CLONTARF SNOOZE AND LOSE !
30/10/2007
AIB AIL 27 October 07

Lansdowne 15 Clontarf 10


So the new season opened in the expansive surroundings of the RDS with Clontarf, unbeaten so far in 07 up against a Lansdowne side that had been summarily dismissed in the recent Leinster League cup encounter in Castle ave.

I suppose the first thing that comes to mind is the historical events that fell between the date that Great Britain declared war on Germany and actual war commencing during the battle of France. This period which lasted from September 1939 to May 1940 was called the ‘Phoney War’ and consisted of little or nothing of a serious military nature.
In rugby terms everything that preceded Saturdays game in the RDS was, unfortunately, of little help in predicting what was to unfold in our first AIL game.
To Lansdowne’s credit they arrived with a simple game plan, a bucket load of pride and a reluctance to lie down and let recent form have its say.
They refused to allow Clontarf get into any pattern and as the game unfolded the ‘Tarf scrum got twitchier and the lineout more and more hesitant.
The first half was a turgid affair liberally punctuated by blasts from the referee who seemed unhappy with the already slow pace in the game and proceeded to slow it further with a regular supply of penalties to each side. Approaching half time at 6 3 to the home side Clontarf injected some life and set up a number of lineouts in the opposition 22 after Lansdowne conceded a penalty for killing ruck possession.
A couple of rucks later prop Cian Healy did his best impression of a truffle hog and drove over the line low enough to leave a furrow worthy of the National Ploughing Championship.
6 10 at half time.
This should have settled ‘Tarf but inexplicably it didn’t and the second half continued with the away side attempting to create from slow ball and the home side wading in at every opportunity. As is always the case in games like this , luck also deserted ‘Tarf and three gilt edged scoring opportunities went begging, one for incorrect body position , one for illegal use of the boot in a, definite try scoring, maul (god, is that a stupid rule change!) and one for a slip and a knock on at the line. To add injury to insult, with time running out sub centre Conor Keegan made a great break into the 22 angled wide to bring in the winger on a cut and got pole axed by a stiff arm to the face which , while not deliberate , knocked him senseless and left him with a cut inside his mouth requiring three stitches.
The linesman saw nothing wrong in this.
The intervening minutes had seen the home side eke out 2 penalties for 12 10 and when sub outhalf Cozens added a drop goal time and tide was ebbing for the visitors.
So the game ended 15 10 to Lansdowne and Clontarf had to be happy with a bonus point for the 5 point loss. This was not the start that anyone in Castle Ave wanted. It is, however, one point more than we had at this stage last year.
More importantly it was probably a timely reminder that all teams , especially Leinster teams, are not going to bow to Clontarf’s ambitions. The phoney war is over and the real stuff has started.
Time to tune in…………….

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