VIRGINIA RFC – 16
–v-
DONAGHADEE RFC – 22

Match Reporter - Stephen Quinn

The Dee made another long journey to the rural depths of Ulster, this time we faced another County Cavan Team - Virginia RFC. The First XV were missing a few players due to personal commitments but it demonstrates the strength of our squad when we have players of such high calibre to stand in and travel three hours by bus to get to Co Cavan.

It has now become common practice for the spectators to note that the Dee always look totally outmuscled when the teams first take the field. It was the same here with Virginia fielding three huge men in the centre of the pack. Virginia chose to play on their small pitch even though their new pitch, that was at least 15 metres longer and 10 metres wider, was free all afternoon. Clearly, they intended to keep the ball tight; they did not want Donaghadee’s much speedier backs to get any room and they demonstrated how they intended to play tight rugby in the first 10 minutes of the game. However, the Dee soon got the measure of the forwards and from a set scrum and a shove by the Dee pack, Connor O’Byrne at number 8 picked up and scored in the right hand corner.

No team dominated play for the next period and on 18 minutes Virginia kicked a penalty to take the score to 5-3 for Donaghadee. There was then a beautiful piece of play on 35 minutes with a break on the blind side by scrum half, Paul Johnson. He sidestepped two players and completely bamboozled the fullback before scoring beneath the posts. This was converted by Cooper to take it to 12-3.

Just before half time and after a Virginia maul, their number 10 broke away and would surely have scored but for a great cover tackle by Matthew Stockton. Further sustained pressure by Virginia resulted in a penalty converted by the Virginia fullback, taking the score to 12-6 to Donaghadee at half time. Unfortunately, Sam Ingham had picked up a chest injury in the first half and played little part in the game thereafter. This was a sad loss to Donaghadee as Sam, following on from last week, was having a great game.

H-T 12-6

Early in the second half Virginia recycled the ball on a number of occasions, the forwards applied pressure, there was a knock-on from the Dee and from the resulting advantage the Virginia hooker scored from close range. The conversion was missed, leaving the score at 12-11 to Donaghadee.

On the hour mark, the Dee for once were in reverse gear at the tight scrum and even though Ingham had come back on, the scrum had to be reorganised to take into account his injury and it was clear that further tactical thought was needed. From the resulting pressure on the scrum, Virginia moved the ball to the short side and the Virginia winger scored in the corner. The conversion was narrowly missed, moving the score to 16-12 in favour of Virginia. It was a very tight game; further pressure from Donaghadee resulted in a penalty that was just in range for Cooper and he duly added a further 3 points, leaving the teams only 1 point apart. The Dee crowd fell silent when, on 72 minutes, the Dee forwards were adjudged to be handling in the ruck and fortunately the usually consistent Virginia fullback narrowly missed with a penalty. The play then turned in favour of Donaghadee as a yellow card meant that Virginia were down to 14 men. Virginia were defending desperately, the Dee got a penalty within kicking range but Cooper put it wide leaving Virginia leading by 1 point with 3 minutes to go.

The Dee needed to play a possession game. A good Dee kick and a handling error by Virginia provided a lineout inside the Virginia 22, the resulting play saw the Dee awarded a scrum 6 metres out and, after a pick up and drive and some close passing between the forwards, fullback McBride took a short pass and went over for a fine try. This was converted by Cooper

F-T 22-16

This win was achieved by an all-round team performance. In the second half the tight five really turned things around and scrummaged Virginia off the park and credit must go to our props, Torrans and Collins for dominating two much heavier players. Paul Johnson had a great game and scored a really marvellous try but the man of the match was probably Matthew Johnson for his work rate and not missing a tackle all afternoon.

We play Civil Service at home on Saturday 21st October with pre-match lunch at the Clubhouse, contact Ian Fleming for more details/booking.