City Of Armagh RFC contrived to lose a game which they could very much have won but lack of discipline killed off any chance of them winning. They were forced to make a couple of changes with captain Nigel Simpson out, enabling Sam Glasgow to go to openside wing forward and James McNabney, being released by Ulster, to go blind side. There was also a close call at loose head prop when Griffin Philipson took over from Niall Carville at loosehead and Cameron Doak was released for the first time by Ulster. In the backs, Timmy McNeice returned from injury in the centre and Dylan Nelson got a place on the left wing with Evin Crummie and Mathew Hooks on the bench, along with Finn Fehnert and James Anderson. UCD themselves were very strong with O’Tighearnigh back from the Emerging Ireland team and 5 other Leinster Academy players, McGuire at tight head prop, the massive Alan Spicer at lock, Brownlee at centre and Moloney at full back. To show the level of support from Leinster, Andrew Sparrow a 124 kilogram prop was on the bench.
Armagh kicked off in near perfect conditions and almost immediately went on the attack with 2 line outs close to the UCD line. Unfortunately, on the second one, the target McNabney was missed and UCD were able to clear their lines. From an Armagh turnover UCD attacked, spreading the ball wide and centre Brownlee was able to squeeze past a despairing tackle to score for Tarrant to convert for an early 7-0 lead. Armagh then suffered another blow when Philipson went off with an ankle injury. Penalties were coming fast and furious with Armagh falling foul of referee Andrew Cole. Time and time again he penalised Armagh for stupid penalties for off-side, not releasing and high tackles. Added to the frustration of the spectators, his use of secondary signals was not clear and the crowd got a bit restless. Feedback on the video will show that he warned Armagh captain Lewis Finlay on plenty of occasions especially for offside at the ruck but unfortunately the Armagh team didn’t learn from their mistakes.
UCD increased their lead through Tarrant, who knocked over a simple penalty for a high tackle by Rocky Olsen for 10-0. Carville was then penalised coming in from the side and this put more pressure on the home defence. To be fair they held out well until another penalty advantage left them scrambling in defence and the left winger, with acres of space was able to step inside Faloon to touch down to put UCD 15-0 ahead.
Things were not helped by a crooked lineout through, even though Mullen was able to grind out 2 scrum penalties. Referee Cole then overruled his assistant referee Patton by saying Olsen kicked the ball dead from a penalty to touch. It was a very close call indeed but the chance for Armagh was lost. There were enterprising runs from Nelson, Faloon and Cunningham on the left wing but Armagh could not break down the resolute UCD defence. Timmy McNeice was relishing being back and was playing his usual aggressive manner with great tackles and driving runs. With a knock on from the kickoff, UCD were offside and when the ball was put into the corner, a catch and great rolling maul set up Armagh for a penalty try. Healy was sin binned for collapsing the driving maul and the scoreline was 15-7.
Three minutes later, Dylan Nelson took the visiting fullback out in the air from a clearance from Finlay. A further infringement for another high tackle gave Tarrant and UCD another 3 points, 18-7. Armagh then had a lucky let-off when a kick was charged down but UCD knocked on.
Half time City of Armagh 7 UCD 18.
The second half went much the same as the first. Armagh introduced their bench with Doak going on for Mullen and Crummie on for Olsen. The game became a real dog fight with no real pattern emerging. The home lineouts were much better though with McKinley having a terrific game. Armagh then began to turn the screw and UCD started to give away penalties. One of their players took an Armagh player out without the ball and from the subsequent lineout, Anderson on for Faloon, drove over the line. Kyle Faloon converted and Armagh were very much back in the game at 18-14.
UCD were now putting a lot of pressure on but the home defence was terrific and when the UCD scrum half telegraphed his delivery 10 metres from the Armagh line, McNeice intercepted and made 20 metres before linking up with Berman who gathered at pace and off-loaded to Cunningham. He in turn linked with Kyle Faloon, who released Dylan Nelson. Nelson made 40 metres and when he was tackled just short Faloon was back in support to dive over for a try that will be long remembered in Armagh. His conversion from the touch line struck an upright. This really rallied the Armagh team and support, but there was still 15 minutes to go with Armagh now ahead, 19-18. Another high tackle from UCD gave Armagh another 3 points from the boot of Faloon and Armagh edged further ahead, 22-18.
UCD were not finished yet and a collapsed scrum gave them territory in the Armagh half. A box kick was well fielded by Faloon but John Glasgow was then pinged for taking the man out above the horizontal. UCD were claiming a red card but thankfully the assistant referee, Patton saw it as only yellow. UCD took the lineout option but were penalised for obstruction with 12 minutes remaining. Armagh were then penalised for another high tackle but Sam Berman won a vital steal on the ground near Armagh’s line. The UCD number 6 was then penalised for offside and Armagh had an attacking lineout on the UCD 22. This was well taken by McNabney but a knock on followed. With 6 minutes to go McNabney had a terrific break down the right wing but the support was slow to get to him and UCD won the ruck. UCD countered and only a try saving tackle by Faloon cleaned up by Evin Crummie saved the day. UCD had a lineout on the 5 metre line and after the driving maul was stopped, UCD started again and Paul Mullen was adjudged to have collapsed the maul and the referee gave UCD a penalty try. From the restart, Sam Cunningham knocked the ball into touch and thereafter there was a series of scrums. UCD were slowing everything down and after a couple of resets, Doak was adjudged to have broken his bind. Tarrant tapped the ball and kicked it out to leave the final score 25-22 to UCD.
The last few decisions will be talked about for a long time but the fight back from Armagh in the second half was immense. None of the players could be faulted for their commitment on the pitch. Sometimes you make your own luck and you won’t win giving away so many penalties and back chatting to the referee.
Head coach, Chris Parker was disappointed with the result as were the players and spectators, but he felt the squad are improving with each game. There are some real positives about kick battles, phase defence and attack. He will be looking for much improved discipline and ball security when City of Armagh travel to Terenure in their next fixture.
