ACADEMY ARMAGH rugby
It was with heavy hearts that Armagh played this league fixture. The whole club at The Palace Grounds had been stunned to hear of the sudden news that Club Secretary, Bill Jennings, had died whilst refereeing a game in Carrickfergus only hours earlier. Prior to the kick-off the teams observed a period of silence as a mark of respect for the popular club member.
The stiffish breeze favoured the home side in the first half and the game was barely one minute old when they were awarded a penalty when an Armagh forward approached a ruck from the side. The kick was successful and Academy immediately looked as if they wanted to take on the fancied Armagh side. Indeed the Armagh side continually made handling errors and continued to rush their moves only to result in wasted efforts. The referee was forced to caution the Armagh hooker for continued front row infringements. Barely had the game re-started when Academy backs worked a fine overlap and scored a beautiful try on their left wing. Score was now 8-0. It now appeared that this Academy side were not in anyway overawed by the situation and had definitely stamped their intention on the game.
Immediately after the re-start Armagh blind-side flanker, Peter Elliott, broke from the base of a ruck and scored at the posts. Steenson had no problem with the conversion. Score was now 8-7. Afte another five minutes play the referee penalised Armagh for not releasing the ball quickly enough. Academy’s kicker was successful and the score was now 11-7.
A fine break from Armagh centre, Andy Holmes, sent his winger over for another try. Which again, Steenson converted to bring the score to 11-14. Normally the vocal Armagh support would, by this stage, have thought that two converted tries under the belt half way to a bonus point – game on! Not so because this young Academy side were putting literally everything into this struggle. Armagh were finding their forwards under pressure in both set pieces and open play. The backs were continuing with their demonstration of handling errors. Lock forward Stephen Morton suffered a minor blood injury and substitute, Joe Clarke, was introduced into the fray on a temporary basis.
The Academy full-back was beginning to make use of the breeze and repeatedly landed touch kicks into the Armagh corners. To add to this Armagh lost a scrum against the head and then Academy scored a fine try under the Armagh posts! This was converted to bring the score to 18-14. Immediately after the re-start Armagh’s front row were penalized and Academy kicked another three points to make the score 21-14. Armagh’s captain, Steenson, made a long sprint down his left wing and only failed to score when he strayed into touch. Armagh’s line-outs were not up to their usual standard of service. For some reason they persisted to go for long throws in, what was by now, a very stiff breeze. This resulted in several gifts to the Academy forwards who took full advantage!
Armagh’s winger, Alexis Luneau, made a fine run down his wing but after loosing his footing was forced to off-load the ball to flanker, Andy Hughes, who then scored under the posts. Steenson again obliged with the conversion. The score now stood at 21-21. Luneau then scored a fine try when he stepped around his opposite number and touched-down at the posts. Steenson again converted to bring the score to 21-28.
Armagh’s out-half Freddie Cuttle broke clear and passed to Andy Hughes but he couldn’t retain possession so the first half score remained at 21-28.
The second half saw the home team put in a period of intense effort and after they won a scrum against the head their number 8, Carey, broke from the base of the scrum. The ball was passed to the Academy centre who scythed through some very weak tackling to score a very soft try. Score 26-28. Armagh were, by now, realising that a defeat was definitely staring them in the face.
The academy flanker was sin-binned fro answering back to the referee. This seemed to waken Armagh and from the penalty line-out Andy Hughes scored which Steenson, yet again, converted to bring the score to 26-35. A penalty was awarded to Academy which brought the score to 29-35.
Armagh were pinned in their 22 for a prolonged period and only after Steenson launched one of his specials which put the line-out inside the academy 22 was the pressure relieved. Armagh then scored a try when their rolling maul went over the academy line. Joe Clarke was the last to get to his feet and claimed the honours! Steenson completed his 100% kicking record to finish the day at 29-42!
It was time to go home albeit with a bonus point but the Armagh post match team talk lasted some 10 minutes and a lot of red faces resulted. Next week’s trip north to Ballymoney will prove interesting. There will be several more team talks between then and now I imagine, however!
