Oxford proved to good for the students from Dublin in a highly entertaining game at Iffley road on Sunday evening. Oxford who is co-coached by former England coach Brian Ashton are gearing up for the defence of their Blues game Vs Cambridge and were hungry to run the ball from all over the field. The referee played his part by seemingly slipping back to the old rules at the breakdown, he did not blow his whistle for the first 4 and ½ minutes as both teams kept ball in hand! This was totally foreign to the boys from Ireland who would be used to far more stringent refereeing at the breakdown.

 

Trinity entered into the spirit of the game by attacking at every opportunity. Oxford  made more of their opportunities, and were far more clinical in their finishing when they made the initial line break. They scored four tries and a penalty try in the first half to lead 33pts to nil. Trinity created three or four chances to score and also made many line breaks but made poor decisions and execution near the Oxford line.

 

Trinity to their credit and undoubted team spirit came out in the second half and raised their game. The teams split a try a piece to draw the second half. Scrum half Sam Bell scoring after some heavy pressure on the Oxford line.

 

To cut costs Trinity travelled to the game by ferry via Holyhead, due to the high winds they had to change plans and take a slower boat, they arrived in Oxford 40 minutes before the game after a 10 hours journey. This should not take away from Oxford’s superb performance, but may have had something to do with the poor start for the visitors.

 

Trinity now take a week off before travelling to Galway to play Corinthians on the 6^th December.

 

 

Other news; Trinity U20s Premier XV had hugely important game against Terenure College in Lakelands. A loss would have put them out of the Leinster U21s “Super Six” competition. In difficult conditions on Sunday they won the game 5pts to nil in a very physical encounter.

 

This now sets up an interesting situation as four teams are competing to finish in the top three positions to go through to the “Super Six in the last week of pool play on Sunday. Trinity (11pts – 27 points differential) have to win in Barnhall who are having their best season in years, Terenure (11pts 35 pts differential) play local rivals St Marys (14pts - 28 pts differential) and UCD (14pts – 41 pts differential ) have to beat Wanderers. It all makes for a nerve wracking Sunday. Note - this is only the pool stages!! Lansdowne, Blackrock and Clontarf have already qualified from the other pool.