Under 14’s Corinthians 5–7 Connemara

This was a match which because of weather conditions had been postponed from earlier in the month. Given the strong finish of Corinthians against Galwegians last week there was an upbeat mood within the camp and the team were looking forward in overturning last year’s outcome. Connemara won the toss and elected to play with the very strong wind in the first half. Corinthians started unfortunately similar to the previous week allowing the All Blacks to control the opening phase and after 10 minutes and because of continuous pressure from the them they crossed the line through their no.8 and converted successfully by the same player. After this Corinthians settled their nerves and worked harder to defend and by some quick passing through their backline they moved forward. On the brink of half time some strong driving by Tom Huxford set the platform for Chris Cahill to cross for the try. Unfortunately because of inclement weather Corinthians failed to convert.                        After the break both sides went head to head in a truly exciting 30 minutes of rugby, where the forwards mauled and rucked strongly, the backs passed and kicked some good ball and were being forced back by the All Blacks. In the last 10 minutes it was becoming more evident that Corinthians had the upper hand, and spent long periods camped close to the All Blacks line. Corinthians got through some good phases but were to a large degree unable to breach the visitor’s defence and in turn had to produce some fine defensive work by Darren Hennessy in order to deny the visitors adding to their tally. Coming into the closing minutes we again saw some strong driving by the forwards and when no 8 Liam Brennan got his hands on the ball there was a sense that it could be Corinthians day, only to be held back by a now under pressure All Blacks defence. Next it was the backs turn and when the ball was kicked into space by Corinthians backs it was followed up by their speed merchant Darragh Moylan only to be denied by a last second kick away by the full back. Although there were a number of players from both sides who could be nominated, Man of the match really had to go to the very fair Referee, Roy Gibson who through continuous communication and allowing of the game to flow received a strong round of applause from players and spectators alike, and was not to be influenced by the usual shouts from the supporters from the line.