Sometimes you wonder why we all involved and play rugby. After horrendous injuries to Kyle Faloon, Matthew Hooks, Timmy McNeice and Evin Crummie in the last 2 games, Armagh were really stretched in the backline and had to make several adjustments. Josh Watterson came in at 10 and had a wonderful game distributing well and putting in a sound defensive shift. Sam Berman was released from Ulster after being injured and played in the centre with Charlie Worth. Andrew Willis went back to his usual slot on the wing and this meant that Rocky Olsen could be deployed at full back. The pack was virtually the first choice pack with Paul Mullen unavailable and James Crummie coming back into the side. James Anderson was a late replacement for Ryan Finlay on the bench. Matthew Monaghan was the only named back among the substitutes. In all, there were 10 former Royal School pupils in the team 4 ex Armagh youth and 7 players not originally attached to Armagh.
Terenure kicked off in cold conditions and immediately made a fast start. For the first 5 minutes they put a lot of pressure on Armagh and initially their sound defence held out. Terenure are a well drilled outfit and it was no surprise that they went into an early lead after Armagh infringed on a couple of occasions Their hooker, Russell went over for the opening score. On The restart, Armagh suffered another blow when captain Nigel Simpson sustained an injury in a tackle and had to be removed from the field of play and replaced by James Anderson. Scrum half Finlay took over the captaincy and kept the Terenure defence on their toes. A lovely chip into the right hand corner from Lewis had the Terenure line stretched and the ball was moved wide to Sam Cunningham. Sam had a bit to do but using his pace, he slid over in the left hand corner. Rocky Olsen converted with an excellent kick for Armagh to lead 7-5. Terenure tried to strike back with their right winger Fenelon looking particularly sharp. Only a great tackle from Olsen saved another try. After Armagh had given away 3 penalties, it was Terenure’s turn to start conceding penalties. When Armagh were in an attacking position, they could not win a vital lineout but this was a rare event as generally the lineout worked very well. Terenure nudged back into the lead when Egan chipped over a simple penalty for 7-8.
Armagh went back into the lead with their second try. A lineout 15 metres out was won by Josh McKinley and the whole pack mauled towards the try line. It just needed that extra boost and Andrew Willis was on hand to touchdown. Olsen converted again with a great strike. 14-8 to Armagh . The home side still were under some pressure but their defence was once again magnificent and some heroic tackling held Terenure out. There was even a fabulous 50-22 by Olsen and when Terenure infringed again Olsen stretched the lead with a penalty.
Half time score, City of Armagh 17 Terenure 8.
Whoever scored next would be important and when a Terenure player pushed an Armagh player without the ball, the referee awarded a penalty to Armagh. Again, the ball was well secured in the lineout and recycled through the backs. Space being a premium, Sam Berman decided to kick for position and as luck would have it, it fell into Sam Cunningham’s hands and he beat the cover to surge under the posts for a well-deserved try. Rocky chipped over the conversion over to increase Armagh’s lead to 24-8. Terenure bounced back and only a brave tackle by Watterson prevented a try. Terenure were then held up over the Armagh tryline for a goal line kick out. Referee, Richmond gave Armagh a general warning and at the next penalty, Berman was sin binned. Two minutes later, John Glasgow was also sin binned for taking a man out in the air. This meant Armagh had to play 8 minutes with 13 men. It was vital that Armagh controlled this period and this they did. However, Terenure did manage to get back into the game with 2 tries from Coghlan and Reilly converted by Egan, but they made some simple unforced errors especially when warned by the referee about being offside and not retreating from a clearance kick. The biggest cheer of the day came when Jonny Morton secured the try bonus point by touching down from another rolling maul. Shortly after this, he was replaced by Finn Fehnert after having put in a great defensive shift. Olsen converted again to give himself a 100% kicking success, Terenure were not yet finished and with a number of Armagh players almost out on their feet, substitute scrumhalf, Bennie went in for their fourth try. The scoreline now was 31-29 and everyone in the ground was extremely nervous. A tense 10 minutes was still on the clock and many were worried that Armagh would give away a needless penalty. Their discipline for once was good and they were able to see out the game to win and gain five valuable league points.
Like the previous weekend, everyone played their hearts out and the six substitutes also played their part. The front rows tackled and carried well. Second rows, James Crummie and Josh McKinley were always in the thick of things and the back row of Anderson, Faloon and John Glasgow tackled everything that moved. Half backs, Finlay and Watterson had great games and the partnership of Charlie Worth and Sam Berman worked well. When Mathew Monaghan came on, he was used intelligently and although small in stature he put in fine tackles. Wingers Willis and Cunningham took their tries well and Rocky Olsen simply was outstanding and was awarded the player of the match award.
Terenure were gracious in defeat and congratulated Armagh on their win. Other results went Armagh’s way with Garryowen losing to Ballynahinch and UCD going down to St Mary’s. With 5 games to go for City of Armagh, they are 7 points clear of UCD and 16 points ahead of Garryowen. They still have to play both sides in the next few weeks.
The result was a real boost for the club after suffering so many serious injuries in the back line. Prominent people such as Willie John McBride and Matt Williams have queried how the game is getting so brutal, but the feeling that all Armagh’s 21 players got last Saturday is the reason they play rugby. There is always the risk of injury but the satisfaction of a win like last Saturday is the reason why people play. What a game!
