Inishowen 52 – Finn Valley 10
September 10th 2011
Report by Jeremy Blackman
The opening day of the 2011-2012 season is one which could be marked down in history, not because the sun shone for the whole 80 minutes, but at the start of Inishowen RFC’s 40th season, they were honoured to be the inaugural opponents to Irish rugby’s newest Club, Finn Valley RFC. With the Rugby World Cup kicking off the preceding Friday, it seemed that the planets had come into alignment to make the occasion just a little bit more remarkable, and the large crowd in attendance were further evidence that rugby is this seasons must have accessory for those in the know.
Anyone who had observed the opening round of games in the Rugby World Cup would have been aware of the phenomenon of strong teams ‘choking’ in their performances against smaller, less established sides, the question being, would Inishowens 40 years of history be enough to insulate them from this trend, or would the visitors hold a brightly light torch to expose any inherent weakness to leave the home team with egg on their face and questions to answer.
From the outset, it was evident that what Finn Valley lacked in experience, was more than compensated for by their energy, determination and endeavour, and they started brightly with some very spirited attacking, forcing the home team into early defensive mode to thwart these early rapier thrusts, and to try and parry with their own. Whilst there was ample evidence that Inishowen were a little ring rusty, their more experienced playmakers were able to impose some semblance of playing patterns, which provided the Moss Road men with some productive attacking opportunities.
Scrums and lineouts provided Inishowen with solid and reliable platform to attack, resulting in the try count slowly start to ratchet up in the Home teams favour. The stability of set piece however, also served to highlight poorer play and areas of concern, as the ball moved through the phases, it was evident that previously established playing modes were being abandoned as more questionable decision making and execution were witnessed.
It causes this reporter no end of bewilderment, when previously dependable and reliable players start to play a more alien and headless brand of rugby, much to the detriment of the greater goal, and this was the case at times for Inishowen. Perhaps there was an unwarranted assumption that because a player had recently watched an All Black perform a perfect one handed reverse spin pass on TV, it should be attempted at every perceivable opportunity in a muddy field in downtown Inishowen. One would also question, wether the fact that the late night offering on Film 4 ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ was the inspiration for some of the decidedly hot potato passes on display, and whilst Misters Harrelson and Snipes managed to delight, amuse and entertain with their displays of phalangeal dexterity, to see it attempted on the rugby field brought nothing but dismay, anxiety and frustration, and too often, dropped ball.
To dwell upon the negatives however, would do a great disservice to the overall positivity and enterprise that was apparent, and whilst some aspect of their game failed to ignite, there was plenty to impress. When provided with good ball, centres Craig and Cassidy made great inroads into opposition territory, backed up by the voracious back row of Cantwell, McEleney and Sweeney, with David black coming off the wing to prove threatening in attack, and unflappable in defence.
By the second half, Finn Valley were missing a prop forward through injury, forcing the introduction of non contested scrummaging. This, and an uncharacteristic unwillingness to take the ball into contact and set up rucks, brought a sterile aspect to Inishowens game, in which the visitors thrived and for a long period of the half forced Inishowen into spilling the ball needlessly through over anxious passing. This resulted in good territorial advantage for Finn Valley, which they converted into points from a well struck penalty followed shortly after by a converted try.
These scores served to galvanise Inishowen, who, for the last period of the game were back in the ascendancy finishing with a late flurry of trys. The final whistle brought proceedings to a close, with Gregg Byron, Antony Cantwell, Colm Sweeney, Paul Cassidy Neil Gillespie, and Mickey Joe Doherty all crossing the whitewash for scores, with conversions from Mark Glasha bringing the final score to 56 – 10
By the final whistle Captain Neil Gillespie was quietly content with the events of the day, and although recognising that areas such as decision making and handling need to improve, was full of praise for his team, especially wing forward Colm Sweeney, who had an inspirational first half, and young Pauric McGonigle, who came on in the second half for his first senior game, and gave an impressive debut performance.
The next fixture is in a fortnights time, with Inishowen travelling away to this seasons other newcomers, Tir Conail .
Mini rugby starts again shortly for boys and girls from the ages of 7 to 12, if the Rugby world cup has caught their attention, then Wednesday evenings (starting from the 21st September) from 7.30 to 8.30 is the place to come to get their first step on the ladder!
Phone Brian Harkin on 0872921939 for more details.
