A dominant opening failed to translate into control as Clontarf went down 31–15 to Terenure College at Lakelands.
“ There’s many a slip betwixt cup and lip”…. Old European proverb
“ Don’t count your chickens before they have hatched”….. Old Irish proverb
“ Shit happens ! “ … Old Dublin proverb
This was what is known in the business as a wakeup call. Not the nice kind…. You know the nice one with a cup of sweet tea, warm buttered toast and jam and the gentle swish of opening curtains. This was more like a pre-dawn visit from two masked thugs wielding nail studded pick axe handles.
And it all started so well !
Clontarf opened proceedings by dominating the home scrum for a penalty, which they followed up with a maul and multiple phases, to warm everyone up which resulted in another penalty which brought them deep into the home 22. The following maul was well defended, but Tarf moved it out and after a few one out passes, Fionn Gilbert made good ground and Alan Spicer showed great handling to pick and drive over for 0 7.
Terenure replied by camping in the Tarf 22 where they conceded a penalty to the defenders. From the lineout, the ball was scooped back by the Terenure 5, Rigney, straight to their scrum half and was in the hands of out half Egan before Tarf could transition to defence. His burst brought him to three metres, where Nure were not to be denied under the posts for 7 7.
This was to be the theme of the game!
Tarf added a penalty for 7 10, when Tadgh Bird was impeded chasing a kick ahead.
From this point game momentum started to swing to Terenure. The home side started to win small moments that had big consequences.
Two penalties to Nure, for doubtful tackles, followed in quick succession and despite a penalty to the corner going dead, Nure started to build confidence in their game. Tarf infringed again for offside and were back in their 22 defending a home lineout. From the lineout, Nure took advantage of weak defending and, after a bit of left to right, out half Aron Egan broke two tackles to score for 14 10.
Tarf came again, but after Peter Maher’s kick ahead rebounded off the Nure winger and stayed live, his fortuitous hack downfield brought the home side back down to the Tarf 22 metre line where they earned a lineout. From the lineout maul, flanker Ashmore came through the middle, like a ghost, and scored in the corner for 21 10. That score had a big sniff of good fortune about every aspect of it, but it has to be said that Nure looked a lot livelier and more accurate on both sides of the ball and consequently were earning the small moments and a little bit of luck as well. This was to be expected, because a glance at the league positions showed that this game had a do or die aspect to it for the Terenure team. It reminded me of the Samuel Johnson quote …
“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully”
Tarf came again as half time approached and a penalty for a high hit was dispatched to the home 22 where the Tarf maul did the rest for 21 15 at Half Time.
The second half brought more pressure from the home side particularly in the lineout where their second row Rigney made hay on the Clontarf throw. Unable to release the ensuing pressure, Clontarf unsurprisingly conceded another score to Aron Egan after the ball was popped out of a potential maul in the middle of the pitch and Craig Adams took advantage of a missing pillar to surge into the Tarf 22. So 15 26 as we moved into the fourth quarter.
Clontarf kicked off long, Aron Egan returned it and Clontarf made a fatigue error at the half way and conceded a scrum. Nure went right to left and a loop put Egan into a huge gap, which brought him deep into the Tarf 22 where, after some pick and drive, flanker Ashmore bulled in for his second score and Terenure’s fifth and a score of 31 15.
That was the end of the scoring. Tarf piled on pressure, in an effort to pull something back, but the constant defending without relief against Nure possession for most of the half had taken its toll and accuracy was gone.
The story of this game was Clontarf’s problem with the lineout. Clontarf are capable of playing any tactical game but are rightly noted for the power of their pack and the accuracy of their set piece. On Saturday the scrum was fine but the lineout struggled badly, where Terenure’s second-row Rigney had a man of the match performance disrupting Tarf ball in this critical area. The result was a lopsided game where Tarf exhausted themselves defending without any reward for turning over the ball and earning a penalty. Without a functioning lineout you are doomed into constant defence, which saps energy. Terenure were streetwise enough to take advantage of this by spreading the ball at every opportunity and running the Tarf pack ragged. The longer it went on the more tired and inaccurate Tarf became. Clontarf didn’t solve their lineout until the last 10 minutes, by which time they were badly fatigued and prone to errors.
The positive in this is that a wobbly lineout can be analysed and fixed. We are still in first place and welcome Cork Con to Castle Avenue next week.
It’s a beautiful game but sometimes shit happens !!
Peter Walsh
Chronicler of scrums, storms, and all the beautiful chaos at Castle Avenue and beyond.
