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Lively fare as aspiring players seek to impress

Whites - 21 Colours - 19 Although a dozen of the original squad selections didn't play, and there was the predictable full quota…

Gerry Thornley Lansdowne Road
Sat May 10 2003 - 01:00

Whites - 21 Colours - 19 Although a dozen of the original squad selections didn't play, and there was the predictable full quota of 14 replacements, this was a proper game, a lively game and a useful game.

Ultimately, an even contest was decided by a typically impish piece of genius by David Humphreys, who set up Bryn Cunningham for an injury-time try which Humphreys converted with the last kick.

So the bragging rights went to Matt Williams and his Whites side over Alan Gaffney's Colours outfit, while there were no injuries of note and several recuperating figures will have benefitted from the run-out.

Uppermost among those was surely David Wallace, making his first representative appearance of the season. Looking fit and strong, Wallace was full of running, whether pumping his legs in close quarters or galloping in open field.

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Generally the back-rowers showed well, with the up-and-coming Denis Leamy full of muscular presence close in as well as deft handling. A huge prospect, he really looked like he belonged in this company, while alongside him in the Colours back row, double try scorer Alan Quinlan was always eager for the ball and also showed up well.

Gaffney's side, having lost one third of their original starting selection, were probably the more disrupted, yet their threequarters had more penetration, with Mike Mullins' late call-up giving them a more balanced and potent look.

Mullins scored one trademark set-piece try through the middle and with his Munster sidekick Rob Henderson, Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan making inroads, they engineered a 19-7 lead entering the final quarter.

However, the Whites pack had begun to get on top by then, and having been twice over the Colours line they possibly deserved to squeeze through in the end.

Eddie O'Sullivan expressed himself "delighted" with the workout. "The attitude of the boys was excellent and everyone got stuck in. You could see there was a bit of rustiness there, and there were one or two forced passes which maybe made the game a bit loose, but there was some good flow to the game, the tackling was good, the set pieces were strong and the boys themselves are all delighted with it. It was a good blow-out."

With several hundred in attendance in the West Stand, which shaded over almost half the pitch, the occasion had many echoes of an end-of-season Leinster Senior Cup tie.

With Peter Stringer and Humphreys pulling the strings and Jonathan Bell eager, the force was with the Whites initially.

Yet the Colours struck first off a line-out when Mullins accelerated through Bell and John Kelly in typically dynamic fashion to score under the posts, McHugh converting. Henderson too was punching holes, before Humphreys began orchestrating multi-phase attacks, the first of which saw Jeremy Staunton pull off a good try-saving tackle on Colm McMahon.

Not to be denied, the Whites countered superbly off turnover ball inside their own half, Wallace starting the move and Humphreys again heavily involved before Gordon D'Arcy took a nice line through an overstretched Colours defence for the levelling score.

Henderson, bursting through midfield, linked up with Trevor Hogan for Quinlan's first try and after the latter had held up Stringer over the line he then added his second, nonchalantly, just past the hour.

Hickie was the catalyst, breaking out from a tap penalty, McHugh, Gavin Duffy and Leamy then all showing good hands in putting Quinlan clear.

However, McHugh knocked on into the advancing hands of Wallace for the latter to score untouched from almost half-way and at the death Humphreys' quick thinking in open play saw him switch to an unmanned open side from a turnover, make good ground and straighten for Dominic Crotty to release Cunningham.

Scoring sequence: 20 mins: Mullins try, McHugh con 0-7; 31: D'Arcy try, Humphreys con 7-7; 34: Quinlan try 7-12; (half-time 7-12); 61: Quinlan try, McHugh con 7-19; 70: Wallace try, Humphreys con 14-19; 82: Cunningham try, Humphreys con 21-19.

WHITES: B Cunningham (Dungannon); G D'Arcy (Lansdowne), J Kelly (Cork Constitution), J Bell (Dungannon), A Horgan (Cork Constitution); D Humphreys (Dungannon, capt), P Stringer (Shannon); R Corrigan (Greystones), F Sheahan (Cork Constitution), E Byrne (St Mary's College), D O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution), M O'Kelly (St Mary's College), D Wallace (Garryowen), A McCullen (Lansdowne), C McMahon (Shannon). Replacements: N Breslin (UCD) for McMahon (half-time), B O'Riordan (UCD) for Stringer (49 mins), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon) for Corrigan (56 mins), T Robinson (Galwegians) for D'Arcy (62 mins), D Crotty (Garryowen) for Horgan (71 mins), J Blaney (Shannon) for Sheahan, N Best (Belfast Harlequins) for Breslin (both 79 mins).

COLOURS: J Staunton (Garryowen); S Horgan (Lansdowne), M Mullins (Young Munster), R Henderson (Young Munster), D Hickie (St Mary's College); M McHugh (St Mary's College), B O'Meara (Cork Constitution); M Horan (Shannon), S Byrne (Blackrock College), S Best (Belfast Harlequins), M O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution), P O'Connell (Young Munster), A Quinlan (Shannon), D Leamy (UCC), K Gleeson (St Mary's College). Replacements: T Hogan (Shannon) for O'Driscoll (17 mins), R Wilson (Belfast Harlequins) for Leamy (21-28 mins) and for Henderson (74 mins), M Lawlor (Shannon) for Horgan (half-time), G Duffy (Galwegians) for Mullins (49 mins), M Cahill (Buccaneers) for Horan (56 mins), E Reddan (Old Crescent) for Hickie (66 mins), G Hickie (St Mary's College) for Byrne (71 mins).