrillator as he did. 0 - 7 to Lansdowne (the visitors) after just five minutes. This looked like being a great game (and a very long match report!)

The purple patch continued for the next ten minutes as we moved the ball fluidly though our back line and our pack terrorised their backs. Coach Curry showed he doesn’t just coach, kick and run with the ball, he has a wicked sense of timing when it comes to cleaving someone in twain in a tackle, as they say in Game of Thrones. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before our side of the scoreboard was clicking away again when, fair play to the hosts, they intercepted a loose pass in our midfield (no prizes for guessing who messed up – see below).  Bizarrely, it was a prop that made the intercept and showing a range of ball skills if not pace, he chipped the ball forward into our half and then was first to hoof it on again over our line where he touched it down. 7 - 7

But fears of a Wanderers comeback would be unfounded. In a now familiar pattern, the yet-again contrite centre Will McEvoy was at the end of an excellent individual break from marvelous full back Paddy Burke and he touched down and then converted our second try. 7 - 14 What a game.

Then a strange thing happened.  The referee awarded a penalty.  We hadn’t fully realized until then that the reason the entire first quarter was so enjoyable, was that the referee had let the ball flow and only after 21 minutes did he call for foul play. Sadly, they too had a multi-talented number 8 and he converted the kick from just inside our half. 10 - 14.

The second quarter also belonged to us as our backs took turns at showing their class, centre David Clarke and winger Daragh Lenihan menacing the Wanderers defence, while Coach Curry continued to lay waste all around him, smoting any Wanderers that dared hold on to the ball. Most of the play so far was improvised and spontaneous, but it was a move straight from the playbook that brought our next try.  From a scrum outside their 10 meter line, JJ runs a dummy line right and Afonso finds Will on the open side. Will drifts left again and this time it’s right winger Rory Boyle that runs a perfect line inside him and takes the pop pass to touch down under the post.  Will obliges yet again and it’s 10 – 21 with the halfway break in sight.  But Wanderers kept in touch by working their way back into our half from the restart and winning a penalty, which that relentless lock of theirs kicked over from a distance. 13 - 21 at the break.

The hosts started the second as they had finished the first and they snagged another penalty after a boisterous attack. 16 - 21 and we really had a contest on our hands.

The second half seemed much tighter as Wanderers upped the tempo of their  attack and if their backs only had more adhesive fingertips they might have converted their improved performance into points. But our defence was as resolute as our attack was varied and we soaked up all they could throw at us, waiting until our own chance would come again. When we won a ball from their line out on the half way, a series of patient phased play saw us work our way up the pitch into striking distance of their line.  A ball comes out of a ruck and finds its way to sub hooker, Rory O’Donnell. There’s a gap but a dead end and Rory wisely takes the few meters but holds up for support. His patience is rewarded in the maul that follows. Afonso (fully warmed up by now) moves the ball quickly to Will again and he looks inside, but passes outside to that man Paddy Burke who screeches over the line in the corner. 16 - 26

With the bench emptied (and with a full complement of “Sexy Lexy’s now on the pitch - McEvoy, Pavier and Olivier) a new energy came to our lads. But the familiar pattern was repeated before too long as our forwards assaulted their line relentlessly, a certain try only being foiled when the player we’ve all come to love/hate, Will McEvoy conceded yet another penalty in a ruck.  But, as so often before, his crime was soon followed by a stroke of genius. From the lineout that resulted, our ever patient forwards stole the ball, jumper Conor Deane and his lifter Mikey (strong as well as handsome), reaching new heights. Rory O’Donnell crashes through on a short ball from the ruck, gaining 15 meters and Afonso burrows inside the ruck to move the ball again to Will who this time finds JJ Walsh. JJ scorches the earth over the final 10 meters to score, pausing only briefly to ensure the lads on the sideline got a good shot of him for Social Media. Will, now fully back in everyone’s good books, converts again making it 16 -33.

The final 15 minutes, as you’d expect from a brave Wanderers side, were spent on our own line. To put it mildly they threw it all at us and we had to do some creative defending to keep them at bay. It was inevitable that the pressure and the infringements would tell and after losing a man to the sin bin and conceding a try, the final score was 23 - 33. As engineer or actuary, Rory O’Donnell summed it up, “After 15 penalties, losing one player and just one try, is a pretty good risk/reward ratio!”  It’s the way he tells them.

Yet another cracking game, facilitated by an excellent referee and a competitive and sporting opposition, showing that the Junior game is the spectator sport of choice for the discerning rugby fan.

Match Report - Brian Whelan