Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) continued their miserable start to this year’s All-Ireland League campaign today with a 52-12 thrashing at the hands of Lansdowne Rugby Club. A sunny day in College Park was painfully at odds with the grim events that unfolded on the field of play as an admittedly excellent Lansdowne side ran out easy winners.
Trinity entered the game seeking to banish the demons of their previous two games, both of which ended in heavy defeats. However, when Lansdowne drove over for two tries in the first twenty minutes, the stage was set for a drubbing, and the visitors duly delivered. A lineout on the Trinity 22 gave Lansdowne the ideal platform, and after some simple through-the-hands rugby, centre Harry Brennan broke a last-gasp tackle to touch down in the corner for his side’s third try. Outhalf Scott Deasy slotted over the conversion to put clear daylight between the sides.
Shell-shocked, DUFC sought to belatedly gain a foothold in the game. They tightened up in defence and finally began to put together some moves of their own. Perhaps mindful of the deficit, however, Trinity was often guilty of forcing the issue when they might have been better served keeping the ball in hand and going through the phases. Individual handling errors also cost the side as their pressure came to nothing in the first half. Trinity could at least draw some confidence from the fact that their performance had improved after the slowest of starts.
However, if a fast start to the second half was vital, it was certainly not what DUFC offered up. Just five minutes after the break, Lansdowne capitalised on defensive indiscipline from the hosts to jog in their fourth try of the day. Scott Deasy’s speculative cross-field kick fell to Eamonn Mills, and the fullback was only too happy to further extend Lansdowne’s lead. Back-row Willie Earle also got his name on the scoresheet after a long looping pass from Deasy left Lansdowne with a three-man overlap.
To its credit, however, DUFC kept fighting, and landed a try of its own on the hour mark. It didn’t appear that Lansdowne was in any danger when Michael Silvester picked the ball up on his own ten metre line. However, the fullback cleverly wriggled free of the first tackle to find himself with open field in front of him. He demonstrated electric pace to race clear of the Lansdowne defence and start the process of restoring respectability to the scoresheet. Replacement outhalf Tommy Whittle missed the mark with his attempted conversion.
Yet Trinity’s leaky defence proved their undoing once again a few minutes later, as Lansdowne substitute Alan Bennie did well to find a gap before releasing Brennan for another try.
Trinity sought only consolation at this point, and got it with ten minutes to go. It was an exercise in simplicity, as Trinity moved the ball through the hands for captain Michael Courtney to crash over. Whittle found his range to convert.
Lansdowne was determined not to become complacent, though, and it was clear that DUFC’s tiring defence would offer little by way of resistance. Jack O’Sullivan and Dan McEvoy completed the route for Lansdowne with two easy tries in the last ten minutes.
For DUFC, a third straight defeat keeps them rooted firmly to the bottom of the table. It may be early in the season, but the nature of the defeats will surely set alarm bells ringing for Tony Smeeth and co. They will no doubt look to welcome back their injured stars, most notably Jack Kelly, in the near future. But, on the evidence of today, serious work must be done to lift performances and bring them to the level required in the top division of Irish club rugby.
