At the risk of overstating the weather conditions on the “all-weather” pitch at Belfield on Saturday, we let the Oscar nominated Bill Shakespeare describe it for us. It was Biblical.  And whatever the heroism of the players on the pitch, let’s have a shout out to the poor buggers on the sideline. Heros every one!

Anyway, to the game, or what we could see of it. Happily, sort of, with the wind at our backs we spent most of the first half deep in their half with returning outhalf, Stephan Madigan using his boot well to take advantage of the elements. But for the fervour of the students’ defence, we would have had more to show for our advantage on the score board, so the game was twenty minutes old before our pressure finally prevailed. Sustained dominance in the scrum, thanks largely to props George Morris and Greg McGrath, led to repeated scrum penalties and eventually the ten meter lineout maul went over the line with Bobby Sheehan touching down. Stephen added the extras and we were up and running. 0 – 7.

The pressure continued and amid all the coughing and sneezing on the sideline it was almost possible to hear the referee’s whistle blow another penalty a few minutes later and Stephen slotted this over too. 0 – 10

Our next assault on their line was an elegant piece of work. Another scrum on their 10 meter line and the Collidge pack bound tight to prevent us driving over; scrum half Jack Matthews breaks left and takes his opposite number with him, but he didn’t have the ball. The ball was nestled safely at the feet of number eight Harry Van Eaden and he picked and went right, slicing through the gap created by Jack’s dummy run. 0 – 15 with ten minutes left of the first half. This would have been a decent margin to face into the second half wind with, but it wasn’t to last. Full credit to Collidge, in spite of the wind and their malfunctioning set pieces, they clawed their way out of their own half with ball in hand, no mean feat in those conditions (did we mention it was raining?). So, they get a scrum just inside our half and somehow, almost in a mirror of our earlier try, our defence goes left and their number eight James Culhane sees a gap and runs at least 25 meters un troubled under our posts.  A giant morale boost and critical lifeline for the students - now we were the ones under pressure as the whistle blew for half time 7 – 15.

The weather didn’t improve, if anything it deteriorated and even evergreen and ever-happy Dec Drummond looked a bit miserable in his body hugging wet gear. The grumpiness continued as legendry outhalf of the 80’s Brian Bolger snapped at anyone over five foot in height for blocking his view. Other stalwarts enduring the elements included Dermot McCarron who bemoaned the dominance of the defence in the modern game, but denied that he had stolen that idea from our last match report against Marys, explaining helpfully, “I never read that shite!”

Festivities resumed and most (though notably not all) spectators remained in support. Predictably, the elements dictated that play was now mostly in our half and though it was turgid to watch, the effort on the pitch was immense. Nearly 20 minutes into the second half, UCD get a penalty and Paddy (son of our own Willie) Clancy slotted over the kick. 10 – 15. The pressure on us was building and when we lost a man for a deliberate knock on (some say we might have conceded a penalty try) things were looking ominous. 

Sure enough, Collidge drew level on the hour mark when Clancy took the ball in the middle of the pitch and released his outfield players with a tidy grubber kick behind our centres. A race followed and with the soap bar formally known as a ball being impossible to control, it squirted up for a student and he touched down in the corner, mercifully out of Clancy’s range. 15 – 15

Lansdowne manfully fought their way back up the pitch, superiority in the scrum now restored, we won a few penalties and found ourselves again on their 10 meter line for a lineout and a big chance. But that squirty ball struck again, so when it cruelly missed its target, Collidge were gifted an easy exit. Back in our own danger zone and now it was their lineout on our 10 meter and whatever they had on the towel that dried the ball or whatever was on their fingertips, they caught the ball and went over in the maul that followed. 20 – 15 to the absolute ecstasy of the students on and off the pitch.

The final ten minutes we spent in their half with the last five on their line. But try and try as we might, the students defended brilliantly and we couldn’t get over. Dermot was right. Defence won out in another close encounter. 

Still, other losses above us on the league table mean that we’re still only one point off a semi final slot. Not too bad on the back of two disappointing losses.

 But best of all, we have the sun drenched sidelines of Ballynahinch to look forward to next week.  See you all there! (Will someone tell McCarron?)

Match Report: Brian Whelan