Match Report: Lansdowne 35 – 26 Old Belvedere

Energia Men’s AIL Division 1 (a), Round 3 .
Lansdowne FC ; 35 Old Belvedere RFC ; 26 .
Sat October 10th 2.30pm, Aviva Stadium , D4.
Match referee: Padraig Reidy , I.R.F.U.

‘Lansdowne take the points and the plaudits in this Dublin 4 Derby Duel, with a dominant second-half performance outscoring Old Belvedere by 7 tries to four ‘ .

This was , very much a game of two halves . The first , and especially the second quarter, controlled by Old Belvedere outscoring the hosts by 3 tries to one, leading 05-19 at the interval . The second , ( both 3rd and 4th quarters ) ruled by Lansdowne outplaying the visitors with four converted tries to one Old Belvedere try at the death.

With Lansdowne winless from two rounds and Old Belvedere 10 out of 10 in their first two assignments the pressure was on the hosts to get their campaign up and running and they fielded accordingly with some heavy hitters on the team sheet . With optimum conditions for running rugby, blue skies, sunshine ,a slight cross field breeze from east to west, and the wide expanses of the stadium pitch, this suited both teams expansive style of play .

With the visitors attacking the Lansdowne road end of this north /south aligned stadium pitch for the first half , it was the Home side that got off the mark first winning a penalty for an Old Belvedere high tackle , 3 minutes in . Lansdownes playmaker and outhalf, Michael Moloney kicked to the left hand corner only for their line out to malfunction with an overthrow to the tail claimed by Old Belvedere . Two minutes later off a snipe by the Lansdowne scrum half Cormac Foley up the right hand touch line , Lansdowne were on the attack again . A kick deep into the Old Belvedere backfield was not dealt with and scrum half Chris O’Connor was engulfed by Lansdowne captain Bobby Sheehan on the Old Belvedere try line, conceding a close in Lansdowne penalty . After sustained pressure in the Old Belvedere 22 , the ball was won back by visitors at a ruck allowing Chris O’Connor to clear their lines with a hoof back up field.

It was 11 minutes before Old Belvedere got a sniff in the Lansdowne half after a Rob Russell steal out wide and a penalty to the visitors for offside . From the resulting Sam Wisniewski penalty kick to the right-hand corner Old Belvedere launched off their line out pressurising the Home defence, winning a scrum penalty close in .
A critical moment in the first half arrived on 16 minutes when Lansdowne’s Bobby Sheehan was handed a yellow card for infringing at an old Belvedere maul close to the Lansdowne try line . Minutes later and using their numerical advantage the Old Belvedere pack , off a 5 meter scrum took it through the phases , bashing it up before loose head prop Ed Byrne’s pick and jam, scoring to the left of the posts 0 – 5 .

Four minutes later and after Old Belvedere claimed the restart to relaunch attacks up field , Old Belvederes right wing , James Dillon , took play deep into Lansdowne territory with a strong run up the right hand side . An excellent carry close in from prop Alex Mullan punched a big hole and the ball was spun out across the Lansdowne try line for full back Rob Russell to dissect the Lansdowne defence , off loading to the supporting Paddy Dowling who finished a fine team try under the posts on 24 minutes. Out half Sam Wisniewski converted to leave the score 0 – 12 nil.

28 minutes into this first half , and after fielding a high punt from Lansdownes Mick Moloney close to the touch line, west side, and inside his 10 meter line Old Belvederes right wing James Dillon was again central in the next score . The right winger taking play into the Lansdowne half with some fine footwork in a narrow space along the tramline , before Ed Byrne took a pass from Chris O’Connor, the prop running a delightful line barrelling some 30 meters deep into enemy territory before offloading to Chris O’Connor, in a delightful one-two, for the scrum half to score under the posts . Outhalf Sam Wisniewski converted to extend Old Belvederes lead to 0-19 and thus repeating a 1st half high scoring pattern of recent weeks !
A significant moment of this second quarter came on 32 minutes, just after a fine carry by Old Belvederes Gerry Hill took play into the Lansdowne half . Old Belvederes Oran O’Brien was yellow carded for head contact clearing out a ruck . 6 minutes later, and just before the half time hooter with a Player to the good , Lansdowne’s Todd Lawlor scored a fine try under the sticks . The Old Belvedere line out was spluttering some what and off an over throw between their 22 and 10 meter line , on the west side , was claimed on the deck by the returning Bobby Sheehan, their forwards went to work . Some good pack play punching hard and up the middle by locks Juan Buekes and John Forde stretched the Old Belvedere defensive line before some delightful midfield magic by centre Dylan O’Keeffee offloading to Todd Lawlor who ran a fine line scorching in under the sticks . This was a score Lansdowne badly needed and with Michael Moloney Converting Lansdowne were handed a life line reducing the deficit to 07-19 .

