Clondalkin’s first team made the trip to Waterpark this Saturday and came away with a 14-7 victory. The win will add confidence to John Bagnalls charges ahead of the start of their upcoming defence of the Hosie Cup. Played against recent AIL opposition the game gave Bago a chance to blood some of the current under 19s with Thomas Ankers, Darren Moore and DarDar impressing on their first team debut. He was also able to give game time to a more matured and trimmed down Andy Tyndall who’s determination during pre-season has not gone unnoticed. The hard work put in during the Inchicore gym sessions has seen the former underage prodigy shed close to two stone and show up to Waterpark in the best shape he’s been in since starring for the Leinster youth team a number of seasons ago. Some believe this determination to get in shape was because the younger Tyndall thought he was going to an actual Waterpark and was heard telling people that he was hoping to get on the big dipper before the queues got too big.
Playing against opposition who appeared to have a significant size advantage was of concern to some of the onwatching alickadoo’s at the start of the match but the early exchanges eased some of those concerns with the front row of Conor Maloney, Garry Geoghan and Ciaran ‘The Translator’ O’Connor all making telling contributions in the early collisions. Waterpark were forced to defend deep inside their half for much of the first twenty minutes with the 10, 12, 13 combination of Ben Ten, Jebb & Cunningham showing there are very few combinations in Junior rugby that can manage a game better than they do. Any possession that Waterpark did get was from within their own 22.
The first score of the game came as Waterpark tried to run the ball from deep within their half. Lock Paul Nolan showed the tackling skills that earned him Leinster honors last year when he chopped down the hard running Waterpark 8. The impact forced the ball loose allowing scrum half Eoin Delaney to scoop in and win the turnover. Delaney quickly fed backrower Luke Sweetman whose cut out pass to Thomas Ankers unlocked the home sides defense. Ankers took the ball to the line hard sucking in two defenders before feeding Chris Jebb whose quick hands to Podge Murphy set up a mismatch with the speedster Murphy rounding a helpless Waterpark prop and sprinting 20 metres to the line touching down for his first score of the season.
Clondalkin spirits were lifted by Murphys try and the added confidence was noticeable with Conor Maloney, Sweetman and John Walsh making big yards with lines straight from the training ground. One particular run from Maloney set Stevey Cunningham into space who beat two defenders and went twenty metres before a deft offload to Alaric Collier was deliberately knocked on by the Waterpark fullback.
Waterpark are a quality outfit and they began to click around the half hour mark in the game. The fact a lot of their players have played AIL just a year or two ago was also evident with the Munstermen showing fierce determination to get back in the game. Clons defense was resolute with the backrow of Walsh, Sweetman and Glennon working overtime to ensure Waterpark did not enter the 22. Waterpark were beginning to run out of idea’s and were somewhat fortunate to bring the scores level when a speculative kick got a lucky bounce and allowed their winger in for the equalizing try.
This try brought spark to the Waterpark offence and had it not been for having two former back rowers in the second row it is possible Waterpark would have added more scores before the second break. However, the tackling prowess of captain Sean Brennan and Paul Nolan was evident with both registering double digit hits on the day. Bago knew his backrow were tiring and was only too glad that Neil Finlay deemed Waterpark worthy enough opposition for him to play his first game of the season and threw the former Navan man into the fray. Finlay, who missed last weeks game to Roscrea, had a point to prove to his teammates and his introduction saw the intensity of the defense lifted another notch. At this stage it was like having six backrowers on the pitch with scrum half Delaney making three telling turnovers during a period of unrelenting pressure. Sean Brennan also pitched in with a crucial 5 metre lineout steal just before second the break.
The game was played over three thirds and Bago decided to empty the bench for the last 25 minutes with Darren Moore, Al O’Brien, Andy Tyndall, Paul Gifford Jnr and Thibaut Jauzion being introduced. It was a special day for the Gifford family with Paul Jnr taking to the field in the propping position that his father owned for many years. Paul Jnr has always claimed to be a hooker but it simply was a case of like father like son with the Neilstown man locking out the scrum. With diminutive Mark Molloy having a sabbatical this year the number 9 jersey is up for grabs and Al O’Brien got his first chance to lay claim to the throne and put in a typical fearless defensive display. He got over a rusty first five minutes to control both the backs and forwards going forward.
Backs coach Philip Byrnes decision not to remove Delaney from the field of play but to swap him to the wing proved to be a moment of tactical genius with Delaney running on to a cross field kick and touching down for what proved to be the winning try. Clon went into the ascendency and Darren Moore was visibly angry to be denied a debut try with Chris Jebb grabbing the ball from his hands as he crossed the line at the back of a maul, only for Jebb to be held up over the line.
Stand in captain Sean Brennan was happy with the performance after the game and had this to say ‘We had a lot of positives today. The young lads really stepped up to the plate and our defense stepped up a notch from last week. We also have two able replacements for Markie where Al O’Brien and Delaney will push each other hard this year. There are area’s to be worked on but we are in a good position going into the Hosie next week’.
Forwards coach Alex had this to say ‘Our forwards worked well today. Our lineout was exceptional. We possibly need to clean up our restarts but I have a special guest coming up to training this week who will help us in that area’.
Luke Sweetman drew many comparisons to Sam Burgess today with the Dublin 6 local excelling in both the 6 and 12 positions. The big question now is where does Sweets future lie?
(with thanks to Murts)
