Lansdowne J2   12 - 14    Greystones J1

Both teams with a win under their belts, though without kicking a ball, this was the first game of the season for each and to be honest, it showed. Ring-rustiness apart, there was an impressive amount of raw talent and heart on display to give great hope for this group’s coming season.

The sun shone on a pristine looking Claremont pitch, a breeze blowing gently across the pitch, concealing the decisive impact it would later have on the outcome. But more about that later.

Newly crowned captain, JJ (“Jiggy Jiggy”) Walsh opened proceedings and his reign with a perfectly lofted drop out and the game was on.  Clearly both sides had been training well but hadn’t yet experienced full contact and after five bristling and bruising minutes the whistle blew and players all over the pitch leaned on their knees blowing hard!  The season is on!  The attrition lasted over 30 minutes, most of which was spent with us attacking but not yet finding the keys to the kingdom.

Set pieces were interesting. The first scrum saw the home side crumple, resulting in a penalty against us.  Loose head stalwart Johnny Barry gets up, shakes his head and before the next scrum, he has a chat with the rest of the pack, pointing, gesticulating and adjusting the settings as a contestant in the Ploughing Championships might fiddle with his Massey Ferguson. It worked. In the next scrum we held our own – Johnny made a few more tweaks – and in the third one we drove them back and won the penalty. Job done Johnny. Lineouts were OK if a bit of a lottery, but more about that next week.

As half time approached, we were starting to lament all our missed opportunities.  Indeed ‘Stones were regaining confidence and fighting out of their half. One relieving clearance kick well into our half is fielded by full back and recent returnee from Trinity, Harry Colbert and he countered with a scintillating run. First he cuts inside finding a gap in their oncoming charge, then he swerves outside and burns the opposite winger for speed. Welcome Home, Harry! He’s brought down outside their 22 but wins a penalty in the process. All looks set for a kick to touch and a drive from the lineout before half time, but Captain Jiggy Jiggy has other ideas. To the shrieks of horror and abuse from his devoted supporters on the sideline, JJ turns to the open side and kicks cross pitch into space! What? But there was method in his madness. Wing forward Luc Van Cauwelaert had seen the openside was being patrolled only by a particularly portly prop and given JJ one of their “special signals” (long story) and it was to him, JJ kicked the ball. It flew nicely, held up in the breeze and bounced sweetly for Vanner to go over.

Five nil to us with half time approaching.

But Greystones weren’t going to collapse just like that.  They came straight back from the kick off and played a few phases very smoothly – their best passage so far – leading to a defensive mix up by us and they went over in the corner. 5 – 5. And to rub salt in the wounds they won a kickable penalty soon after the restart and went into the break ahead. 5 – 8.

Vanner’s try must have really annoyed them, because they started the second half with a flurry of attacks and won another penalty soon after the restart. 5 – 11. But we slowly started to regain the control of the game that we had enjoyed in the first half. Notable performances from (“Teek Tough” and now also sporting a Tache) Tadhg Brennan on the wing, Alexis Olivier at no. 8 and ever present and influential, Eoin Buggy in the second row were standouts among a commendable team effort. We stemmed their attack and might have built more of a reply but for two glitches: lots of simple and eminently correctable mistakes; and losing the love of the referee. The penalty count against us was of a ratio of about five to one and we lost two players to the sin bin for repeated indiscretions. In spite of this, our effort and probably also fitness bore fruit and consistent attacks on their line were finally rewarded as Eoin Buggy went over for a try, converted by Harry. So we edged ahead as we approached injury time 12 – 11.  What can possibly go wrong?  I’ll tell you … another kickable penalty and a harsh yellow for what was deemed a deliberate knock down and the visitors retake the lead 12 – 14.

But with just 14 men we still rallied and got back to their half in the closing moments as grit and determination must have won the battle over fatigue and we won a penalty. But was it kickable? Just inside their half and ten meters in from the touch, Harry Colbert has a go. He strikes it beautifully and it’s making straight for inside the right hand upright, when lo, the west wind blows!  A gust just pushes it agonisingly wide. And then the ref’s final whistle blows too.

A very winnable game but for a few very correctable mistakes. In many ways, the perfect start to the season!  See you next week for the Naas game.

Match Report: Brian Whelan