Carlow's relentless pressure pays off

IT was as you might have imagined it. A Sunday fete feel with a rugby match at its heart. Public address announcements lost in the wind and plastic drinks containers shattering under foot. Several thousand supporters breathed in the barbecue smoke at Naas and didn't mind skating into the beer tent where the grass at the entrance had turned to mud. It was Sunday and a day out. The Towns Cup final, one of Leinster rugby's little gems.

Carlow came with the reputation and Navan arrived in hope. In the end Carlow merely added to the growing legend that they will take all before them when they graduate to the All-Ireland League division four next season. That is not yet in the bag but try arguing the point with anyone in junior rugby.

Already the league champions, Carlow controlled this cup final for the second year in a row to bring their total number of wins to 12 in all. a record that puts Skerries into second position with 11 wins and Dundalk back in third with nine.

In many ways the driving rain cut down on anything too fancy like running the ball. The first time that occured was 10 minutes into the second half at which stage someone in the crowd turned to the attendant press and cracked "Take it down, lads, they've run it."

The point was Carlow didn't need to do any such thing as their forwards powered their way through all the set-pieces and such was the pressure Navan had to withstand that they were always going to give away penalties - for which Carlow out-half Harry Sothern was most grateful. The spritely 37-year-old scored one of his side's tries, kicked three penalties and a conversion before coming off late in the second half, no doubt to save himself for the road ahead.

"The weather was the only thing Naas got wrong today." said Leonard Peavoy, Carlow's try scoring captain. "We were able to get a few early scores in the game and then managed to keep it going from there till the end."

Perhaps by early scores Peavoy meant the first half as that was where all of the scores came.

Sothern opened the scoring less than a minute into the game when he landed his first penalty of the match off the inside of the post. When Navan equalised seven minutes later from the boot of full back Fergal McGuirk after an off- side, it looked as if the underdogs, who were not shy about touting Carlow as red hot favourites before the game, might well stretch their opponents. But that was the last time they were on a level footing as Sothern landed his second score from the third attempt Just three minutes later.

At this stage the Hannons, Justin and Larry. Padraig Brennan, Liam O'Byrne, Mark Halpin, Andrew Kenny, Ivor Edgehill and number eight Andrew Melville were controlling the mauls, sometimes making 20 metres into their opponents territory before the mauls were collapsed.

It was this relentless pressure that led to the first try as Sothern took delivery on the short side after a series of scrums along the Navan line and knifed through the stretched defence for an 11-3 lead.

Again it was Sothern who added three more points from his fifth effort just minutes before half time before Peavoy came off the back of a five-yard scrum and again found space in the over-worked defence. Sothern converted for 21-3.

Navan did have chances to come back into the game but between McGuirk and Stephen Beggy they managed just one successful kick from six attempts.

. Reigning Super 12 champions the Auckland Blues held onto their unbroken record by beating a strong Natal Sharks side 39-17 at Eden Park, Auckland yesterday.