Kiwi coach says Clontarf must up their game

CLONTARF remain six points ahead of Ballymena in second place and are eight better off than fourth-placed Galwegians, yet their New Zealand coach, Phil Werahiko, is not taking qualification for the knock-out stages of the AIB League for granted.

He’s a sound judge if his side’s first half performance against UL/Bohemians at Thomond Park is a reliable yardstick. Clontarf were put on the backfoot from the kick-off and were hardly ever out of their own territory. UL/Bohs had an early penalty by Ian Costello and a cracking try on the half hour by full-back Karl Gilligan. Even the sin-binning of polished scrum-half Dominic Malone didn’t seem to make any difference. It was all Bohs and they should have led by more than eight points at the interval. Werahiko wasn’t revealing too much about what he had to say to his players during the break beyond admitting: “I told them they had been through a rough patch and they could continue like that or do something about it. Their job was to get their hands on the ball and when they did so, to hold on to it. At last we got some patterns going, but Bohemians were in our face all day and didn’t make it easy for us. They spoiled a lot of our possession.” In fairness, ’Tarf did enjoy a purple patch immediately after the restart. Out-half Dave Hewitt twice in quick succession wrong-footed the home defence to set up smartly taken tries for Niall O’Brien and Dara O’Shea, the second converted by Conor Mahony, and at 12-8 it looked as if the table-toppers would take control and stroll home with something to spare. Any such notions were quickly dispelled as further Clontarf shortcomings were exposed when they hopelessly failed to cope with an Ian Costello garryowen, allowing the ball to bounce into the grateful arms of Bohemian centre Colman Finn who galloped away from 35 metres to score between the posts. Costello converted and the outsiders were three points ahead once again.

To their credit, Clontarf did come back immediately to punch a succession of holes in the home defence leaving O’Brien to romp through for his second try. Mahony converted but even then, it wasn’t over. Costello left a single point between the sides with a penalty but found the pressure too much as he hooked another attempt with the last kick of the game that would have given his side the spoils. It was that close for comfort and it was little wonder that Phil Werahiko insisted: “After today’s performance, we can’t be sure of anything. You can’t say you’re in the top four until it is a mathematical certainty. We definitely have to improve on what you saw out there today.” A bonus point was the very least UL/Bohemians deserved for their worthy efforts. Quite understandably, coach Mike Tewkesbury saw it as a chance lost but reasoned: “We came into the game with a lot more confidence than people might have imagined. We knew we could get in among them but the two tries immediately after half time won them the game. We were sucked into defending in a way which I don’t think any of the lads will be particularly happy with. We gave those tries away.” The third try, to be fair, we had run out of players.” Nineteen points now separate Clontarf and UL/Bohs with seven series of matches still to be played but the trend of Saturday’s game suggests that precious little separates the sixteen teams in Division One. Clontarf fully realise that they have no room for complacency while Mike Tewkesbury declared that there should be no lack of self belief in his side. “Two-thirds of our team are having to learn and develop off the hoof and that’s quite an achievement for anyone to do,” he said. “We have one or two experienced guys such as Dominic Malone and Matt Porter but most of them are homegrown and sometimes lack a little bit of nous to carry them through. We can hold our own with most of these sides, the only time we didn’t show that was at Lansdowne although I think they’re a good side and should not be underestimated.”