St Mary's repel Young Munster onslaught

Character, resolution and a prodigious work ethic, attributes not always associated with the current St Mary's College side, ensured their survival, and ultimately victory, at Templeville Road on Saturday.

Completely dominant in the first half, they ended the match, courageously fighting that claustrophobic corridor five metres from their own line, desperation encouraging players not to think, merely to react to the Young Munster hordes that seemed certain to prevail in battering a path to the line.

Young Munster did facilitate their opponents survival with some slipshod handling, charitably ascribed perhaps to the intensity of battle: twice scrum-half Derek Tobin fluffed his lines, spurning gilt edged opportunities. But the Limerick side's downfall was precipitated by South African referee Andre Watson's reluctance to penalise persistent offside.

Irish coach Brian Ashton, a spectator at Templeville Road, will have noted his tendency to let play continue, but also his abhorrence to penalise those who constantly infringe the offside line, a worrying trait with the Scots coming to town.

St Mary's were quite content to concede a stream of penalties despite the fact that the broached losing a penalty try. Young Munsters' penchant for making some incredibly silly decisions - dominant in the scrums in the latter stages they twice kicked to touch within five metres of the line - would ultimately prove decisive.

Coach Brian Hickey admitted that his side made some costly errors in the closing stages but correctly pointed out that the new laws should have given the referee scope to deal with the frequent transgressions of the home side: "I think the new sin bin rule is great and something that might have been used here. I mean it is hardly fair that they conceded 14 penalties in the last 10 minutes.

"Having said that Mary's should have been out of sight at half-time, 20 points plus ahead. We didn't play our rugby and looked like getting penalised very heavily for it. We took the game to them through the forwards in the second half and they will know that they were fortunate to escape."

St Mary's coach Steve Hennessy conceded: "It wasn't pretty at the end but I must pay tribute to the lads resilience and the tackles that they put in in the closing minutes. We have lost plenty of games like that before.

"We should have been 19 points clear before they even got into the game: when they did come back we panicked and created problems for ourselves. I am just delighted that we managed to hang on. A win is a win no matter how it is achieved."

St Mary's early dominance can be directly attributed to the control which the pack exerted. Victor Costello, drove for huge yardage off scrums and the back line ran with a purpose and conviction which belied the reshuffle occasioned because the Irish team management wanted Denis Hickie to play on the left wing.

But it was scrum-half Eoin McCormack's breaks that caused Young Munster acute embarrassment and he can be considered unfortunate to have been substituted to facilitate the return of a rusty Conor McGuinness. Two Fergal Campion penalties gave the home side a 6-0 advantage before their finishing finally matched the approach work.

Barry Browne and the excellent Mark Cuddihy make inroads towards the Young Munster 22 and when the ball was moved on the short side Gareth Gannon's well timed pass allowed Hickie to squeeze over in the corner. Campion converted superbly from the touchline but in injury time was guilty of missing an infinitely easier, penalty opportunity.

Young Munster's interval transformation manifested itself in greater urgency and cohesion up front where Des Clohessy was excellent in all facets of play. Only a brilliant Cuddihy tackle prevented a try for Peter Boland on 44 minutes but the pressure was rewarded on 58 minutes when Clohessy, deputising at tighthead for his injured brother, Peter, was in the van of a lineout take and drive that surged the 15 metres required. Stephen Tuohy converted.

An underlying niggle was apparent in a few late skirmishes where the ball was incidental on a few occasions but Watson kept control. Tobin's faux pas in the dying minutes served to tantalise the sizeable travelling support who could only watch in anguish as St Mary's somehow held on.

Scoring sequence. 13 mins: Campion penalty, 3-0; 15: Campion penalty, 6-0 ; 35: Hickie try, Campion conversion (13-0); 58: Clohessy try, Tuohy conversion (13-7).

St Mary's: K Nowlan; J McWeeney, R McIlreavy, G Gannon, D Hickie; F Campion, E McCormack; E Byrne, B Browne, P Coyle; S Jameson (capt), P Sullivan; M Reilly, V Costello, M Cuddihy. Replacements: C McGuinness for McCormack; T Brennan for Sullivan; D Dowling for Coyle.

Young Munster: P Bolan; J Carey, N O'Meara, M Lynch, N McNamara; S Tuohy, D Tobin; N Hartigan, M Hayes, D Clohessy; D O'Meara, M O'Halloran; B Buckley, A Herlihy, G Earls (capt). Replacements: D Walsh for McNamara; A O'Halloran for Carey.

Referee: A Watson (South Africa).