RUGBY: Wesley College... 22 St Andrew's College... 0: A glut of points, 17 to be precise in the final 10 minutes, completely distorted what had been an evenly poised encounter. Wesley College were flattered by the margin of victory, although few would quibble that they deservedly earned a place in the Vincent Murray Cup final, where they will face CBC Monkstown.
Wesley were a tad more cohesive in a match littered with errors. Referee John O'Sullivan spent most of the afternoon whistling for one transgression or another and was entirely blameless for this attitude. He had no other course of action; after all you can't keep playing with multiple knocks-on.
No one could deny the honesty of endeavour on both sides, but the fact that the staples of the forward game, scrum and lineout, were a lottery meant neither side enjoyed sustained patterns of ascendancy. The fare might charitably be described as scrappy.
Wesley hooker and captain Alan Gray took three strikes against the head as his side dominated in the scrum, but when it came to the lineout, they rarely secured their own ball. St Andrew's had a tough time in the tight, but their rucking was appreciably superior and this allowed them to secure numerous turnovers.
Wesley should have settled quickly after outhalf Alan Large provided them with the ideal start. On a St Andrew's scrum feed deep inside their own 22, Gray struck against the head, scrumhalf Jonathan Power released Large on the shortside and the outhalf scampered outside the defence to score in the corner.
He could not improve upon the try, not with the conversion or subsequently with a penalty prior to the interval. St Andrew's number eight Kirwan Waters couldn't avail of a couple of opportunities with the placed ball either.
The closeness on the scoreboard guaranteed a tension to most of the second half, but on 60 minutes Wesley centre Robert Greene effectively ended the contest when, selling more dummies than Mothercare, he weaved through the defensive traffic to score under the posts. Large added the conversion and a penalty to nudge Wesley to 15-0.
In injury time Greene grabbed a second try, once again bamboozling the odd defender with a show of the ball. Large added the conversion and there wasn't time for much else as Wesley enjoyed the thoughts of a place in the inaugural Vincent Murray Cup final.
When that will be played has yet to be decided but will take place after both of yesterday's combatants take part in the first round of the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup elite section.
WESLEY COLLEGE: D Heelon; L Wrafter, R Greene, G Notley, S Odidison; A Large, J Power; P Walker, A Gray (capt), C Jackson; R Rhynehart, S Wall; D Richardson, P Richardson, P Rowe. Replacement: D Harkin for Jackson (25-31 mins temp, 39 mins).
ST ANDREW'S COLLEGE: J Mawhinney; P Marr, P Hamilton, J Doran (capt), S Gill; R Glynn, R Mackey; S Thornburg, K Austen, C Nolan; R Rees-Brennan, G Roe; M Ennis, K Waters, S Maybury. Replacements: J Counihan for Austen (h-t), M Clarke for Thornburg (59 mins), P Devlin for Maybury (63 mins), C Winton for Hamilton (63 mins).
Referee: J O'Sullivan (Leinster).