Half-time score Lansdowne 7 , Old Belvedere 19 .

On 48 minutes Old Belvedere were penalised in midfield when trying to field a Sam Wisniewski Garryowen from their own half . Off the resulting penalty to the left hand corner Lansdowne launched their maul, which was becoming increasingly effective with the influential Bobby Sheehan directing it from the back. After excellent build up play by their pack inching ever closer to the old Belvedere tryline and after a close quarters siege in the red zone the move was ultimately finished by flanker Paul Wilson who burrowed through the mass of bodies to ground the ball. Michael Moloney converted to reduce the score to 14 – 1 9 .

After dominating field position and territory in the third quarter, on 64 mins an unrelenting Lansdowne got the crucial next score to overtake Old Belvedere on the scoreboard . A Lansdowne line out take in the Old Belvedere 22 meter at 4 by lock Juan Buekes set up the maul where Bobby Sheehan was again steering the van at the back before Cormac Foley fed centre Dylan O’Keffe, whom off loaded to Hubert Gilvarry advancing deep into the Old Belvedere 22 . After the attack was halted and Old Belvedere appeared to have claimed the ball through Jayden ( ‘Doddsie’ ) Beckett in the tackle it popped out and into Dylan ( ‘ Dill ‘ ) O’Keffe’s grateful arms who then dived over in the left hand corner to ‘spice up’ the scoreboard . An excellent touchline conversion by outhalf Michael Moloney put lansdowne in front for the first time and deservedly so, as they were playing all the rugby . 21- 19 .

In the 70th minute after sustained territory and possession from Lansdowne in the Old Belvedere 22 off quick ruck ball full back Tod Lawlor was on point with a diagnol kick out wide to the right wing where the ball landed in the bread basket of Dylan ( ‘Dill ‘ ) O’Keefe collecting the ball at some pace out wide on the right to score Lansdowne’s third try of the half. Another excellent Michael Moloney conversion from out wide put the Home side 28 – 19 ahead.

Two minutes later and off the restart Lansdowne came out of their corner throwing more punches . With some power plays from the pack up the right hand side and into the Old Belvedere half , Matt Healy punched hard into the Old Belvedere solar plexus, the visitors looking winded before more width was put on this latest Lansdowne wave of attack . Todd Lawlor cutting through a reeling Old Belvedere ‘D’ before Hubert Gilvarry took over sprinting deep into the red zone to bring this latest Lansdowne attack just meters out from the tryline . Cormac

Foley was then on hand to pass to lock Juan Beakes who scored a fine Lansdowne try , their fourth of the half , and fifth of the match . Michael Moloney converting to put the icing on the cake . 35-19 .

Old Belvedere hadn’t landed a blow in this second half and it was only for some good Defence that they kept the rampant Lansdowne from scoring more tries in this period. A high penalty count, line out woes, no plan ‘B’ and indiscipline costing them territory and possession.

Old Belvedere, in fairness, refused to roll over and came out fighting for the final round to finish the contest strong . For the first time in this second half they found their way into the Lansdowne 22 for a sustained attack . Off the restart On 79 mins Lansdowne were penalised for not rolling away and replacement outhalf Daragh O’Dwyer kicked into the right hand corner. Old Belvederes woes out of touch came back again with Lansdowne winning the line out throw and kicking back up field where Old Belvedere won their line out this time claimed at the back by Number 8 , Will Mc Donald .There then followed a number of line outs and close in attacks in the dying moments where Lansdowne were penalised for cynical play and ultimately off a penalty pick and go , first Callum Dowling dived at the line through a thicket of prone bodies before the ball was recycled, second row Fionn Mc Wey, bulldozing his way over the try line to score Old Belvederes first try of the second half , and fourth in total, thus earning Old Belvedere a 4 try bonus point to take Home . The try was converted by Daragh O’ Dwyer to leave the final score , 35-26 .

‘Lordie ‘ .