Tallaght 1st R.F.C. 22

Tries: Simon Collie 2, Adam Nolan, Dave Clarke
Con: Ciaran Stewart

Blackrock R.F.C. 05

Metro League Division 7
Tymon Park
21/10/2017

The Tallaght’s men’s 1st team hosted Blackrock on a wet and stormy day in Division 7 of the Metro League. It was Tallaght’s first game for three weeks as their last scheduled game had been conceded by Wanderers. Tallaght suffered a blow almost immediately as out-half Jack McLean had to leave the pitch in the 1st minute with a re-occurrence of a shoulder injury. Ciaran Stewart replaced him and he had a chance to open the scoring from a penalty but his attempt drifted wide.

The play was fairly scrappy for the first twenty minutes but gradually Tallaght started to get on top. From a fine run by centre Ciaran Rudd, they got into the Blackrock twenty-two and number eight Adam Nolan showed good vision to put full back Simon Collie over for a try to give Tallaght a 5-0 lead. Tallaght doubled their lead when Nolan took Andrew Rudd’s quick tap from a penalty and powered his way through several tacklers to get over for line for an excellent try.

Blackrock’s young team were running everything and it was a fast-paced game. Tallaght’s pack were dominant though especially in the scrum where the front row of Alan Sower, Stephen Kelly and Andrew Grace were in total control. Mark Keogh and Daniel Pomares were putting in big tackles and Joe Ivers’s work-rate was outstanding, seeming to be the first player to support the runner each time. Tallaght suffered a blow on the half hour when they lost their skipper Jack Russell for ten minutes as he was somewhat harshly sin-binned for a late tackle. It didn’t stop the scoring though and after strong running from Aaron Shanahan and Ciaran Stewart, David Clarke went over for his second try in two games. Stewart was successful with the conversion and Tallaght led 17-0 at half-time.

In the second half Blackrock dominated possession and kept with their free-running gameplan. Tallaght were forced to defend for most of the half and winger Gavin McKeon led the way with several big hits in a hard-working performance. Eventually Tallaght got some ball and they put Simon Collie away for an excellent score, his second try of the match, to make it 22-0. Tallaght suffered a second yellow card when Stephen Heaney was binned for a late hit and Blackrock finally got over for a try their efforts deserved to make the final score 22-5 to Tallaght. The win puts them second in the table behind Old Wesley.

Tallaght coach Tom Leigh was delighted with his side’s performance. “That’s our first win of the season on the pitch after Wanderers conceded the last game. We were severely disrupted by injuries in September so it was great to get players back for today. The wind and rain made things difficult and a young Blackrock side did their best to run the legs off us. But we played some great rugby at times and scored four excellent tries. We had to do a lot of defending in the second half, but we worked very hard to limit Blackrock to just one try. It wasn’t perfect and there are areas we need to improve on but overall it was very positive. We have Navan away in two weeks and if we can win that, that will really set us up for a proper crack at this league”.

 

Man of the match: Adam Nolan

 

Tallaght 1sts

15. Simon Collie
14. Aaron Shanahan
13. Ciaran Rudd
12. David Clarke
11. Gavin McKeon
10. Jack McLean
9. Andrew Rudd

1. Alan Sower
2. Stephen Kelly
3. Andrew Grace
4. Mark Keogh
5. Joe Ivers
6. Jack Russell (Captain)
7. Daniel Pomares
8. Adam Nolan

Replacements:

16. Aaron Morgan
17. Tony McManus
18. Nigel Foster
19. Paul Cunningham
20. Kevin Quinn
21. Stephen Heaney
22. Ciaran Stewart

 

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Audrey Fulham