Con off to a flyer but still plenty to ponder

A WIN is a win, even if the performance leaves a lot to be desired — that was the attitude of Cork Con manager Brian Walsh after this opening-round AIL Division 1 game at Temple Hill on Saturday.

“I thought we played some good rugby in the first half,” said Walsh. “It was not so good in the second, we failed to control the ball and couldn’t get out of our own 22 for long periods. Our lineouts were a problem also, they didn’t function particularly well.

“There was a lot of testosterone out there as everyone wants to win their first game. It may not have been very free-flowing but the pressure was to get a win under the belt, and we did that.”

Aided by the slight breeze, the home team ran up a comfortable 20-0 half-time lead, but were far from impressive in doing so.

A penalty goal by new Australian centre Daniel Nethery in the fifth minute got them going before a fine try by captain and No 8 Frank Cogan (after a good break by out-half Conor Quaid) followed 20 minutes later.

Another penalty by Nethery kept the scoreboard ticking over, before winger Richard Lane, after an intercept by Cronan Healy, and good support play by Merle O’Connell, Ross Noonan and Cogan, touched down.

“No matter how hard you train, or with what intensity, it’s very hard to duplicate the intensity of a real match situation,” reckoned Walsh.

“The timing can be a little bit off and it doesn’t happen. We’re going to try and play as much rugby as possible, we give them responsibility to go out and play the game, make their own decisions, and we’re not going to put the chains on them if those decisions fail. It wasn’t the performance you’d be hoping to see next April or May, but it’s a good start.”

Clontarf were particularly disappointing in that opening half, defending gamely but offering very little by way of attack.

“Technically we were very poor,” losing coach Phil Werahiko admitted. “Con capitalised on some of our decision-making and we played them too much in our half. They defended well, played the conditions well, they put us under pressure when we had the ball, and when they had the ball, they used it well.”

Mind you, that half-time scoreline could have looked a little less flattering to Con were it not for the most strange of a number of baffling decisions by international referee Alain Rolland.

Well into injury time, Clontarf mounted their first meaningful attack inside Con’s 22. However the match official blew up play to deal with an off-the-ball incident involving Clontarf’s scrum-half Fiach O’Loughlin and Quaid.

Ticking-off over, Clontarf were awarded an attacking scrum, leaving Werahiko baffled.

“Generally if the referee or linesman see something, they wait until after the play has broken down before they blow the whistle, but he pulled it up.

“We had a lot of mismatches with forwards out wide, but instead of us scoring, Con took the opportunity at the other end.

“Alain missed a few things, a few calls he made were surprising for a guy of his status. We all know the rules but he makes the calls on what he sees and there was not a lot we can do about it. It was a decisive score, but we were pretty much the victim of our own mistakes.”