THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE PUDDLE AT THE BOWL
Author: David O'Siochain
2006-01-16
The heavens opened as the J1's arrived at Belfield for their penultimate league match of this years campaign. The Irish winter finally making its long overdue appearance to sponsor the annual January Mud Ball out in UCD.

As the Tarf side settled in to the task at hand, the students frantically looked for ways in which to postpone the fixture. The match was initially pulled by the Referee after UCD pulled a Wanderers-esque manoeuvre claiming a two foot long, 1/2-inch puddle was a danger to public safety as most of the students were not strong swimmers.

But thankfully permission was granted for the fixture to go ahead at the Bowl and the game was back on, much to the disappointment of the home side.

Tarf took the field with a strengthen pack and an experimental backline but these two elements combined well in the limiting conditions. The pack was bolstered by the return of Andy Wood from injury and the presence of two university challenge contestants Dave O'Brien and Sean Brophy. Daire Geraghty returned after a long lay off to reclaim the No.9 shirt and Mark O'Siochain and David O'Reilly made their first starts for the J1 this year.

Straight from the off, Tarf began to exert their forward dominance, disrupting the lineout and destroying the opposition scrum. The result of which was UCD had absolutely no platform to attack off and had to counter attack from kicks deep in their own half in order to secure first phase possession.

Tarf's first score came from an 8 - 9 - 15 short side break from the base of the scrum on the half way line. Andy Wood picked and went from the ensuing ruck and when he was hauled down a few metres short, Tarf were awarded the scrum. The front five did the necessary marching the UCD pack back over their own line enabling David O'Siochain, playing at 8, to touch down for the first try of the afternoon.

Again attacking down the blindside off the scrum, Geraghty fed fullback Graham "J Rock" Johnston, who burst into the opposition 22. The Tarf pack again rumbled around the fringes picking and going with Johnston being rewarded for getting in on the grunt work with a try in the corner. Clontarf's dominance of the forward exchanges extended to the driving maul as Paul Wakeley got over for Tarf's third try following a catch and drive 10 metres out. Kev O'Dowd converting from the sideline.

Injuries to the back division stunted Tarf's cohesion in the second half as both Johnston and David O'Reilly were forced to retire. Shane Harnet filled in at wing and O'Siochain multi-tasked in the centre. Andy Wood was rewarded for his dynamic running with Clontarf's long distance try of the afternoon finishing unassisted from all of 5 metres. Dave O'Brien added insult to injury with Tarf's second pushover try late on in the second half.

Final Score: UCD 8 CLONTARF 27

PS: I am glad Peter feels confident enough in his newly acquired reading skills to tackle the complex sentences which appear in the BIG ISSUE, having just recently graduated from the Dick and Jane pre-school series. It was hoped that Peter could lead the C - L - O - N - T - A - R - F cheer against Shannon next weekend but he is not yet confident enough with his letters to perform infront of others

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