U16’s Powerhouse Performance
By Philip Johnston
U16’s front up to big Letterkenny side
After last week’s disappointment and generally lacklustre performance, the boys worked hard in training to prepare for the Letterkenny match on Sat 3rd. As usual Letterkenny travelled with a big, strong looking squad – those boys had clearly been throwing hay bales about all summer as the majority of their pack was mostly over 6ft (tall and wide).
The match started at an intense and aggressive pace, with Malone just having the edge. The boys were putting in a much stronger performance and were playing good attacking rugby, but were being thwarted by a solid Letterkenny defence.
The first score didn’t come until the 23rd minute when the backs moved the ball swiftly along the line with our winger Brian being caught and held up for the maul. Scrum to Letterkenny, which the ref deemed them to have collapsed. Penalty to Malone which was kicked into the corner for lineout. Lineout won and a strong maul saw Andy peel off at the back to score in the corner, conversion missed, score 5-0.
A few minutes later Letterkenny got a penalty for a Malone offside just on the Malone 10m line – they opted to kick for goal which they got. Score 5-3 and the boys realised that any infringement would see Letterkenny go for goal as they clearly had a great kicker with them.
An ankle injury saw Connor being replaced at full back by Jack L. Letterkenny were applying all the pressure in the run up to half time and were camped on our 22, when strong counter rucking from Rory L saw him turnover the ball and sprint down the pitch. Excellent support from Andy meant that as Rory got scragged on their 10m, he offloaded to Andy who headed for the corner. A high tackle saw Andy being caught about 10 metres out, but a quick tap from the resulting penalty saw him power over the line. Another touchline conversion missed – Score at HT was 10-3 Malone.
The second half started much like the first with the two packs really fronting up to each other, good Letterkenny play saw them into our 22, but the ball was turned over and kicked out to be caught by a spectator. The Letterkenny outhalf snatched the ball from the spectator, threw it in for himself and ran over the try line. Much to our amusement and vociferous arguing (to put it politely) the ref allowed the score (even their coach quietly said it should never have been allowed). Their out-half then converted so score was 10-10.
The really annoyed the players (* polite version) and they became more intense in their play – they weren’t going to let some (well, truth be told, most) of the referee’s decisions rob them of this match.
Again solid forward pressure put us into the Letterkenny 22 and again the only way they could stop us was to high tackle. Quick tap from Andy saw an offload to Jack H who scored in the corner. 15-10 with only a few minutes to go. From the kick Letterkenny put on major pressure on our back line, but a good clearance kick from Jack L saw the ball go over their fullback and into the Letterkenny 22. Our runners were up quickly putting so much pressure on the fullback that he sliced the ball straight into touch. Brian went for the ball and as the lineout had not formed, threw in quickly to Paddy who mauled forward. The maul brought us up to within 10m of their try line, when Glen popped the ball blind to Jack Mc, who popped to Andy, who popped back to Jack who then popped back to Andy to dive over the try line. A well worked try made by support and unselfish play. Conversion missed and whistle went – final score 20-10 to Malone.
A good shift was put in by all players with much more aggression and good support and communication all round and hopefully we can maintain this dynamic as the league progresses.
