There was disappointment for a travelling Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) Women’s side yesterday as they fell to a 15-5 defeat to Greystones RFC. The game, which was a repeat of Trinity’s season opener in which Greystones emerged victorious in College Park, pitted two teams at the bottom end of the table against each other, offering potential for a memorable affair.
It was Greystones’s players who started the stronger, claiming two tries in the opening 10 minutes and putting DUFC on the back foot. However, the visitors slowly worked their way into the game, and scrum-half Genevieve Ruesch looked dangerous throughout, threatening the hosts with some excellent line breaks before she narrowed the gap midway through the first half with a well-taken try.
Following a bruising encounter with Dublin City University (DCU) midweek, a number DUFC’s key starters were missing through injury. As a result, several players lined up out of position, with captain Molly Boyne and Cathy Liney putting in a solid performance in unfamiliar territory in the front row. Regardless of this inexperience, the visitors’ pack worked well and enjoyed some success in the scrum and lineout.
DUFC’s senior players tested the Greystones defence in the second half. Kayla Young and Aoise Tormey Murphy both enjoyed success with line breaks as they probed the hosts’ defence for weakness, but could not make the decisive contribution.
The visitors were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try when Sarah Beckman was stopped metres from the line by a high tackle from the Greystones captain, which earned the latter a place in the sin bin. Despite numerical supremacy, DUFC couldn’t force an opening, with several try attempts held up on the line by Greystones, while repeated injury stoppages for the hosts checked any opportunity to build some momentum for DUFC.
Ultimately it was not to be for DUFC as the game ended 15-5 to Greystones, which moves the hosts off the foot of the table, leaving Trinity bottom. Next up for DUFC is a testing home clash with league high-fliers Wexford Wanderers in Santry next Sunday.
