Munster Junior League – Div 1

Clonmel Hit High Notes In Second Half

Two of the accepted tenets of rugby came under severe pressure at Ardgeeha last Sunday when Clonmel hosted Youghal in this Munster Junior League Div 1 match. The first involves the (sometimes frosty) relationship between the “piano movers” (the pack to you), the burly eight guys who heave and grunt to produce the ball and the “piano players”, the seven backs, straight out of the L’Oreal ad, who, when they receive this hard-won ball, whisk it left and right and score tries for fun. W’ell get back to reality shortly. The second theory tells us that the team who wins the more primary possession from scrum and lineout will win the game. Obviously nobody explained this theory to Youghal – having being pushed off their own ball several times, being wheeled at will, having lineouts stolen and generally taking an unmerciful battering for 40 minutes, they looked up at the scoreboard at half-time and rejoiced –“we’re 18 – 0 ahead”. You’d have to be there to believe it. The half-time expression on the face of chief-piano-mover Stokesy would indicate that he wasn’t happy with the musicians outside him – his pack had produced lots of ball but there was no music. This was a tuneless first half to put it mildly.

On a perfect day for rugby, Youghal had kicked off with the breeze on their backs and had a strangely muted Clonmel side in trouble right away – after a few “introductions” in the Clonmel “22”, the ball came back to the visiting No.10 who did a Wilkinson – 3-0 down with less than 2 minutes gone. From the drop-off Clonmel gave a quick demo of their forward power – stole a Youghal lineout and then wheeled their scrum, but mistakes rained down on Clonmel’s parade and quickly Youghal had a penalty chance but missed the opportunity to go further ahead. Whatever about the guys on the field, the supporters were now concerned – this was not going to plan. Clonmel came more into the game but continued to err – by the 16th minute they had also passed up two penalty chances. The shoots of recovery seemed to sprout on 19 minutes when Melbourne drove down the right flank but again unforced errors let the visitors off the hook and soon they were on another visit to Clonmel’s half – they then put a slick backs move together down the right and Clonmel were lucky to hold out. But Youghal had the pressure on – on 29 minutes they had a free kick, tapped and mauled over the line for a try – Clonmel now 10-0 down and still could not rouse themselves out of their early hibernation. When you thought it couldn’t get any worse it just did – from a Clonmel scrum just inside their own half, the ball squirted out, a Youghal boot hacked it downfield and the visitors won the race to touch down again – Clonmel now 15-0 down with 32 minutes gone. A good run down the right by Joyce briefly lifted our spirits – the move was carried on by Crosse but he was isolated and the resultant penalty lifted the siege. That penalty brought Youghal downfield and another penalty put them in range – the kick put them 18-0 ahead as the half-time whistle was sounded by a very competent referee.

There was much reflection among the support at half-time – maybe the recent big win over Youghal was the worst thing that could have happened, maybe our guys had the game won before it started. Maybe Yer Man in the Examiner had put the Indian Sign on us – he who could say nothing good about us last season was now touting us as league winners! Whatever the reason, we now had 40 minutes to avoid a season-shattering defeat – time to roll up the sleeves. But it looked like we needed a bit of magic – a dejected crowd awaited the restart.

When it came it was magic – the second half was barely 2 minutes old when from a lineout on halfway, David Joyce, now playing in the centre, shredded the Youghal defence with a diagonal run and held off two tackles to put down beside the posts. Daniel Lyons obliged with the conversion to put Clonmel 7-18 behind. Maybe it was the timing or maybe it was the manner of it, but this was the electric shock that Clonmel needed. The home side now went up several gears and drove down the right but the move broke down – but Youghal had infringed and Daniel Lyons closed the gap to 10-18 on 10 minutes. Morgan Lyons was now kicking the ball deep at every opportunity and Youghal were pinned in their own half – Melbourne drove close in and from quick ball Morgan Lyons went over to reduce the arrears to 15-18. Game on. The Clonmel pack now went on the rampage and had the visitors in turmoil – from a close-in scrum Neville Melbourne barged over and Daniel Lyons obliged to put Clonmel 22-18 ahead. Three tries – is there a bonus point here? What a turnaround.

On 22 minutes we had another of these ridiculous situations – because Youghal could not replace injured front-row players the referee had no choice but to declare “non-contested scrums” – the rules are very clear here and a team who cannot provide the specialist subs should forfeit the game. Clonmel’s most potent weapon, it’s scrimmaging power, was now about as useful as a lighthouse in a bog. Mark Normile had now replaced John Stokes and the pack went about its business in the loose and soon pressurised Youghal into another penalty – Lyons was on target again to put Clonmel 25-18 ahead. The club Historian in Residence, Paddy, was able to tell me that Clonmel had now scored 25 points in 25 minutes. Morgan Lyons now kept the game deep in Youghal territory and on 30 minutes another great Clonmel drive allowed Melbourne to go over again. Bonus point! Lyons’ conversion put Clonmel 32-18 ahead.

Paul McCarthy then made a welcome return for Brendan Mullan – Clonmel were in completely different mode now and were heaping misery on a fast-wilting Youghal side – they coughed up the penalties and on 36 minutes Clonmel were again down in the visitors’ left corner – the ball was well protected from the lineout and Philly Corby drove over to complete the try count. Daniel Lyons, who proved solid at the back, again added the points to bring the final tally to 39-18 in favour of Clonmel. All’s well that ends well but Clonmel received a timely reminder that there is a very fine line between confidence and complacency. In hindsight, it may be a good thing – an error-strewn first half such as we witnessed last Sunday could have been severely punished if Youghal had more to offer – next Sunday we face Cobh on their home patch – this will be an entirely different physical and mental challenge and if we are to harbour ambitions for this season, this will be the time to test them.