Bruff 13- Dublin University 12

 1st XV, Adult Rugby, AIL 2008-09, Results, Underage  Comments Off on Bruff 13- Dublin University 12
Dec 012008
 

1st XV: The first XV had one of the tightest games of the season to date against the youngsters from the oldest club in the country. While Dublin University may have a tradition going all the way back to 1854, the oldest player on the pitch on Saturday was 22. This was a fractious game at times, right from the get go. Trinity took the initial lead when their full back managed to hand off Bruff winger Paul O’ Brien before passing inside to centre Con Colclough who ran in for the score after fourteen minutes. Dave Maw opened the Bruff scoring with a penalty on twenty five minutes. Three minutes later the Students winger who was on kicking duties for the day, Colin Jebb missed a penalty opportunity to go further ahead but on 38 mins, Tristan Goodbody managed to break three tackles before getting over to put them ahead by 12 points to 3, Jebb missing the conversion attempt. The Students winger saw yellow a couple of minutes later for constant interference on the ground. Play was delayed for ten minutes to allow Alfie Laffan to be stretchered off the pitch, great care being taken after a mild upper back injury. Right on the stroke of half time Bruff Winger Paul O’ Brien managed to convert a five minute period of pressure on the university try line into points when he touched down after a skip pass from Brian Cahill after the students had been dragged into tackle after tackle leaving a four on two overlap for the winger to go over in the corner. Cahill missed the two pointer right on half time and Bruff went into the break four points down, 12-8.

The second half saw a bit of a change around when Bruff really upped the tempo and basically camped for most of the forty eight minutes played within the student 22. Time after time Bruff managed to gain the upper hand only to see it being given away by minor mishaps right in front of the line including crossing, accidental offsides and forward passes (The famed white line fever striking). The students prop saw yellow again after 13 minutes for more interference on the ground. The constant pressure from the Bruff pack finally saw Máirtín O Rourke crossing after a number of five meter scrums putting the home side one point ahead on fifty nine minutes facing into an interminable last twenty minutes. No further score in the game despite being more or less camped inside the University 22 apart from the occasional breakout, however with 8 minutes of injury time played by referee Jude Quinn, a lot of us were chewing our nails and the Live 95 FM commentator’s heart was broken making phone calls to me for the result. Ballynahinch’s last minute try against Old Crescent gave them a losing bonus to keep them one point ahead of us in the league table.

Weekend results

 Adult Rugby, J1 XV, MSSL, Results, Underage  Comments Off on Weekend results
Nov 172008
 

Adult Rugby: The first XV had a week off last week without any competitive rugby.

J1 XV: Main Adult rugby last weekend was the Munster Senior Seconds League game against Shannon.
The game was played through a constant drizzle but Bruff managed to take the two league points on offer with a 16 points to 11 win,
Alan Kilcoyne kicking three penalties and missing three and a tough touchline conversion following Finbarr Hogan’s try with just over 7 minutes left on the clock.
Bruff well on top in the pack throughout the game, Tony Cahill had a solid display in his first comeback game from injury. Nice win against a decent Shannon Squad.
Bruff: 15. B. Carroll, 14. F. Hogan,13. M.Laffan,12. D. Dowling,11. T.Cahill,10. A.Kilcoyne,9. T.Carroll,1. G. Collins,2. J.Hogan,3. K.Laffan,4. S.Danaher,5. M. O’ Connell,6. L.McGrath,7. A. Bourke,8. D. Keogh.
J2 XV: No Game:


Sat. 15th Nov:

MSL                Bruff     14,  Shannon  11.

Sun 16th Nov

U18                 Bruff   22,       Newcastle West 7

u/16                 Bruff    5         Shannon 0

U20’s Match Report

 Adult Rugby, Results, Underage  Comments Off on U20’s Match Report
Nov 122008
 

Bruff 19 Shannon 26,

Gallant performance in poor conditions.

Bruff U20’s lined out against a formidable Shannon side on Sunday in the latest round of the AIL U20’s League. Worsening conditions before the game ensured expansive rugby was not an option as ball had to be kept close. Shannon was first off the mark after breaking an unorganized Bruff line, however the failed conversion due to squally conditions meant only a marginal lead for Shannon. A second converted try by Shannon saw them pull ahead while play was suspended for 10 mins in the first half due to torrential rain. A resurgent Bruff found their stride pulling back a converted try in heavy conditions. But Bruff continued to trial Shannon throughout the game and in-discipline in the defensive back line saw Shannon run in further tries. Bruff remained within touching distance but handling errors and several turnovers saw Shannon hold the lead. The game finished 26-19 to Shannon, Bruff picking up a valuable bonus point.

Oct 182008
 

Happy Christmas Harlequins.

Well apart from the following:

Question: How can a team with complete dominance in the scrum, complete destruction with any serious backline attacks against a basically non-existent defence, with 80-85%  of the attacks (I’ll confirm when we check the stats but my gut says this is about right), lose a game????
Mind you Harlequins at time could break and punch holes when they needed to.

Answer: Fluff good two aon one and three on one opportunities, Have tries disallowed, and Miss five kicks at goal. That’s how.

Ignore the gamesmanship that meant uncontested scrums when we were just about to land the Harlequins pack into the middle of Kyle Crossroads for the third time in two minutes. Ignore cynical play throughout the game that should have been punished with yellow cards quickly followed by reds, Ignore not being given a penalty try for a blatant pull down of a player on his way to touching down after a kickthrough (Maybe the cover would have got there, that’s a call by the ref). Ignore claims of shortsightedness, just ignore all that. You have to live with what happens on the day.

This game should have been over after thirty minutes. We should have been twenty points up at that stage. You cannot waste try opportunities at this level. You just cannot miss five penalties and hope to bring it home.

We were thirty points better than Harlequins everywhere except on the scoreboard.

Other results from the weekend.

 Adult Rugby, J1 XV, Mini Rugby, MSSL, Results, U16, U18, Underage, Youth  Comments Off on Other results from the weekend.
Oct 132008
 

J1 Squad: The Seconds had their first game of the MSSL against Highfield yesterday. Highfield turned up in strength with Diarmuid “The Rock” O’ Sullivan playing on the wing. Bruff dominant in the pack but couldn’t translate it to scores on the board, final score of 20 points to 8 was well justified but not really the true story on the day. Bruff: M. Mulvihill, M. Laffan, D. Dowling, E. Maher, M. Collins, A. Kilcoyne, T. Carroll, S. Foster, M.O’ Donnell, K. Laffan, B. Laffan, M. O. Connell, L. McGrath, A. Bourke, D. Keogh. Scores: Bruff: 2 Tries: Danny Keogh, Eoghan Maher, Alan Kilcoyne 2 Conv & 2 Penalties. Total 20. Highfield: 1 try and one penalty. Total 8

J2 : No Game,

U20’s: The U20 team won their friendly last Saturday under lights (5:30 kickoff) against Old Crescent by 14 points to 7.

U18’s: Bruff 20 Vs Young Munster 10.

U16: Friendly Bruff 12, Galwegians 15.

U12 Blitz in Terenure College: Bruff U12’s were invited to this special blitz tournament in Terenure on Sunday last. Bruff beat Armagh, Ballinasloe & Navan along the way finally going down to their hosts Terenure. Jason Robinson & Brian O’ Driscoll were in attendance, our guys really liked Jason Robinson who spent quite a bit of time with them and came across as a really nice guy. Joe Power captained our side and can be seen in the official photo on the website with all the other captains. Coaches Mike O’Donnell, Pat Maher, Ger McNamara & Martin Gennery travelled. Well done to the lads, they did us proud.