Tallaght R.F.C. 31

Try: Simon Collie 4
Con: Morgan Farrell 4
Pen: Morgan Farrell

Seapoint R.F.C. 17

Metro League Division 7
Firhouse Community College
05/11/16

Tallaght kept up the pressure on leaders UCD with a comfortable home win over bottom team Seapoint. Seapoint took the lead with a penalty after a good early maul. However after ten minutes Tallaght full back Simon Collie collected a loose kick in his own half and beat the first defender before scorching home for a try under the posts. Morgan Farrell converted and he later added on a penalty after a barnstorming run by Adam Nolan to put Tallaght 10-3 ahead.

Tallaght were camped in the Seapoint half but were finding it tough to put the scores on the board. Winger Rob Hudson looked to have scored a fine try but his foot was just in touch. Tallaght were getting frustrated and the referee was penalising them a lot. Both teams missed kickable penalties before Stephen Heaney put Simon Collie away for his second try on the stroke of half-time. Farrell converted again and Tallaght led 17-3 at the break.

Early in the second half Tallaght got the score that effectively finished the game as a contest. First there were several good carries from the likes of Paul Cunningham, Jack Russell and Ken McGovern. When the ball went wide David Clarke put Collie in space and the full back danced through the Seapoint defenders to score again under the posts. Tallaght should really have pulled away at this stage but poor discipline let Seapoint back into it and they scored a try which they converted to make it 24-10. Jack Russell looked to have scored a try to restore Tallaght’s lead but instead the referee took exception to the hand off technique and sent him to the sin-bin instead.

However once again it was Simon Collie to the rescue, finishing the game once and for all by running back a kick deep in his own half to score another try under the posts to make it 31-10 after Farrell had converted. The remainder of the game was scrappy enough as the referee continued to penalise Tallaght and found cause to issue further yellow cards to Joe Ivers and Sean Judd. Seapoint got in for a consolation try at the end to make the final score 31-17.

Tallaght coach Tom Leigh was pleased with the win if a little frustrated with the game itself. “It was a bit of a messy game in ways, but I’m happy with the win. Simon Collie was almost unplayable today and he really showed his class and was the obvious man of the match. Our discipline wasn’t great however and on another day, that could have cost us. UCD won again today, but if we beat them next week, we’ll go top of the league. We’ll need to play much better as a team for that to happen next week however, so we’ve a big week ahead of us in training.”
Man of the match: Simon Collie

 

Tallaght RFC

15. Simon Collie
14. Rob Hudson
13. Stephen Heaney
12. David Clarke
11. Ciaran Rudd
10. Morgan Farrell
9. Andew Rudd

8. Adam Nolan
7. Mitchell McGrath
6. Jack Russell
5. Paul Cunningham (Captain)
4. Joe Ivers
3. Tony McManus
2. Stephen Kelly
1. Sean Judd

Replacements

16. Ken McGovern
17. Nigel Foster
18. Alan Sower
19. Niall Casey
20. Gary Doyle
21. Willie Lambe
22. Gavin McKeon

 
Jim O’Connor ©