Following two defeats in a row for the first time in three seasons City of Derry Rugby Club returned to winning ways in All Ireland League Division 3 when they defeated Navan at Judges Road on Saturday last to maintain their third position in the league table four points behind leaders Instonians. Derry’s victory came courtesy of five try’s which secured a bonus point and keeps the momentum going at this vital stage of the season with another four AIL games to come on consecutive Saturdays. Derry has two of those games at home against Wanderers and Ards and they are away to Rainey and Nenagh. The next game is this Saturday at Judges Road where they entertain Wanderers who were well beaten at home on Saturday last by Instonians.
CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THIS GAME COURTESY OF BERNARD DOHERTY: e bernarddoherty@hotmail.com
The conditions on Saturday were ideal for rugby but Derry struggled to replicate the level of performance which they produced in defeat away to Seapoint at the beginning of the month. The intensity, drive, purpose and direction that was there that day was missing from their game in a contest they were expected to win quite easily when they tried to force the game early and mistakes abounded. The home side had some good passages of play in the early stages with strong drives especially from the outstanding Stephen Ferguson and Chris Cooper but lack of patience led to speculative rugby that saw inaccuracy in passing, possession kicked away, lack of support for the ball carrier and indiscipline at the breakdown.
Navan were putting some nice passages of play together in the first twenty minutes despite being on the back foot and living on Derry mistakes. Their play was rewarded with a penalty on twenty minutes for Derry going offside at the breakdown and their out half Martin Coll kicked Navan into a 3pts lead from thirty meters. Derry had two penalty chances which they did not take one in front of the posts which they declined and opted for a scrum which came to nothing. Derry put themselves into the lead on thirty minutes despite themselves, the forwards took possession to the Navan 22 and when possession was recycled three times Peter Henderson got in for a try to the left of the posts and with Richard Peoples converting Derry lead by 7pts to 3pts.
Navan got another penalty chance following good continuity play after another Derry infringement at the breakdown on thirty five minutes but out half Coll missed an easy chance. The home side finally found a bit of form that was inspired by Captain Sam McAuley when he made a good break from the half way line down the right hand side of the pitch. Good handling and driving from Sam Duffy and David Witherow saw more that five phases of play for the first time in the game. The ball was moved left along the backline and Henderson released David Funston to an excellent unconverted try to put Derry into a 12pts to 3pts lead with the game in first half injury time. Derry came straight back at Navan from the kick-off and following a couple of infringements, Navan lost their second row and Captain John Duffy to the sin bin as the referee blew for half time.
Derry started the second half in sprightly fashion and Navan heads sunk on five minutes when Tom Patton intercepted a pass on the half way line and beat off several tackles before being helped by a miraculous pass he gave that rebounded off a Navan player back into his hands to allow him to score a memorable try under the posts, with Peoples converting it was 19pts to 3pts for Derry. There were just ten minutes on the clock when Derry got their bonus point, Richard People who was having a fantastic game at out half took play to thirty meters from the Navan line before finding Simon Logue on the left wing. Logue had work to do with two men to beat but when he skipped under the would be double tackle there was only one result, a try for the ubiquitous Logue and with Pepoles converting Derry’s lead was 26pts to 3 pts.
With the game seemingly safe Derry unloaded the bench to give game time to the squad, Richard McCarter replaced Richard Peoples, Richard Baird replaced Stephen Ferguson and David Houston came on for Chris Cooper. The large home crowd were expecting Derry to kick on and increase their advantage. Derry’s play became disjointed again and Navan to their credit came back at Derry and following weak defensive play Martin Coll got in for a try by the posts which he converted himself to reduce their arrears to 26pts to 10pts.
Derry finally put the game to bed on twenty five minutes when pressure forced the Navan full back Ciaran Joyce who was their outstanding player to miss kick to touch and from the resulting ten meter lineout a great catch from David Houston and a strong forwards drive allowed Stephen Corr to touch down for an unconverted try to leave the final score 31pts to 10pts for Derry. City of Derry Forwards Coach Mark Nicholl said after the game “the players are disappointed with their performance today, but when you score five try’s to one and get your bonus point and are still not happy it says show much about this squad. We definitely were a bit rusty out there but that was to be expected considering the few games we have had recently, Navan have had more games than us over the last month and it showed. I was delighted that we got everyone on the pitch today and with our second team winning away at Ards by close on forty points we have everyone on the 1st Squad healthy and available for selection next week”.
City of Derry Team: : David Witherow, Sam McAuley, Sam Duffy, Bob McKillop, Chris Cooper, Stephen Corr, Tom Pattton, Stephen Ferguson, Andrew Semple, Richard Peoples, William McCleery. Ryan Campbell, David Funston, Simon Logue, Peter Henderson. Replacements: Stephen Duffy, Stephen Simms, David Houston, Richard Baird, Richard McCarter.
