| Corinthians hammer Bruff on the road | |||||
|
|
Bruff 7 - 25 Corinthians The steady progress that Corinthians RFC have achieved this season with improved rugby performance at all levels in the club, took a further step forward on Saturday when the coming generation of rugby talent in the club achieved qualification to the AIL U20 Div 1 play-offs. Corinthians led by captain James Robinson, who starred for the seniors the previous week-end, started out in determined fashion and opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a well worked try off a scrum. No.8 Liam Carpenter broke left and fed winger Kevin Russell who raced from the half way line and off loaded at pace to the supporting Brendan Carpenter 10 yards out to score. As was to be the case on the day the conversion was missed. The Corinthian pack, in which hooker Karl Egan was again back to his best form, was at this stage dominating the bigger Bruff pack. After a sustained period of pressure in which man of the match David Ott was prominent, James Robinson crashed over for a well deserved second try. 10 nil, 2 tries, twenty minutes gone, everything going to plan, i.e. a win with a bonus point and looking comfortable. Then collectively as has happened too often this season, the team decided to switch off and Bruff scored the easiest of tries when their outhalf ran in untouched to score under the posts, leaving the score 10 7. To their credit the team reacted by scoring a stunning try when winger Aengus O'Connell was released into space by scrum half Walsh, he raced 30 yards before linking up with the supporting Finn Gormley who raced over to leave the half-time score at 15 7. Coach Paul Flanagan had harsh words at half time and once again the team started the second half in determined fashion. After 5 minutes Colin Raftery stole a lineout and replacement scrum-half Eric Flynn fed Dave Clarke who worked the ball to winger Kevin Russell who showed serious pace to take his opponent on the outside and score a superb try in the corner. With the bonus point now looking secure it meant that Corinthians should have been able to build a big score and when 5 minutes later winger Russell once again used his speed to race over from the half-way line to leave the score 25 - 7, it seemed inevitable. However, once again the team went into sleep mode with the result that no more scores were added leaving the final score at 25 - 7 but with the key objective on the day having being achieved, 5 points and qualification, in the bag. So congratulations to the team and management on what has been achieved so far this season, but major improvement will be required if further progress is to be made. Team: Tierney; Egan; Robinson; Ott; Raftery; Costello; Kearney; L.Carpenter; Walsh; Clarke; Russell; Gormley; Cooney; O'Connell; B.Carpenter. Subs: Mc Grath; Nee; Higgins; Casey; Duggan; Flynn; Nairn; Pardy.  |
