Charleville & District RFC V Clanwilliam FC

Match Report 18/03/24

After the excellent hard fought away win by the U16 Boys in Bruff on Friday night to progress to the Final of The Munster Bowl competition, it was over to the U14 boys today at home to keep Charleville in the mix in the BOI Munster Boys Plate. Clanwilliam were the visitors under grey skies and a stillness of anticipation that put nerves on edge before this encounter.

U14 boys had their own hill to climb after a stern wake up call away to Dungarvan in their pervious match and recollection of an ‘awful’ performance against Clanwilliam early on in the season.

And so it was with a thin squad that would have a few of the boys playing in unfamiliar positions, the group went into an intensive warm up with a keen focus on handling in the conditions and the breakdown to help them get fast ball to exploit the strength out wide.

With a slight southeasterly breeze blowing into the corner at the filed end, Charleville playing towards the road end, received the kick off to get the match under way. As with all matches, no matter what age or level, the boys knew they needed to let Clanwilliam know that they were in for a game and looked to stamp their authority from the start.

The early exchanges saw Charleville looking to be steady and settle into their game, whilst Clanwilliam went to their game plan of having their two big forwards make carries to get yards. Clanwilliam succeeded initially until Charleville executed the defence message from the coaches before the start of the match. When the opportunity presented itself, two Charleville boys doubled up on the big Clanwilliam prop when he went high into contact and carried him backwards before putting him on the deck. On such small things is the momentum of a match set. Seeing the moments and winning them.

With Clanwilliam game plan blunted, it was Charleville boys who began to assert themselves with carries of their own as they probed for weaknesses.

Although the rain had held off, handling was still tricky with patches of the pitch slippery underfoot. A smattering of knock-ons and forward passes made scrums a feature of the match. It was from a scrum on about the Clanwilliam 10m line that offered Charleville boys their first big chance. With the ball popped out to Paric Crowley, Harry O’Conner took the pass at pace and with a trademark run down the blind side on the left, caught Clanwilliam off guard. Clanwilliam desperately falling back to try and cut Harry off was in vein as he went around two final defenders to dot the ball down under the posts. With the score converted by the boot of Pauric, it was just the start that Charleville boys needed in 2nd minute (7-0).

In the event of a draw at full time, scoring first in these knock out games is vital under the first score wins rule. With that part of the job done, the surge in confidence it gave Charleville Boys, with no small level of relief, was evident as they looked to get on the ball and carry hard.

Their reward was not long in coming, as Charleville put pressure on with excellent interplay between backs and forwards to work their way deep into their opponents’ 22. With play in the left corner of the pitch and 10m out from the Clanwillliam line, Charleville went through two quick ruck phases with the ball finally coming to James Drinan. Tucking it under his arm, James, with typical directness, went straight for the line and with defenders already back peddling from the rapid rucks, he surged through the remaining grasping arms to score to make it 12-0 in 5th minute.

The opening half went into a period of strong physical exchanges from both teams, as Clanwilliam did not give up and looked to change tack by using their back line more. Charleville boys had to adapt and in between a number of penalties for offences at the breakdown and knock-ons from both teams, Charleville had to look lively as Clanwilliam sought to break down the touch line with pace whenever they could.

It was on one such Clanwilliam break that another pivotal moment arose. With the Clanwilliam winger steaking down the line, beating two defenders on the way, Muiris O’Riordan tracked him, setting an intercept course like a German U-Boat from across the 22 and hitting him amidships, torpedoed the attacker into touch and Clanwilliam best scoring opportunity 5m out from the line. The importance of the ‘moment’ was not lost on Muris’ team mates, who dished out hearty and well deserved claps on the back.

At this Charleville boys were now in no doubt about the Clanwilliam tactical change and on each occasion that they continued to stop their big forward carries, Charleville had to deploy pressure ball on the Clanwilliam backline to cut off the supply to their wide players. Pressure ball defence proved itself in 19th minute, as Clanwilliam were forced into lateral running off the scrum and breakdown. A panicky pass as Charleville pressed up on the 10m line gifted Harry O’Conner with an intercept and he pranced off unopposed to score a converted try under the posts to bring the score to 19-0.

Both teams had put in a big shift in heavy conditions in a half that had been played with 8 mins longer than regulations. With only one substitute available, the Charleville boys would need to go to the well again to close the contest out early in the 2nd half.

Charleville kept their focus at the restart as they gathered the ball cleanly and got back into their rhythm of phase play and strong carries. With the breeze having picked up slightly and more in Charleville’s favour, well appointed reliving kicks from Pauric Crowley on occasion gained crucial territory and took advantage of absence in backfield cover from Clanwilliam.

One such kick in the 2nd minute of the second half put Charleville deep into Clanwilliam territory where phase play off breakdown could put defenders under pressure. A series of fiercely contested breakdowns ensued as Charleville pressed into Clanwilliam 22. Then at 10 metres out the ball came into Krzystof Daszuta’s hands and with the mismatch created from the earlier ruck phases, Krzystof made directly for the line, bursting through defenders, to finish under the posts to make the converted score 24-0.

Clanwilliam resorted totally to getting the ball out to the wide channels as much as possible, which was testimony to how well the Charleville pack had fronted up to make their opponents forward ball carriers less of a feature in the game. As the half progressed, Charleville absorbed phases of attack, before launching pressure ball defence to win back possession.

In the 7th minute, pressure on Clanwilliam attack when deep inside Charleville 22 turned over ball to Pauric Crowley, who belted the ball over the Clanwillam heads deep into their half. With two valiant backfield players racing back to try and cover, they were no match for an on-rushing Conor Quinn. Conor passed the first defender in the race for the ball and as he bore down on the second, a panicked defensive fly kick attempt to put the ball in touch skewed off into the corner over the try line. Conor, who only returned from injury for the match this morning, dived on the ball for an unconverted try to end the competitive contest at 29-0 and send Charleville boys through to the Quarter Final. With his dedication to his team mates and the promised asked of them to make sure that they still had something to play for after Conor’s unfortunate injury two weeks ago, the victory sealing score could not come from a better man.

Charleville were not done however and even though the match as a contest was over, both teams agreed to play on as important opportunities for players to get game time and to continue to try and improve their skills.

The pressure from Charleville was really beginning to tell, as more of their backs got hands on the ball and started to make deep line breaks into their opponents’ half. In the 10th minute of the second half, Charleville broke through halfway once more. With Clanwilliam reeling to get a defence set, the ball was worked out to an already running Luke Hogenes. With characteristic deceptive pace, Luke glided at an angle across the face of three defenders before redirecting towards the right corner. The all-action sprint of the last Clanwilliam player was in sharp contrast to the bubble of calm that seemed to bend time to Luke’s will in the final few metres before he dived in to finish the score.

With the extended first half and the score taken into account, the match was ended a few minutes later at 34-0.

And so, Charleville Boys kept the deal they made with themselves to give their best and get back on track to stay in the U14 BOI Plate Competition. In knock out rugby, its “take it each game at a time”. There are still key areas to work on for Charleville before they head away to Bruff in the Quarter Final, which will be a huge game for the group. For the moment, the boys look forward to an exciting Rugby Festival in North Wales next weekend, which will give them fantastic memories and bond even stronger as a group. It will also expose them to different styles and very competitive rugby at the festival, which will be excellent preparation for the next challenge that awaits at home. There is no better position to be in.