v Newbridge
UCD U20 B 5 - NEWBRIDGE 13
In the very competitive JP Fanagan Pennant League this was a disappointing result because it was a match Collidge should have won. Leading five points to nil going into the last five minutes the failure to score a second try cost Collidge dear as Newbridge scored 13 points in the last five minutes.
Despite Collidge creating three to four half chances through breaks from the centre pairing of Peter Condon and Jack Davidson and withstanding some heavy Newbridge pressure the score at half time remained at nil all.
After the break Collidge lifted the tempo and started to build some pressure onto Newbridge. Thanks to some hard running from Number eight Jack Hogan and the smooth service of scrum half Stephen Hemmingway the ball was moved to out half Ross O'Brien who cleverly switched play to the blind side, his pass finding tight head prop Kieran Finlayson who in turn found Peter Condon with a well weighted pass. Condon attacked the Newbridge defence at pace and using the 'Lomuesque' Eddie Fox as a decoy sliced through a gap to register a well deserved try for Collidge.
However Collidge were unable to register another score despite playing some excellent attacking rugby with second row replacement Iain Mays (yes he is Kevin's son) to the fore alongside winger Conor Allen. The failure to secure another score was going to come back to haunt us, because if we had managed to take one of a number of chances created we would have gone on to win the match (an opinion shared by the Newbridge coaching team).
Having repelled a wave of Collidge attacks Newbridge were able to gain possession and work their way into Collidge territory. Collidge withstood some intense pressure through some excellent defence from back row replacement Niall Eivers and captain Maurice Deasy. However anytime the ball was cleared upfield from the Collidge 22, poor tackling and our inability to deal with the ball kicked back to us enabled Newbridge to maintain their territorial dominance. This dominance saw Newbridge gain a penalty under the UCD posts which they duly converted to take the score to 5 points to 3.
With their tails up Newbridge were quickly back in the UCD 22 and another kick and chase saw Newbridge regather the ball on the UCD left hand touchline. The ball was moved quickly out to the Newbridge backs where they were able to take advantage of some lose UCD defence to score under the posts.
Following the restart UCD managed to hold onto the ball through a number of phases but a lose kick by UCD saw the Newbridge scrum half slot a 'Fernandez' like drop goal to deny Collidge the losing bonus point.
Collidge cannot be faulted for the commitment and enthusiasm they showed and we managed to play some excellent rugby in the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the second half. However some better decision making and more patience in the opposition 22 would have seen us get the elusive second try. This was the second close match in as many weeks and we should expect more of these types of games in what is shaping up to be a very competitive league.
Ian Wyse