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AIL vs. Malone Match Report |
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AIL Bective vs. Malone 8th January 2011 Match report thanks to Conor Donnelly Bective kicked off 2011 in style with a powerful performance as they defeated Malone 28-13 on Ladies Lunch Day in Donnybrook last Saturday. Bective who started the day in 4th place registered the first points on nine minutes. Awarded a penalty after Malone were caught offside, Rangers opted to go for the line out. The ball was secured cleanly inside the oppositions twenty-two and in an early indication of what was to come the Bective pack drove the ball over the line for the first try of the match with number 8,Mike Essex, being the man who grounded the ball. Malone, losers of their last three games, hit back on fourteen minutes through the boot of out- half, Pentland, to close the deficit to two points. The visitors nearly struck again soon after when a well worked move between the backline saw inside centre, Irvine, race away into space. His attempted pass to winger, Rowan, fell short but Malone regrouped and managed to scramble over the line only to be held up. From the ensuing five metre scrum the visitors would get their reward when Malone flexed some back row muscle of their own and drove over the line for their first try of the contest to extend the lead to 10-5, much to the delight of the vocal away supporters.
Malone would make it three unanswered scores in a row on the twenty sixth minute once again through the boot of their outhalf from a penalty in front of the posts to make it a 13-5 game. However that would be all the scoring the visitors could manage against the second stingiest defence in the league as Bective, despite seeing their opponents race into an early lead, refused to panic and began to assert themselves to take control of the game. A lovely pass by Bective outhalf, Gearoid O’Grady, released open side flanker, Conor Harbison, who was stopped just short of the line. The ball was well recycled and once again the sheer physical power of the Bective pack proved too much for Malone to handle as Rangers ,blindside flanker, John Byrne, pushed his way over the line to make the scoreboard read 13-10 and that is how it would remain going into the break. For large parts of the game Malone struggled to deal with the power of the Bective pack, especially when it came to the breakdown and scrums. Stretches of the game were played against the soundtrack of the referee’s whistle as Malone committed infringement after infringement. On forty six minutes Malone conceded another penalty at a Bective scrum and this would prove to be one penalty too many as prop Halliday was sent to the sin bin. Bective with all the momentum opted to kick for touch deep inside the visitors twenty two and as Baseball great, Yogi Berra, once said it was déjà vu all over again for Bective as they gathered the lineout ball and powered their way over the line for Alitase Ale to make the score 18-13 and take the lead for the first time. On fifty three minutes Rangers showed they were just as adept at the subtle side of the game.A lovely kick through by scrum half, Brad Allam, saw the ball trickle along the touch line and while the ball flirted with crossing the line it somehow never did and instead ended up in the arms of winger, Will Hanly, who gathered it and touched down from five metres out for try number four securing the bonus point. It was all Bective for the second half and while Malone did have some opportunities they were wasted as the visitors tried to force passes that were not on and some poor handling and knock ons let them down when they were. Bective had lock, Paul Hatton, sent to the sin bin on the seventy- second minute after going straight through the opposition’s lineout. But this did not faze Ranges as they wrapped up the scoring in the last minute of the game when Conor Harbison, from a Bective scrum inside the Malone twenty-two, powered his way over to complete the hat trick of tries for the back row unit. The final score was 28-13 for Bective and had it not been for two conversions hitting the post and another diverted of its course by the wind at the last moment the scoreboard could have boasted an even bigger margin of victory for a very impressive home side whose power just proved too much for their overwhelmed opposition. |
