Saturday 13 Mar 2010Under 17 - Cup
Old Christians 21 vs Cobh Pirates 14
Rathcooney, 12:00PM
Under 17 Cup
Old Christians 24 Cobh Pirates 17
As the sides met again for the third time this season as expected another tight game unfolded. Old Christians looking very dangerous going forward but looking equally vulnerable in defence.
The boys took the game to Cobh straightaway and the early pressure paid off on 5 minutes when a Chris Ryan chip found new boy Danny Wallace, who opened up both his and the teams account with a fine driving try, Tadhg McNealy added the points.
Unfortunately within minutes of the restart, the boys’ defensive frailties also came to the fore when Pirates pushed over the try line to stay in touch.
Pirates maintained this pressure, which paid off on 18 minutes when from a lineout a pass back was fumbled by Christians and with the aid of 2 successive knock-ons (unnoticed by the referee) they touched down to register their second unconverted try of the match.
This seemed to stir the lads into action again, who then returned to dominate, pushing up deep into opposition territory. On 23 minutes Danny Wallace turned provider, receiving the ball from a ruck on the 5 m line, drove for the try line, off loaded in the tackle to Conor Meany who steaming in, was not to be stopped from scoring a fine try. Tadhg added the points to double the Old Christians tally and leave the score 14-10 at half-time.
The early part of the second half saw the hosts enjoying the better of the exchanges, and increasing their lead by another great try from Conor as he took the ball from the back of a ruck about 6m out and charged over the line, a move he originally started from the 22. Tadhg converted again.
The dominance continued and the game appeared to be wrapped up when Tadhg kicked a penalty, awarded for a Pirates’ offside.
At this point the boys should have been pushing on to kill the game off but again from the restart the boys were asleep and Pirates ran in a converted try totally unopposed.
Pirates pushed to level matters but could not. Old Christians had their chances to finish the game also as Pieter Homan made a tremendous run from his own 22 but his chip past the full back unluckily bounced into touch about 10m from the try line. On the other side of the pitch Jake O’Leary made a dash down the wing to be agonisingly pushed into touch again 10 m from the try line. In the end the game finished 24-17.
A hard fought win, with plenty of chances to close out the game but not doing enough defensively. The next round brings another East Cork derby as the boys take on Midleton.
Tadgh finds touch under pressure.
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Pietor takes a lot of stopping.
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Great line out take by Stephan.
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Gotcha.
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Would you mess with this front row.
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Try scorer Conor on the burst.
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A powerful break by Danny,
Thanks to Kevin Murphy for extra pics.