College Tribune | September 30th 2008
Sport
27
College ‘downe and out ■■ Bryan Devlin In any sport you have to take your chances. The team that does not dice with their chances will, invariably, be the losing side. The difference in this game was kicking, or rather place kicking. While the Lansdowne full back comfortably slotted away close to all his kicks, Killian Lett, the College outside centre, failed to convert any. Granted the opposition should not have been given that many penalties but in a tight quarter final, when nothing is being given in terms of territory your kicker has to be firing on all cylinders. The tone of this game was more or less set straight from the beginning. Within the opening five minutes the Lansdowne kicker was awarded an opportunity to put three points on
Lansdowne UCD
22 10
RDS the board, an opportunity which he gladly took. This routine would continue throughout the first half, with Lansdowne being awarded 4 shots on goal. While only missing one, which was arguably the easiest of the bunch, it is hardly surprising that they lead by 8 points at the break. Whereas, Lett missed a veritable hat full of chances. In a game which depended so heavily on the respective kickers it is a testament to the College backs that they did not experience the indignity of a white wash.
Indeed, UCD’s first score of the game came at the quarter hour mark, a rare chance which saw winger Cian Ahearne skip by two tackles beautifully and run in for an enigmatic try, the conversion attempt from Lett was, of course, wayward. The build up for the try was a great display in itself and well worthy of the five points. However, this would be the only score UCD would collect the first half. College were certainly on the back foot for the majority of the second half and struggled to get any strong hold on the game, their danger men; Vasily Artemiev and Ahearne, were certainly quiet on the wings with little more than scraps coming their way. Ultimately the quarter final was a very physical affair, particularly upfront. Although the UCD pack bossed their opposition in previous games,
they seemed incapable of dealing with the Lansdowne front eight. The breakdown was unusually scrappy with college scrambling to retain possession on a number of occasions. Following the interval, UCD seemed to have remedied some of the problems from the first half. Lett made a half break in the opening moments only to fall at the last hurdle. Despite the good start to the half College found themselves defending their try line a few moments later and had not been for Lansdowne’s white line fever the men from Belfield would have found themselves further behind. It was at this stage in the game which UCD’s best chance of putting a few scores on the board presented itself but the ten minute period in which the Lansdowne No. 8 was in the bin proved to be a fruitless period and before they knew it
College were facing a full fifteen again. While Lansdowne proceeded to put points on the board in threes, College seemed to have no answer at one stage they trailed by eleven points. With ten minutes to go Lett broke through the centre and laid off to Quinn at fifteen who came thundering up in support and touched down for UCD’s second time of the match, the conversion was unsuccessful. After this score the game became incredibly mean spirited. This proved to increase the penalty count and thus Lansdowne easily stretched their lead to 22-10. On the whole, a performance which UCD are well capable of putting behind them, particularly now as they gear up for the coming season in the AIL.
»»UCD’s next game is away to
Old Belvedere in the AIB league, on the 4th of October at 14.30