James O’Donoghue in open space against Harlequins
Rory McCarthy
Deputy Sports Editor
DUFC 16
Belfast Harlequins 20
The walls of the fortress College Park were last breached and felled in January 2011. Since then all manner of teams have been defeated by the juggernaut DUFC side at their home ground. Records stand to be broken and this defeat to Belfast Harlequins ends the triumphant history of wins quite soberly in the bleak post-festive haze of the New Year. Simply put Trinity did not deserve the win. They clawed their way back into the fixture midway through the second half after playing some turgid rugby against a fired-up and hungry Quins outfit. However the Belfast side had the measure of all aspects of the game. Their scrum and lineout were far superior with Niall Annett showing why he is rated so highly by Ulster’s management delivering a superb display. Their work rate typified by their kick-chase and defensive effort were also plain to see.
Trinity need to have all aspects of their set piece functioning to be at their best. They can be effective with one faltering provided the other holds up. They are dire when both go to pot. Their scrum struggled all afternoon with Annett and his cohorts consistently winning the engage, driving Trinity backward. Furthermore DUFC had to wait until the second half to win their first line-out. Warren Larkin looked to have enjoyed the Christmas season too much as his performance was an exercise in complete incompetency. His throwing was inaccurate and wayward, his scrummaging weak. Time and again he was wandering around on the wing outside Neil Hanratty. Furthermore he expended energy petulantly signaling at the officials or celebrating when DUFC won a rare penalty, rather than focus on the task at hand and help his side.
He was not alone in having a poor performance, with Jack Dilger likewise having an uncharacteristically off colour day making numerous handling errors throughout the game. His number seemed up when off a clearance kick by Stuart Olding, Dilger dropped the ball giving Quins possession with only a few minutes left on the clock. Dilger is a better player than this game and he will naturally bounce back to his normal tenacious and tough self when DUFC travel to Ballynahinch in two weeks.
DUFC were caught on the hop right from kick-off when with only two minutes on the clock Quins outhalf Stuart Olding glided through from his own ten-metre line and ran over for a try that stunned the crowd. He converted his solo effort to make it 7-0. Quins in the first half worked harder. They varied their kicking game with fullback Rory Scholes and scrumhalf Michael Kirkwood mixing play cleverly. They could rely on an excellent kick chase that put Trinity under pressure time and again and with Annett throwing as well as he was, they didn’t mind playing out of touch. Trinity spent much of the half camped on their line fighting bloody trench warfare trying to keep Quins out. While Trinity consistently kept out the forays on their line through sheer grit and effort it was not the victories they wanted to be having over their opposition. Too often a raid up the other end of the pitch ended with a damp squib and a concession of possession following either a handling error or just poor ball presentation leading to a turnover.
The old reliables were as reliable as ever. Martin Kelly’s play in the loose was encouraging winning some vital turnovers. Jack Kelly also made his way through tackles and rucks like it was nobody’s business. Also prominent was debut cap Eoghan Kelly. Trinity are blessed to have awesome depth in terms of opensides at the moment. With Dominic Gallagher still sidelined and Brian Du Toit away, Kelly was called up and did not look out of place well suited to the pace and physicality of Division 1B. However the discrepancy between Trinity’s good performers and their wanderers made it easy for Quins to take their lead into the break. Cathal Marsh added a penalty midway through to make it 10-3 at the half.
The second half steadied the nerves of DUFC with their lineout finally working and their maul putting Quins under pressure. Two penalties from the uber-consistent Marsh made it 10-9 and then Trinity pounced to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Quins, from a lineout in the Trinity half, shuttled across the backline aimlessly and a great hit by Ciaran Wade on Mark Best saw the ball spill loose. Niyi Adelokun kicked it downfield but over-ran the pick-up. Pierce Dargan, recently named USA Rugby’s best overseas player showed good coordination to gather the loose ball and send a kick into the Quins red-zone. Adelokun and Michael McLoughlin put Scholes under pressure and then the arriving Trinity pack drove over the ruck area like a pack of feral dogs winning the ball. Wade fed Marsh who went for a neat show-and-go before offloading to James O’Donoghue who scored to make it 16-10 to the home side. Trinity now began to exert greater influence on proceedings. Then the seminal moment came.
William Scott, on for Eoghan Kelly, came through on a garryowen launched by Marsh. Scott and Scholes both competed for the high kick and Scholes fumbled it under pressure from Scott however referee Eddie Hogan O’Connell deemed that Scott tackled Scholes off the ball. It was a tough call and one that perhaps warranted at the most a penalty, but a yellow card was issued. Either way Quins made the numerical superiority count with a late try. It was a cruel fate, as Quins seemed to have spurned the opportunity when Paddy Lavelle shunted Mark Kettyle with a hit that saw the ball fly out of his arms. However it fell right into William Stewart’s arms and from close range he was never going to miss the line. His try and Olding’s subsequent penalty gave Quins a ten-point haul in the space of five minutes. That was simply not good enough and protests and complaints about yellow cards or decisions don’t change that it was sloppy and uncharacteristic to concede so many points late on. Not a good start to the New Years by any means for DUFC. Bristol are next in a friendly before Ballynahinch. The real tests begin now.
