Pierce Dargan looks for a chink of light against the Buccs defence
Rory McCarthy | Deputy Sports Editor
DUFC 23- Buccaneers 19
In the dying throes of this enthralling encounter Buccaneers’ replacement back row Kolo Kiripati spotted a gap on the unoccupied blindside of a touchline ruck. He picked the ball and sauntered down the wing. Trinity scrumhalf and captain Michael McLoughlin had moved in from the post and had criminally allowed such space to be exploited. It was a huge mistake and McLoughlin not by any means an outstanding defender might have cost his side the win. Then Kiripati drew Niyi Adelokun’s tackle and offloaded to a supporting player who had nothing but grass between him and the try line. McLoughlin redeemed himself throwing himself on the back of the Buccs’ player with a brilliant cover tackle to stop a certain try. It was quite fitting that the captain should in one passage of play so neatly distill how his team played that afternoon mixing the ridiculous with the sublime. The same went even for Trinity’s best performers of the afternoon like Warren Larkin and Ian Hirst who showed the very good and then juxtaposed it with the downright inexcusable.
Trinity started all fire and brimstone. Cathal Marsh scored an early penalty after some initial Trinity dominance. Then from a midfield lineout Marsh weaved some silk and created enough space for Neil Hanratty to exploit. Hanratty surged through and stepped strongly before offloading to Paddy Lavelle who shrugged off a lax attempt at a tackle to grab Trinity’s first try. However while Trinity played with some brilliant structure and conviction they too often slumped into periods of lethargy. Too often forwards languished on the tramlines looking to be on the end of a try-scoring move rather than working hard to set the platform. Trinity for all their excellent work still had problems in pulling away from a tough and tenacious Buccaneers side. Buccs went into the match with ‘an ace-in-the-hole’ strategy. Connacht Academy player Peter Reilly and man-mountain Kiripati both patiently waited for their chance. However while the logic of wearing Trinity down and releasing them may have been sound in theory, in practice it was flawed.
Trinity are one of the most conditioned teams in the league. University teams might be bullied but they will never be outrun. Trinity went into the break 13-13 all with Jack Carty adding the extras to a try from a rolling maul just before the whistle blew. The second half was more of the same, solid Trinity play building a platform with excellent phase-play before the plan was discarded for something more extravagant and risky. Trinity have some excellent ball carriers in their side. The plaudits generally go to Lavelle and Brian Du Toit for their lung-busting surges into enemy turf. However players such as Hirst, Colin McDonnell, Pierce Dargan and Jack Dilger all bumped around College Park with energy and vitality carrying strongly. Dargan has been one of the Trinity’s best forwards this season and was a lone beacon of light against UCD in how he took the fight to them.
Trinity second try was the highlight of the afternoon. A well-worn cliché amongst players is how good it feels when something from the training paddock transfer flawlessly to the pitch and Adelokun’s try certainly conformed to that. A Trinity lineout saw the ball spun wide to pocket-rocket Ariel Robles who danced around the Buccs midfield before reversing play to where the move started. James cut an arcing run back against the grain. Warren Larkin scythed an impressive decoy line drawing in the Buccaneers players trudging to the direction of play who were now bewildered at Trinity change of direction. O’Donoghue then skirted out of a tackle sliding infield to the twenty-two before releasing Niyi Adelokun who turned on the after-burners to finish the move off under the posts. It put Trinity in front and Marsh added a penalty to the conversion to leave the game at 23-16 following another Carty penalty.
However Trinity while often causing duress to Buccaneers still managed to let them into the half again. Despite a sterling defensive effort the problems remained with Buccaneers consistently working their way back into scoring range. From Kiripati’s surge down the flank, the ball was recycled and Carty rather than exploit the glaring overlap outside, collected the pass, cocked his right leg back and sent a beautiful drop goal sailing between the H. Trinity had learned from McLoughlin’s blunder the concept of risk and reward. From the restart they locked Buccaneers into their half and shored up any leaks every man realizing that once you do your job things go according to plan. Trinity will do well to remember that mantra.
