CARLOW NO MATCH FOR MEADOWMEN
Author: David O'Siochain 2005-12-15
Carlow arrived at Castle Ave with a large pack and the ambition to play expansive rugby, unfortunately they met an intrenchable Tark pack in no mood to entertain the visitors reverie.
The Tarf pack exerted dominance from the first scrum and bullocking runs from Alan Trenier, Damien Lambert and Magnus Coetzer gave the home side excellent field position into a stiff breeze. Camped on their own 5m line the Carlow scrum creaked and groaned and collapsed one to many times for the referee who awarded the home side a penalty try for their efforts. Graham Johnson added a couple of penalties and a conversion to increase the lead.
The second half threatened to ignite as Tarf had the wind at their backs but after much huff and puff neither team produced much of anything. Finally, the J1's began to string together some quick ruck ball and Ronan O'Reilly released David O'Siochain on the charge. The lock attacked the gainline, drifted across the park and released Mark Hewitt with a reverse pass after the outside-half had come back on the angle. Hewitt raced through the gap and stood the fullback up with a neat sidestep to score under the posts.
To their credit Carlow fought back and took advantage of Alan Trenier's sinbinning to score a consolation try.
