2010-11-06 / / :
Seapoint 14pts City of Derry RFC 19pts
Seapoint Rugby Club (Dublin) 14pts, City of Derry RFC 19pts
City of Derry returned to form in some style on Saturday last when they came from behind to defeat Seapoint Rugby Club form Killiney in South Dublin in their AIB All Ireland Junior Cup first round fixture. The Dublin Club are sitting top of the Leinster Junior League undefeated and have only missed the All Ireland League playoffs by one point for the last two years. This game was always going to be a barometer as to how Ulster and Leinster Junior rugby matched up with both teams having their eyes on the Round Robin Series at the end of the season to regain All Ireland League Senior status. Derry left their indifferent early season form way behind to dismantle their opposition at scrum and lineout and destroy their opposite backs with pace and power wide out.
The conditions were ideal for running rugby and the supporters from both sides were treated to a whirlwind start with three try’s scored in the first ten minutes with one or two other chances missed. Derry showed a glimpse of what was to come on two minutes when they won turn over ball on their own 22 meter line and full back Peter Henderson made an incisive 30 metre break and linked with David Funston who combined nice inter play with winger Josh Lewis that allowed Funston to score an unconverted try wide out.
Seapoint came straight back at Derry and scored two converted try’s within five minutes both from their excellent hooker Stephen Verso. Their fist try came on five minutes when poor defense on the blind side of a maul allowed Verso to run in from 15 metres, out half Brian Keegan added the conversion. Three minutes later Richard McCarter made a great break for Derry but lack of support prevented a certain try. The Derry defense was again exposed on ten minutes when hooker Verso broke from a ruck and threw a dummy pass to wrong foot the Derry cover and score under the posts with Keegan adding the extras.
The game settled into a more controlled pattern after the early excitement and the Derry Scrum with the front row of David Witherow, Jason Mitchell and Sam Duffy were dominant and had their opposite numbers in their pockets for the remainder of the game. The pressure exerted at scrum time nullified the highly rated Seapoint back row and allowed Stephen Corr to have his best game of the season at No 8 and along with his fellow wing forwards Karl Gemmell and Chris Cooper they won all the ball at the breakdown and dominated in the tackle. Peter Henderson at full back was terrifying Seapoint with his searing pace and with Rudi Moore’s power and pace on one wing and Josh Lewis elusive running skills on the other wing the wide channels were used to great effect by Richard McCarter at out half. Henderson should have scored on twenty five minutes but for all their possession Derry still trailed by 14pts to 5 pts at half time.
Seapoint started the second half with possession in the Derry half but once repelled they never threatened again. Chris Cooper and Brian Prue destroyed the Seapoint lineout and with Captain Bob McKillop leading by example taking the ball at the heart of the Seapoint defence, Derry increased their intensity and Andrew Semple at scrum half found his form and was a threat from Scrum, Ruck and Maul. Seapoint were pinned in their half and it was only a matter of time before they cracked. On fifteen minutes Karl Gemmell won a lineout against the throw 15 meters out and Semple found McCarter who unlocked the Seapoint defense with a 40 meter cross field kick that found Lewis on the wing to score a try from close in, McCarter converted to reduce the deficit to two points.
Derry were now dominating all aspects of play, Ryan Campbell was rock solid in the centre and along with David Funston they kept Seapoint on the back foot. McCarter’s quick distribution out wide had Seapoint continually stretched from one side to the other. With twenty minutes gone Derry produced a strong scrum and Mitchell hooked quick ball which Andrew Semple pounced on and using McCarter as a foil ran in under the posts from 20 meters, McCarter converted and Derry were in front by five. Seapoint were now a dispirited team and for the remainder of the game they were unable to get out of their own half and Derry ran down the clock for a well deserved victory.
Derry Coach Bevan Lynch said after the game “ I was pleased with our performance today, I sensed it coming. We had a great team run last Thursday night and we brought that to our play today. It has been a strange start to the season; it was always going to be difficult after our success last season to replicate the same level of performance week in week out. We have increased our training and the other coaches Mark Nicholl and Terry McMaster and I have faith in the ability of our squad. We needed this type of challenge today and we have been looking forward to it since the draw was made. We have a lot more improvement to come and we now look forward to playing Boyne Rugby Club from Drogheda in the Quarter Final of this competition at home on the 21st of November”.
City of Derry Team: Peter Henderson, Rudi Moore David Funston, Ryan Campbell, Josh Lewis,Richard McCarter, Andrew Semple, Carl Gemmell, Stephen Corr, Chris Cooper, Bob McKillop, Brian Prue, Sam Duffy, Jason Mitchell, David Witherow. Replacements; Chris Shields, Stephen Duffy, Philip Brady, Simon Logue, Adam Bratton.
See Junior cup roundup on the Irish Clubhouse Website: http://www.irishrugby.ie/23_18745.php
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