2nd XV have great win against Quinns 2nd xv 45-7 to get through to the Cup QF
Those who came to watch this game were treated to a display of fine Instonian rugby. Forward power and silky backs made for seven good tries for the mighty 2s despite a wobbly start.
Quinns thought it was a walk in park after an unforced knock on by us led to a good scrum and a few phases before an early penalty let Quinns kick to the corner. A few more phases and 7-0.
Quinns held onto the ball well until about the eighth minute when Epi made his entrance. An “Eddie-Honda style sumo slap” hand off could be heard by the supporters 50m away and from our own 5m line we countered. Some superb punching through by the forwards drew in the defence until Paddy Irwin broke the line, supported well by Chris Henderson who gave Chuckles his first run in of the day 5-7 but still warming up.
Quinns couldn’t find a way through no matter how much possession they had. They only made yards from a series of penalties, thankfully a lot less than previous weeks. Quinns built momentum and nearly scored again until Chuckles put in a super try-saving hit around the twenty minute mark and that was the last threat from Quinns.
A few minutes later the pack turned over more ball, Ali Andress came off the wing in good support and put through a little kick for Fegan to tidy up and a good score. Chris Henderson had another tough kick but nailed this one 12-7 with ten minutes to the half, warmed up now.
Good pressure up front by us starting forcing Quinns to give away penalties and then a yellow card as we pressed forward. With only 14 men on the pitch for Quinns it was like a turkey shoot for the backs so no surprise when the Ali-Fegan coalition struck again almost immediately and 19-7 after an easy knock over for Chris.
Quinns were in disarray with no Flyhalf on the pitch and fluffed the restart. The Instonian scrum looked solid all day and so the backs had another chance to run at them from the half-way line. No surprise when Ali Andress broke through and his old buddy Fegan was right there in close support but it needed more for the score on this occasion and a full throttle Paddy Irwin ran through the line and touched down with ease under the sticks 26-7 and the half could not come quick enough for Quinns.
Quinns came out with intent after the half but spent fifteen minutes getting driven back and could only ease pressure from silly Instonian penalties. Fifteen minutes in to the second half young Matt McGuigan was brought on at ten and Chris Henderson moved to full back, any notions that this structure would be less potent were soon proved wrong.
Hard to highlight any of the pack as they all played a great game and so when a line out ten metres from the Quinns line came along it was no surprise that the pack wanted one for them too. It was textbook to a tee, a dart from Mini well gathered by Maxi and a rampant bit of mauling saw Rab get one for the workers. Matt proved he still has the lucky boots and slotted a beauty to turn the screw to 33-7.
Straight from the restart it was clear that this team wanted to get the 50 out of Quinns and more slick hands in our best backs display of the season saw Chris Henderson get a well deserved score in the corner, golden boots did it again 40-7.
Quinns hadn’t learnt anything all day and so sent the restart to Sheardy again who ran right back at them and made twenty yards every time. A few more phases and we were back in the Quinns 22. It wouldn’t be a 2s game without Nico putting his mark on it and once again he saw the defence was non-existent and could have walked the ten metres up the blind side for his try 45-7 and only one more score for the fifty. Quinns had had enough so the game was blew up a little early meaning Troupey only got 3 phases in before his shift was over and the fifty never came, but it would have.
A brilliant display for the supporters who no doubt heard a mighty Rickety when the team got back in the clubhouse, here’s hoping for a cup run.
Peter Steven
Team
1 Ross Mungavin
2 Michael Mairs
3 Stephen Ferguson
4 Andrew Mairs
5 Gareth Shortt
6 Rory Sheard
7 Rab Brown
8 Paddy Marks
9 Nico Andress
10 Chris Henderson
11 Ali Andress
12 Paddy Irwin
13 Richard Fegan
14 Matt Wright
15 Epi Ratu
Sub 1 Matt McGuigan
Sub 2 Richard Troupe
