Saturday saw Armagh travel into Leinster for the first time to play in the Ulster Bank All Ireland League. Their opposition was NUIM Barnhall. The game was played in the National University of Ireland Maynooth campus fields. Barnhall have unique relationship with the university and carry on a tradition of playing one fixture per season on the University’s grounds. This game was played on the wide-open expanses of the campus with a very strong breeze blowing down the field.
Barnhall kicked off into the breeze and judging by the problems the Barnhall out-half encountered with this kick it was blindingly obvious that the gale was going to have a profound effect on the results of this encounter. Within five minutes play the home forwards were penalised for entering a ruck from the side. The wind carried James McBriar’s kick wide of the mark. This event was repeated and again the kick was taken wide with the wind. When the first scrum was called the superior size of the home pack was obvious. Line-outs, however, were the domain of the well-drilled Armagh forwards. In open play the sheer bulk of the Barnhall pack permitted them to ‘bully’ Armagh to gain more than their fair share of possession.
Just before twenty minutes play the home forwards were penalised for dropping their bind in a scrum. This time Armagh’s full back, Johnny Steenson, stepped up and was accurate with his kick to put Armagh 0-3 ahead. This was short-lived when a defensive mix-up let the Barnhall centre through for a very soft try at the posts. The conversion put the score to 7-3. Steenson landed another penalty to narrow the score to 7-6. On the stroke of half-time the Barnhall kicker, Mark Kavannah, landed a penalty to leave the score 10-6 at the break. This score line was ominous in the fact that Armagh had not been able to take any advantage from the strong wind and were about to face, a very stiff breeze, up a hill, and most significantly a very strong pack. It was about to become a very long second half!
Shortly after the re-start, Barnhall scored the first of their four second half tries. It was converted to put the score to 17-6. Armagh, however, revived and for a period of ten minutes appeared to command the game! They launched attack after attack at the Barnhall line. Winger Andrew Willis almost scored when he out paced his opposite number and kicked ahead only to see the ball trickle over the dead ball line. Shortly after this Armagh stole a line-out ball and launched a rolling maul. This was controlled meticulously and after progressing fifteen metres up the field Captain, Phil Hill, touched down. Steenson’s conversion went wide and the referee yellow carded the Barnhall open side flanker for repeatedly straying off-side. Despite this Armagh were unable to make any advantage of this and Barnhall managed to score another try when their scrum half touched down. The conversion widened the gap to 24-11. Ten minutes later a two man overlap led to another Barnhall try which, again, was converted to put the score to an insurmountable 31-11. But to add insult to injury a Barnhall substitute scored a final try to finish off the day at 36-11.
This result failed to provide even a losing bonus point. This is the first League fixture this season not to yield a solitary point. It must be noted that the Armagh side were always aware that their venture into senior rugby was never going to be an easy trip. They all know that they were bullied and harried by a well-drilled, heavy pack on Saturday. This defeat, while being convincing, is in no way due to errors as was the Connemara game. The inability to get points on the board in the first half was the crux of Saturday’s game. No doubt a more experienced side could have achieved this and taken better advantage of the conditions. On the other hand it must be remembered that the team is on a learning curve and every game sees them improve but the opposition also continues to improve and are seen to be able to take advantage off any mistakes Armagh make!
