Tallaght 1st R.F.C. 43

Try: Simon Collie, Karl Segrave, Rob Hudson, Aaron Morgan, Ciaran Rudd, Jack Russell, Stephen Kelly
Con: Rob Hudson 4

Dublin University R.F.C. 7

O’Connor Cup Quarter-final
Tymon Park
14/04/2018

Tallaght took on Trinity College in the quarter-final of the O’Connor Cup looking to bounce back from the disappointing loss in the league final last week. Tallaght started brightly and were getting the ball out wide with some simple but smart passing. Jack Russell and Adam Nolan combined to put centre Simon Collie into space and the centre torched the Trinity defence for an excellent try.

It wasn’t long before the next try came down the same flank. Dave Clarke, Russell and Nolan again started the move with good passing and prop Al Sower was put away down the line. He showed good composure to put wing Karl “Moonbeam” Segrave away and he scored a fine try under the posts. Rob Hudson converted to make it 12-0 to Tallaght.

As a division 9 team Trinity were always up against it but they showed some spirit and came back hard at Tallaght. They forced Tallaght to concede a large number of penalties and eventually made the pressure pay by scoring a converted try to make it 12-7. Tallaght hit back almost straight away though when Rob Hudson chipped ahead and then regathered his kick to race away for an outstanding individual try.

He converted his own try to make it 19-7 and he was on target again five minutes later when he converted Aaron Morgan’s try after the flanker burst through from a scrum. Full back Ciaran Rudd then finished the scoring for the half with a superb score that started in his own half to leave the half-time score at 31-7.

With the game effectively won, Tallaght lacked intensity in the second half which was a much scrappier affair. Andy Caswell made several big carries with the ball but Tallaght were lacking the same accuracy in their passing to take advantage. Finally skipper Jack Russell lost patience and just smashed his way through four tacklers for a try which Hudson converted. Then with the final play of the game the Tallaght pack mauled the ball over the line and hooker Stephen Kelly emerged with the ball after scoring his first try of the season. This made the final score 43-7.

Head coach Tom Leigh was pleased with his team’s performance. “We were a little stretched for numbers today with the seconds playing away at the same time. But the lads won the game early and we were always comfortable. We’ve now got UCD next week in the semi-final at home. If we win that we’ll likely get another crack at Old Wesley in the final. It will be a step up next week so we know there are areas that we’ll need to improve on but we’ll work on them during the week.”

Tallaght take on UCD next Saturday at Tymon Park. With the big Leinster game at the Aviva, there is an early kick-off time of 12.00 noon.

 

Man of the match: Andrew Caswell

 

Tallaght 1sts

15. Ciaran Rudd
14. Aaron Shanahan
13. Simon Collie
12. Padhraig Jones
11. Karl Segrave
10. David Clarke
9. Rob Hudson

1. Alan Sower
2. Stephen Kelly
3. Andy Caswell
4. Joe Ivers
5. Paul Cunningham
6. Aaron Morgan
7. Jack Russell (Captain)
8. Adam Nolan

Replacements:

16. Daniel Pomares

 

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Mark Luttrell