Glenstal have too much for Villiers but plenty for coach Botha to work on

The Limerick city outfit were making their first-ever appearance at this stage of the Munster Senior Schools Cup.

Glenstal Abbey's Sean Roche and Oisín Rowan celebrate during the game. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Glenstal

Abbey 29 Villiers 3 

Glenstal Abbey eventually pulled clear of Villiers, who were making their first-ever appearance at this stage of the Munster Senior Schools Cup.

The 3G pitch at the University of Limerick's North Campus hosted this clash and despite enjoying the better of the possession for most of the tie, Villiers lacked the cutting edge required at the top table.

Both schools brought the noise and colour and perhaps the occasion got the better of some players, particularly early on. Their was a string of basic errors that meant this was a stop-start contest, but there was no shortage of quality in the finishing from the winners.

Glenstal, who are coached by former Munster and South Africa prop BJ Botha, played in spurts but their concern will be discipline. As well as a 14 penalties, they also had two yellow cards shown against them.

Their lack of discipline didn't hurt them on the scoreboard, with Villiers wasteful, particularly from lineouts.

A brace of tries in either half helped the Tipperary school over the line, but they were just nine points ahead for most of this frantic encounter.

The first try arrived after 15 minutes. Harry Gleeson spun a fine pass out wide before Riain Concannon slipped his man to go over in the corner.

Next to score was Callum Hughes. After stealing a defensive line out, he was on hand to get the ball down for a two score lead. Ben Tucker's conversion made it 12-0.

The first-ever score for Villiers at this level came from the boot of out-half Harry O'Donovan, who landed a fine 40-metre penalty to cut the gap to nine at half time.

A string of second-half penalties were wasted by Villiers, again failing to hit their mark with scrums or lineouts. They went close on a brace of occasions, but there was good defending of their own line from Glenstal.

Eventually, referee Niall Kendall sent Brendan Collins to the bin before Sean Roche. Briefly down to 13 and playing with 14 for nearly 15 minutes, Glenstal looked comfortable in defending the lead.

In the final five minutes they scored a penalty followed by a brace of tries. Their third five-pointer was from Oisín Rowan who used his pace to evade the cover, then out-half, Ben Tucker, seized on another Villiers handling error to go over in the corner.

The Limerick city school will be frustrated with the margin of defeat but will be delighted to have finally made it to this level having had a number of close calls when attempting to quality from the second tier.

Fellow Tipperary school Rockwell College await on for Glenstal on January 24th, with the clash the first of a double header at Musgrave Park. There is no doubt that this tie will stand to Glenstal but they'll certainly hope to raise their level a notch or two for that second round clash.

Scorers for Glenstal Abbey: Tries: R Concannon, C Hughes, O Rowan, B Tucker, Con: B Tucker (2), F Connolly, Pen: B Tucker 

Scorers for Villiers: Pen: H O'Donovan 

Glenstal Abbey: J Kerr; S Connolly, S Roche, M Bennett; R Concannon; B Tucker, F Connolly; H Gleeson (C), B Collins, C Hughes, L Himmelreich, P O’Neill, S McCormack, C O’Donovan, M Kennedy.

Replacements: K Robertson, D O’Murthuile, G McDonnell, E White, B Gabor, T Buckley, O Rowan, T Williams, T McNamara, D Goode.

Villiers: L Wilkinson; P Barry, H Lillis, M Moloney; A Lew, H O'Donovan, S O'Brien; C O'Donovan, M Sheehy, N Prendergast, B Atkinson, R Hales, S Austin, D Persse, C Egbulam.

Replacements: Z Agoro, J Siddle, O Ipadeloa, J Odiase, D Cunningham, A Lew, S Gleeson, M Shanahan, F Ayanyemi.

Referee: N Kendall (MAR).