Sport

Students give a lesson in total rugby

Why does the concept of total rugby fit so easily into the psyche of student players if - as so many critics like to assert - …

By DES BERRY
Sat Mar 21 1998 - 00:00

Why does the concept of total rugby fit so easily into the psyche of student players if - as so many critics like to assert - it is such a foreign notion to the senior Irish team.

Admittedly, there would have been little in the way of a media backlash for the Irish Universities if an over-adventurous approach had gone horribly awry yesterday at College Park when the assembled crowd were treated to a game of rugby football that threw it's arms around the 15-man game.

This was entertainment dished up in equal measure by two sides assembled barely 24 hours before kickoff. Admittedly, the Welsh had 10 members of the University of Wales Institute at Cardiff to keep themselves unified and for the Irish, all but the Queen's University full back, Pooler Archbold, came from either UCC or UCD. However, the ethos of university sides in the All Ireland League has always been to give the ball light. This was no different. Ten tries decorated the afternoon. The Irish got out of the blocks quickly. Right wing Simon Doggett and left wing Darragh Holt benefitted from the fast thinking of out-half Mark McHugh, who sought to move the ball unexpectedly - first, from a tap penalty and second, from deep in his own half - in the first and 17th minutes.

All that lay in between was a McHugh penalty to give the Irish a 17-0 lead and as the first quarter became a memory, the Welsh looked like being swamped in close and out wide. This was misleading, however, as the pacey red backline started to throw caution to the wind. They cut loose when the opportunity presented itself and right wing Peter Davies looked particularly elusive.

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Number eight Alwyn Davies battered his way to the line off the base of a five-metre scrum and scrumhalf Dai Cambourne wriggled his way over for the first of his two tries just short of the break. Meanwhile, Archbold followed McHugh's second penalty with a try that owed a lot to the work of second row John Fitzgerald. The Irish held a 27-10 whiphand as the sides came out for the second half.

The sparks began to fly - along with the fists - almost straight away and but for the players' lack of boxing know-how, one or two of them could have been sinking into an early bath. In an almost perverse way, this heightened the appreciation of the crowd.

The Irish had the wherewithal to respond to any threat that the Welsh posed and David Lane forced his way through the middle of a porous Welsh defence for an unconverted try in the 43rd minute.

Thereafter, the play swung from end to end. The tit-for-tat strikes were acted out try for try. Cambourne, Donncha Murphy, Jonathan Williams and Doggett all provided scores that differed in buildup and execution, but kept the spectators engrossed until the end.

Irish Universities: P Archbold (QUB), S Doggett (UCD), A O'Shea (UCC), R Wallace (DU), D Holt (UCC); M McHugh (DU), P Stringer (UCC); A McSweeney (UCC), G Flannery (UCC), R McCormack (UCD); J Fitzgerald (UCC), C Keane (UCC); J Shine (UCD), D Murphy (UCC), D Lane (UCC). Replacements: N O'Driscoll (UCD) for Flannery 23 mins; P Barry (UCC) for Wallace 49 mins; W Robb (DU) for Shine 54 mins; M Prendergast (UCD) for O'Shea 67 mins.

Welsh Universities: (All University of Wales Institute at Cardiff, unless stated) J Wil- liams; P Davies, P Oxley, A Pearce (Trinity College), P Jones; G Vobe, D Cambourne; M Bolton, S Jones, S O'Sullivan (Cardiff UNiversity); T Bowen (Trinity College), C Burrows; R Parkes (Cardiff Medicals), R Griffin (Cardiff University), A Davies. Replacements: S Wooler for Griffin half-time; S Clarke (Cardiff University) for Jones, A Evans for Vobe, G Cooper for O'Sullivan all 67 mins.

Referee: A Lewis (ARLB).

European Cup Champions Bath have invited 18-year-old Limerick student Daniel O'Connell to join them for the weekend to play for the club's Under-19 team in their game against Reading.

Bath were highly impressed with O'Connell's performances at prop for St Clement's in this year's Munster Colleges' Cup and according to their Irish agent, Pat Sheedy, are likely to sign him as a professional. O'Connell is the first Irish schoolboy player to be brought over by Bath.