HOLYWOOD DOWN WITH A BUMP
An indian summer’s day in Cavan was the setting for Holywood 1st XV’s second league match of the season. It had been a long bus trip down but coach Paul Andrews had the journey down shaken out of the team before they kicked off into the strong sun and wind.
The two sides were still in the process of testing each other out, with no one side looking dominant, when Holywood were awarded a scrum in the centre of the pitch, just inside Cavan’s half. A quick heel saw Holywood’s no.8 Gareth Hillen pick the ball up from the back of the scrum and head off towards the Cavan line. Hillen burst through two would-be tacklers before completing his 40 yard sprint by rounding the full back to score the opening try. Despite Stevie Leyland missing the conversion, a 5 – 0 lead after barely 4 minutes play against the wind was just the start the team needed.
Rikki Smith showed that age hadn’t dampened his enthusiasm with a number of barrelling runs in the centre as Holywood tried to run the ball back at Cavan, who by this time were using the strong wind to keep Holywood pinned behind their own 22 metre line.
After 9 minutes Holywood allowed the Cavan team all the time and space they needed to score under the posts. The straightforward conversion left Holywood trailing 7 – 5. The ease with which Cavan were able to run in that try was to augur badly for the visitors because the lack of first time tackles, particularly around the fringes of rucks and mauls, was to cost Holywood dear as the game wore on. This, together with giving away too many lazy penalties around rucks, allowed Cavan to escape from any pressure that Holywood could exert on them. Ollie Grysmek was working extremely hard in the tackle area and at lineouts but his work was being undone by those in the team who thought they could referee the game much better than the official ref. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to realise that he was the only one who had a whistle and penalties given to Holywood got reversed for words that should have stayed unsaid. By now Holywood were the strongly dominant force in the set scrum and were winning more than their share of lineout ball. Out wide skipper Paul Foster was showing the rest of the team exactly how to execute one-on-one tackles but not enough of his team mates seemed to follow his example allowing Cavan to run through some weak tackling.
Turning around only 7 – 5 down with the wind at their backs should have enabled Holywood to ease away in the second half and, using their dominance in the set pieces, wrap the game up quickly. It was not to be as Holywood flattered, only to deceive.
Barely 2 minutes into the half saw Grysmek sustain what looked like a very nasty injury as he was pile driven into the ground following a lineout. Cavan went unpunished whilst Holywood’s physio, Catherine Ferguson, worked on the stricken Grysmek. Thankfully, after a short rest, he returned to the fray.
Following the delay Holywood’s pack set up a rolling maul in the centre of the pitch and after a successful drive Cavan were penalised for coming in from the side. Up stepped Leyland who slotted home the penalty from the 10 metre line to give Holywood a deserved 8 – 7 lead with only 5 minutes of the second half gone.
Almost straight from the kick off Cavan were again allowed to run through poor Holywood tackling and break away from what should have been Holywood’s stranglehold on the game. One breakout saw the home side held up over Holywood’s line, but a combination of great defence by the back row with good clearance kicks by Davy Hunter and Leyland, saw Holywood stem the flow of attacks. It was 27 minutes into the half when the Holywood backs tried to run the ball out from their own 22 when a kick would have relieved the pressure. They got caught in possession, isolated and turned the ball over allowing Cavan to set up a number of good drives, eventually going over for a try. The conversion made the score 14 – 8 to the home side but the game was still there for Holywood to win, if they wanted it. Holywood were still making the mistake of thinking someone else in the team was responsible for doing the tackling, allowing Cavan to drive up the pitch at will. With 5 minutes left on the clock Cavan won a scrum close to the Holywood line and managed to work the ball over in the corner to make the full time score to 19 – 8 in favour of them.
Johnny Elliot made his 1st XV debut and the experience will have done him no harm at all. “Lazarus” Grysmek won man-of-the-match for his brave display whilst this week’s booby prize went to Richard Wooley for throwing all his toys out of the pram! Indiscipline continues to haunt the side with players being guilty of trying to referee the game and advise all around, including the ref, of the depth of their knowledge of rules and interpretation of laws. If this team were to cut out the needless penalties they would be well on their way to being a feared unit within this league. They have the skills, the power up front and an inventive set of backs all of which they will need as the season progresses.
Teams for Saturday 29.09.07
1st XV: home to PSNI meeting at the Club at 1.15pm
I.DePledge, P. Oldham, C. Murray, M. Williams, J.Cooke, O.Grysmek, G.Hillen, G. Stocker, P. Gordon, S.Leyland, P.Foster, T erikson, S.Glover, N.Ferguson, G.Gleeson.
2nd XV: home to Grosvenor meeting at the Club at 1.30pm
G.Bates, R.Greaves, R. Wooley, J.Elliot, D.Verner, J. Shaw, M.Collins, F. Lockhart, A.Gordon, P.Glover, G.Brown, N.Craig, M.Kennedy, M. Russell, N. Patterson.
