Young Munster 14 – 47 Old Belvedere: Match Report

Energia Men’s AIL Division 1 (a), Round 1
Young Munster 14 , Old Belvedere 47
Sat September 26th , 2.30pm K.O.
Tom Clifford Park, Rosbrien, the Treaty City
Match referee: Andrew Cole , IRFU

‘5 star, 5 try first half blitz from Old Belvedere lay the foundations for an impressive victory in this AIL season opener’

Young Munster elected to play with the wind in the first half attacking from the clubhouse end downfield.
With bright and breezy conditions , and played on a firm dry sod this had the makings of high tempo rugby for both sides.
Young Munster had the better of the opening exchanges, and 6 mins in, with Old Belvedere penalised for offside Young Munsters outhalf Kelvin Langan dispatched the kick to around the Old Belvedere 10 meter line, far side. From an overthrow to the lineout Old Belvedere swiftly transitioned from defence to attack. AIL debutant and loose head prop, Ed Byrne gathered the crumbs from the Cookies overthrow and trundled forward! Off loading in the tackle the ball was spun out the three quarter line from left to right with Jayden ( ‘Doddsy’ ) Beckett offloading in style out the back door to right wing James Dillon who raced deep into the Young Munster half up the right tramline before passing inside to the supporting Old Belvedere full back Rob Russell who dotted down to the right of the posts. Old Belvedere outhalf Sam Wisniewski added the conversion to put the visitors ahead 0 -7.

Young Munsters first try scoring opportunity came three minutes later when poor handling, an unfortunate feature of their play, let them down at the crucial moment. From a line out take on the Old Belvedere 22m near side Young Munster put width on the ball attacking from left to right where flying right winger I. Oje looked sure to score in the right hand corner only for the final pass out wide to go astray, letting the visitors off the hook.

Young Munster were putting pressure on Old Belvedere for a 9 minute period of this first quarter attacking with possession in the Old Belvedere half. Their reward finally came on 20 minutes when off a ruck in the Old Belvedere 22 scrum half Ben Gallagher spotted a gap in the defensive line and skipped through it and into open country. The speedy scrum half fractured the defensive line before passing to the supporting left wing B. Whatley, whom in turn fixed his man before full back Benn Dayle-Court ran in under the posts for the home sides first score, which he converted to level the contest at 7-7. Game on.

With the first quarter ending honours even on the scoreboard, the second quarter was owned by the visitors. On 24mins, from a Sam Wisniewski penalty kick to the left hand corner the beefy Old Belvedere pack went to work in a van mauling their way over the try line in front of the Young Munster clubhouse with Luke McLaughlin claiming the touchdown which Sam Wisniewski converted to put the black and whites 7-14 up just into the second quarter.

Two minutes later there was a moment of concern for Old Belvedere. Play was halted after the scrum anchor and tight head Ryan (‘Rhino’) Mc Mahon took a big hit and fell to the canvas like a heavy weight boxer to the audible gasps of the Old Belvedere faithful ! The tight head , however, shook it off with a smile and resumed his shift. From the resulting penalty touch finder from Sam Wisniewski into the Young Munster 22 the visitors line out malfunctioned, and not for the first time as woes out of touch were certainly a problem for Old Belvedere.

On the half hour a Chris O’Connor quick tap penalty take and scamper from his own half deep behind enemy lines put the Old Belvedere pack on the front foot resulting in some good attacking phases in the Young Munster half. 5 minutes later persistent pressure paid off for Old Belvedere when off multi phase ball and after raids from side to side, Old Belvederes right wing, James Dillon scorched home out wide on the left hand side to register another Old Belvedere try just before the interval. 7-19.

A few minutes later Old Belvedere, smelling blood, came banging on the door again and off a scrum on 40 minutes Old Belvedere’s Hugh Reddan touched down out wide on the left hand side again which was converted by Sam Wisniewski from the left hand touchline. 7-26.

Not content with a decent interval lead and a bonus point in their kit bag, ruthless Old Belvedere went at it again. In first half overtime a rampaging gallop from Captain and Centaur Jayden ( ‘Doddsy’ ) Beckett fending off and bursting through tackles, charged from his 10 meter line into the visitors 22. When finally put to ground by the Young Munster scramble defence, Old Belvedere’s loosehead prop, Ed Byrne was on hand to take the off load and trot over the try line to the delight of the Old Belvedere supporters. Sam Wisniewski converted to give the visitors an unassailable 7-33 lead at half time.

Half Time 7 – 33
The story of this half was about a more clinical and efficient Old Belvedere with an attacking threat out wide. Young Munster failed to use the wind to their advantage for territory and field position and were let down at crucial moments by poor ball handling and failure to execute in the red zone. While neither side dominated at scrum time, both teams line out malfunctioned.

Playing against the wind for the second half, ironically, Young Munster found their mojo in the 3rd quarter with some smarter kicking out of hand from playmaker Kelvin Langan.

On 49 minutes off constant pressure a Young munster penalty touch finder to the left hand corner from the outhalf put the Cookies within try scoring range. A young Munster scrum soon followed from this period of attack in the visitors 22 and outhalf Kelvin Langan breached the Old Belvedere defensive line to score a fine try in the right hand corner which was superbly converted out wide by full back B. Dayle-Court. 14- 33. The third quarter of this affair was very much controlled by Young Munster whom although playing catch up nonetheless took the game to Old Belvedere.

At the start of the final quarter Old Belvedere won a penalty on half way which Sam Wisniewski kicked to touch some 30 meters out from the Young Munster try line on the far side. Old Belvedere securing their own throw through Paddy Dowling at 4 attacked from right to left across the Young Munster try line. Going through the phases and punching it up the middle, replacement Gerry Hill was on hand to take the final pass, twisting and turning before squirming his way over from close in for Old Belvedere’s first try of the second half. The try was converted by Sam Wisniewski. 14-40, and counting!

On 63 minutes a fine incision by young Munsters centre T. Waters put Young Munster on the front foot and into the Old Belvedere half. There followed a 6-7 minute period of incessant attacks from young Munster in the Old Belvedere 22. On 67 minutes Young Munster won a scrum penalty. Kelvin Langan kicked to the right hand corner just meters from the visitors’ line only for the home side to be penalised from the line out take allowing Old Belvedere to clear their lines with a relieving kick back up field. This period typified a resolute Old Belvedere ‘D’ whom were determined not to concede a try even though the match was over as a contest.

A minute from full time Old Belvedere embellished the score line with a try from replacement Peter O’Beirne after some delightful handling and off loading from Old Belvedere. The black and whites finished with a flourish outscoring the home side by two tries to one in this, relatively low scoring, anti climatic second half.

Both sides rolled out the ‘finishers’ in the third and final quarters where Old Belvedere’s AIL Debutants Tom Reynolds, George Hadden and Alex Mullan all played their part in a fine squad performance. Rob Russell, Jhy Legg and Ed Byrne also making their mark in their maiden appearances for the Old Belvedere club.

Full Time at Tom Clifford park, Young Munster 14, Old Belvedere 47.

‘Lordie’ .