Navan R.F.C. 0

Tallaght R.F.C. 27

Tries: Simon Collie, Ciaran Rudd, Aaron Morgan, Adam Nolan
Con: Morgan Farrell, Willie Lambe
Pen: Morgan Farrell

Metro League Division 7
Balreask Old
26/11/16

Tallaght travelled to Meath to take on Navan in Division 7 of the Metro League. They took an early lead after two minutes when the ball was kicked through and full back Simon Collie beat everyone to it to touch it down over the line. The conversion was missed and Tallaght lead 5-0 but there was to be no more scores in the first half. The game was dominated by Navan’s spoiling tactics which earned them two yellow cards in the first forty. Tallaght were dominating in possession but let several chances go begging between missed kicks at goal and some poor handling near the Navan line.

In the second half the game grew more fractious as Navan were tackling dangerously high leading to several mass brawls. Willie Lambe and a Navan player both were shown yellows after a set-to off the ball but while Lambe was off, Tallaght scored their second try of the game. Adam Nolan showed good hands to put Ciaran Rudd away down the line and the winger showed his pace to beat his man and score under the posts. Morgan Farrell converted for Tallaght to lead 12-0.

The referee finally lost patience with Navan’s high tackling after Simon Collie was grabbed around the neck when looking certain to score a try. The tackler was correctly red-carded and Navan were now down to 13 men. Farrell kicked the resulting penalty to make it 15-0 to Tallaght who were firmly in control now. Then after a fine run from Sean Judd, there was some great offloading from Dave Clarke, Jack Russell and Andrew Rudd which forced a penalty from Navan. The ball was kicked down the line for a lineout and Tallaght successfully mauled it over the line for a try with Aaron Morgan getting the touchdown, a deserved reward for the flanker’s excellent all round display. Willie Lambe kicked a super conversion to make it 22-0. Tallaght still weren’t finished though and a fine run from Gavin McKeon, the ball went wide to number eight Adam Nolan, who powered through a tackle to score a try to make the final score 27-0.

Tallaght coach Tom Leigh was delighted to see his team come through the match unscathed. “It was a hard physical match, but I was delighted with how we kept our discipline. It was a frustrating first half, but we knew once we got our game going we had the beating of them our wide and that’s how it turned out. We’ve now got two big games in the next two weeks at home to DLSP and Blackrock. If we can win both of those we’ll be in great shape when the league resumes in the new year. I want to thank everyone who came down to support us today and we hope to see another big turn out in the next two weeks.”

 

Man of the match: Aaron Morgan

 

Tallaght RFC

15. Simon Collie
14. Gary Doyle
13. David Clarke
12. Morgan Farrell
11. Ciaran Rudd
10. Willie Lambe
9. Andew Rudd

8. Adam Nolan
7. Jack Russell
6. Aaron Morgan
5. Paul Cunningham (Captain)
4. Alan Sower
3. Nigel Foster
2. Stephen Kelly
1. Sean Judd

Replacements

16. Simon Gaskell
17. Tony McManus
18. Emil Wyrebiak
19. Liam Kenny
20. Vilius Kuklis
21. John Cowan
22. Gavin McKeon

 

Report: Jim O’Connor
Photos: Anne Kavanagh