AIL Div. 2 Final, Bruff 10 Lansdowne 17

 AIL 2009-10, Photosets  Comments Off on AIL Div. 2 Final, Bruff 10 Lansdowne 17
May 102010
 

Saturday saw the final game of the season take place in Anglesea Road. Before our own final, We watched Nenagh Ormond come within a whisker of taking the Division 3 Title. Despite dominating the game, they seemed to be out on their feet at the end and a try in the final minute cost them the title. It had been great to see the posters up on the bridge on the way up wishing us well and the Nenagh support was added to by the voices of Bruff wishing them well.

Click for the slideshow

Click for the slideshow

I thought that the Division 3 game was played at an incredibly fast pace until our own final kicked off. This turned out to be one absolute cracker of a game, for neutral fans it was probably the game of the season and befitting a final playoff. When Lansdowne touched down after five minutes courtesy of a try by the winger Matt Healy which Andrew Geraghty duly converted to give them an early Seven point lead, all but the Bruff fateful wondered whether this game would be a repeat of the match early last October. Massive pressure from Bruff on the Lansdowne pack up front, coupled with some beautiful mazy running from all over the park by the backline gave Bruff a great edge from then on, the stiff breeze not helping Bruff captain and out-half Brian Cahill with two penalty opportunities but the Lansdowne defence stood firm until a sliced clearance on twenty two minutes, John Moore charging down the Lansdowne Winger Gahan just in front of his own line creating the slice which gave Moore a sweet opportunist touchdown in the corner to close the gap to two points.  Bruff seemed to dominate proceedings up front but couldn’t break the line. Both defences took charge for the remaining period until just on halftime, a crazily crooked lineout led to the Lansdowne full-back cutting in for try number two which Geraghty again converted to give them a 14-5 halftime lead.

Bruff seemed to come out from the halftime huddle with even more vigour and fire and the pack took proceedings by the scruff of the neck, Bruff absolutely dominating the scrums and tight exchanges but even though they seemed to do what they liked with the Lansdowne pack at scrum-time, a penalty for Lansdowne twelve minutes in stretched the lead to twelve points. Bruff seemed to shrug this off and start again and after another seven minutes they reaped their reward with what was probably the best score of the game with nearly the whole team combining to put Pat Thompson clear in the corner following a sweet final run-in. Cahill failed with the awkward conversion attempt, 17 -10 and twenty minutes on the clock. At this stage everyone felt that Bruff could just shade it but time and time again the Lansdowne defence stood firm and the referees whistle gave them relief at vital moments, even though Bruff never gave up right until the final whistle. It must have been a cracker of a game for any neutrals watching.

I have to add that Bruff definitely warranted their second place in Division two this year and proved this to everyone on Saturday. As I stated at the start, this game was played throughout at a frightening pace from start to finish and if they can hold things tight right from the start of next season, I can see both of these teams doing very well in Division 1b.

Bruff Scores: John Moore, 1T, Patrick Thompson 1T.

BRUFF : P Thompson; A Cashman, J Malone, J Carroll, J Moore; B Cahill (Capt), T Cahill; D Horan, C O’Regan, S Foster, M O’Connell, A Bourke, D Gardiner, J Shine, M Carroll. Replacements : P Malone for O’Connell, D Murnane for M Carroll (both 45 mins), N O’Riordan for Thompson (temp-47 mins), E Maher for J Carroll (77 mins).

AIB League, Lansdowne 6 Bruff 0

 1st XV, Adult Rugby, AIL 2008-09, Results, Underage  Comments Off on AIB League, Lansdowne 6 Bruff 0
Jan 202009
 

1st XV: Saturday was what you might call a “Perfect Storm” from a weather point of view. An extremely strong Lansdowne team containing at least one contracted player lined out against the lads in the RDS. All the points came in the first half with Lansdowne slotting two penalties with a mini hurricane at their backs. With it being dark enough to require floodlights right from the kickoff, things got so bad that both of the posts seemed to wave at least two feet over and back in front of the kicker. A day full of penalties at the ruck again for both sides but Bruff weathered the storm in the first half to hold on for a 6 point deficit at the half time break and hoping to have the wind at their back for round two. The travelling horde were ensconced under the roof to the side, somewhat comforted by the flow of hot toddies on hand nearby but it was just awful out there. Both teams literally ran for cover at the half time break to take a little shelter from the weather. The game should never have been played in those conditions and news was filtering through during the game about games being called off or abandoned all around the country, the condition of the pitch however was just excellent and this was probably the only reason that the game proceeded.

Second half began with Bruff on the attack but seemed to be completely unable to get inside the Lansdowne 22. The wind had changed to a lunatic swirl around the ground instead of the straight between the posts version which had dominated the first half. Every time that Bruff crossed that white border of the 22 they were pinged and play seemed to be concentrated between the ten meter lines. A few Lansdowne attacks were easily repulsed by the strong Bruff defence but the much vaunted Bruff pack just failed to make any impression on the Lansdowne defence. The only consolation, two penalty attempts by Brian Cahill, one a very speculative effort from his own ten meter line, but it was not to be and both sides were again eager to get off the pitch when the Lansdowne Scrumhalf finally kicked the ball out over his own dead-ball line to close proceedings. Both kickers had to have the ball held for them every time they kicked, line-outs were a complete lottery, but Bruff seemed to get the better of the scrummaging on the day. It was just a miserable wet, windy and cold afternoon and it finished with no score in the second half. Just as the Bruff squad headed for the bus the skies cleared and we saw the sun for the first time during the day. Lansdowne cemented their position at the top of the table, and Bruff gaining a losing Bonus point for their efforts.

Bruff: D. Horan, C. O’ Regan, S. Foster, A. Bourke, D. Murnane, M. Carroll, S. Shine, P. Malone, E. Maher, B. Cahill, J. Moore, J. Carroll, J. Malone, F. Hogan, B. Deady, M. O’ Donnell, G. Ryan, A. Laffan, D. Maw, G. Leonard.