In what turned out to be a beautiful day for rugby Old Christians left charleville knowing they'd been in a game.
After the rainfall of yesterday it was a welcome sight to have a clear sky and a beautiful pitch to play on. Old Christians started quickly and an early block down from Jamie Hayes led to some early pressure on the Charleville line before some close quarter work saw Cian Smith power over for a 5 pointer.
2 flags went up however the ref rather surprisingly deemed that not enough to award the additional 2 points so 5 - 0 it stayed. All the play remained in the Charleville 22 but little errors meant we were not clinical enough. The backs looks lively with Laz, Mike and Dave punching holes in the opposition defence. Eventually the pressure paid off and Mark Deane grabbed himself a self proclaimed meat pie. Extras were good and we led 12 after 25 mins.
Charleville generated some good go forward against 14 men with a scything break through the middle by their dangerous 13 before being stopped with a good tackle by Mike O Sullivan. Pressure was building before Dan won a footrace against their danger man to dot down for a goal line drop out.
40 mins on the clock and Charleville opted for a kickable penalty which thankfully came back off the post before it was cleared into touch for the whistle.
The 2nd began with a big wind behind Charleville and from the off they sent wave after wave towards the Old Christians line. Some stout defence forced some errors and the game stagnated around the Old Christians 22 for a period of play before Conor Dolan saw yellow for a blatant slap and 3 points were added to the oppositions tally. Another stint with 14 for the rathcooney men. Oscar Clarke moved into centre and it was he who released Mike who offloaded to dan marauding down the wing just being bundled into touch. Some welcome rest bite for the men under siege.
Changes were made at this juncture, Eoghan o Donovan returning for Jack Burke and Ben McCarthy for Mark Deane.
The scrum at this stage which had been under huge pressure started to hold its own and our lineout started to put Charleville under huge pressure with Jack Lonergan and Jamie Hayes to the fore.. we managed to work our way back into the Charleville 22 before again converting close to the line with laz darting over from 5 out. Clinical rugby at its best. Conversion unsuccessful but 17 - 3 was now the score.
Dolan returned and it was a case of battening down the hatches for the final 15. Shane Foley coming in first for Conor Smiddy and then for Ryan Butt making a massive impression under tough circumstances. Some huge hits from the defence Foley making a notable dent helping keep the line intact.
At the death a great carry and offload from Ben McCarthy sent laz on a run, after skittling a few of the opposition players he ran half the pitch before just being caught short of the line by some excellent defensive work from Charleville. Support was unsurprisingly slow to get there after the effort that was put in to to this point and Charleville were happy to see the end of the game tapping and kicking out the ball for Full time. It was at this stage we made things difficult for ourselves and Mark Gleeson found himself taking a rest for 10 mins. Claims of innocence fell on deaf ears much to the dismay of the big hooker. Jack Burke was the man to make way for Eoghan o Donovan to fill the hole left behind in the middle of the scrum.
Well done to all new caps today, a lot of new combinations in a new look side and with only the 3rd game of the season so far under the belt the team remains undefeated and will hope to keep improving. Keeping the opposition tryless on their own patch is no mean feat and takes great character to do so.
Onto Senans next week in Rathcooney for the J1 squad
After the rainfall of yesterday it was a welcome sight to have a clear sky and a beautiful pitch to play on. Old Christians started quickly and an early block down from Jamie Hayes led to some early pressure on the Charleville line before some close quarter work saw Cian Smith power over for a 5 pointer.
2 flags went up however the ref rather surprisingly deemed that not enough to award the additional 2 points so 5 - 0 it stayed. All the play remained in the Charleville 22 but little errors meant we were not clinical enough. The backs looks lively with Laz, Mike and Dave punching holes in the opposition defence. Eventually the pressure paid off and Mark Deane grabbed himself a self proclaimed meat pie. Extras were good and we led 12 after 25 mins.
Charleville generated some good go forward against 14 men with a scything break through the middle by their dangerous 13 before being stopped with a good tackle by Mike O Sullivan. Pressure was building before Dan won a footrace against their danger man to dot down for a goal line drop out.
40 mins on the clock and Charleville opted for a kickable penalty which thankfully came back off the post before it was cleared into touch for the whistle.
The 2nd began with a big wind behind Charleville and from the off they sent wave after wave towards the Old Christians line. Some stout defence forced some errors and the game stagnated around the Old Christians 22 for a period of play before Conor Dolan saw yellow for a blatant slap and 3 points were added to the oppositions tally. Another stint with 14 for the rathcooney men. Oscar Clarke moved into centre and it was he who released Mike who offloaded to dan marauding down the wing just being bundled into touch. Some welcome rest bite for the men under siege.
Changes were made at this juncture, Eoghan o Donovan returning for Jack Burke and Ben McCarthy for Mark Deane.
The scrum at this stage which had been under huge pressure started to hold its own and our lineout started to put Charleville under huge pressure with Jack Lonergan and Jamie Hayes to the fore.. we managed to work our way back into the Charleville 22 before again converting close to the line with laz darting over from 5 out. Clinical rugby at its best. Conversion unsuccessful but 17 - 3 was now the score.
Dolan returned and it was a case of battening down the hatches for the final 15. Shane Foley coming in first for Conor Smiddy and then for Ryan Butt making a massive impression under tough circumstances. Some huge hits from the defence Foley making a notable dent helping keep the line intact.
At the death a great carry and offload from Ben McCarthy sent laz on a run, after skittling a few of the opposition players he ran half the pitch before just being caught short of the line by some excellent defensive work from Charleville. Support was unsurprisingly slow to get there after the effort that was put in to to this point and Charleville were happy to see the end of the game tapping and kicking out the ball for Full time. It was at this stage we made things difficult for ourselves and Mark Gleeson found himself taking a rest for 10 mins. Claims of innocence fell on deaf ears much to the dismay of the big hooker. Jack Burke was the man to make way for Eoghan o Donovan to fill the hole left behind in the middle of the scrum.
Well done to all new caps today, a lot of new combinations in a new look side and with only the 3rd game of the season so far under the belt the team remains undefeated and will hope to keep improving. Keeping the opposition tryless on their own patch is no mean feat and takes great character to do so.
Onto Senans next week in Rathcooney for the J1 squad
