'TARF ROCK TO THE TOP!
18/12/2006
Clontarf 26 Blackrock 22


"Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."
William Shakespeare, "Twelfth Night"


On Saturday Clontarf moved gingerly to the top of division 1 of the AIL with a victory over Blackrock that stretched the credulity of all present. On Sunday Con and Shannon slugged it out to draw a match that much like our own game included an unlikely fight back. The Gods of sport are smiling on Clontarf, we are joint top courtesy of that draw in Cork … lets hope the Gods keep their sense of humour because I , for one, have lost mine.
Saturdays game in Castle Ave was astonishing. ‘Tarf started the game in superb style and literally denied Blackrock possession and ground for fully 35 minutes. The first score came after huge pressure from the pack resulted in a scrum on the ‘Rock line. After some creeping around Garvey flicked the ball to O’Loughlin who found O’Brien on the left and the winger was strong enough to brush off his tackler for the score. The second came, again after major fwd pressure, when a super half break by McNamara was followed up by Kennedy for his first AIL try. Finally, Healy tucked onto the back of a rocking and rolling maul for the third try, This left the score at 19 0 and at this point ‘Rock had not been in the ‘Tarf half of the field.
Lining up after the third try the away side body language was not great; they hung their heads like Christmas Turkeys in the second week of December.

Unfortunately, Clontarf were about to go vegetarian in a big way.

What followed could only be described as the biggest case of sporting premature ejaculation seen in rugby. Clontarf simply lost it …… All of it! … composure , concentration , tactics , and crucially, control of possession.
Right on half time the virus had reached the backline who held up a big green GO sign to the advancing ‘Rock backrow. They ploughed through and found Fionn Carr in support and he did the needful after a nifty kick over the defense. 19 5 Tarf.
The second half started with a long kickoff by ‘Tarf and an immediate penalty concession at the following ruck; ‘Rock took the lineout into a second phase and went wide where ‘Tarf held up another big GO sign to the ‘Rock 13 who gratefully accepted the invitation and hit the outside channel where he found Carr coming in support. Well now, this guy has the main physical requirement of a low level thief; he can fairly shift. I reckon he could probably outrun a motorbike cop. He burned to the line and had the composure to slot the conversion for 19 12 and game on.
The third ‘Rock score came after good work from their pack in the home 22 and quick hands from Farrell at 10 to put his centre in under the posts 19 19 .
At this point had someone announced that they had a hand grenade there would have been a queue of home supporters prepared to toss it into the home team huddle.
Five minutes later, pathetic hands in a ruck saw Carr make it 19 22 and the mood on the sideline was biblical!....... We are talking crucifixions !
Next came the key error in the game and salvation for the home side. ‘Tarf kicked off and ‘Rock took it up but lost the ball awkwardly at contact, Kennedy snapped it up and drew two defenders before deftly popping it to Wickham who stormed in beside the posts for 24 22 where he was subsequently mobbed by his teammates eager to celebrate the try like hockey schoolgirls. Actually, that was probably appropriate since they had spent most of the second half tackling like girls.
That try took the wind out of ‘Rock and the game ended 26 22 with them pinned in their own 22 by the home pack.

This is supposed to be enjoyable ….. We are top and should be celebrating but to be honest I found it hard to swallow my beer after that game. These Jekyll and Hyde performances are WRECKING MY BUZZ MAN!

OK I’m fine now after my little rant …..

We are set fair for the second half of the season which starts in Thomond Park against Shannon in Jan. At that point we should be welcoming back some of the missing legions who are recovering from injury.

Happy Christmas all !...... We are first ….. I don’t quite know how …. But given that it has been thrust upon us lets make the most of it in 2007.


Peter

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