TRINITY HAVE A MIXED DAY!


Trinity 41pts Belfast Harlequins 20pts – April 11th 2015

Trinity won the battle!, but unfortunately lost the war for this season, as they played some sensational rugby in difficult conditions against the ‘form team’ of the league Belfast Harlequins. However, the game in Galway produced the result that the students did not want. A 3 pt loss for Garryowen. Which means Trinity lose out on promotion by one point to the Limerick team. Galwegians win the league, Garryowen go to the play off against St. Mary’s.

Trinity have to settle for the Colours match with UCD on Thursday night in Belfield Bowl.

The day started so brightly with Trinity playing some great rugby from the kick off. Off only their second possession Trinity won a line out in their own half against the blustery wind. They worked the ball through several phases before Brian Du Toit broke the line, offloading to Paddy Lavelle who in turn moved the ball to flanker Pierce Dargan who carried the ball 15 metres forward before laying the ball back superbly. Lavelle came in at scrum half to feed Tom Ryan who offloaded to full back Conor Kearns to Tommy Whittle who committed the last Ulster defender full back Rory Scholes to put wing Tim Maupin in for a great try.

Belfast Harlequins came back to level the scores when giant Ulster representative second row Neil McCombe took advantage of a mix up at a line out on the Trinity line.

Trinity came back to score another well worked try. Off a line out they worked a great move to put centre Seb Fromm in by the posts, much to the delight of Seb’s Dad, Bernd, who travelled from Germany for the game. Out half Tommy Whittle converted.

Harlequins kicked a penalty through another Ulster squad member Michael Heaney. Right on half time Trinity attacked again and full back Conor Kearns grubber kicked in behind the flat defence. Wing Tim Maupin gathered the ball but was stopped just short of the line. The big American wing used his strength and power to stay in play and Captain Paddy Lavelle took the inside pass to fall over the line. 17-8 into a strong blustery wind was a great half time result for the home team.

In the second half Trinity wrapped up the game in the first few minutes when they scored two well worked tries. From a scrum the backs put wing Jack Fitzpatrick off a move straight from the training field. This was followed by Brian Du Toit claiming the ball after Harlequins never made 10 on the restart. Du Toit carried the ball deep into the Visitors half, Trinity attacked wide left, then pulled the ball back the width of the field for Du Toit to put Tim Maupin in for a superb team try.

Harlequins showed the large crowd why they have been having a great second half to the season. They scored their second try after countless phases on the Trinity line. Trinity came back when veteran replacement scrum half Brian Slater sold a huge dummy near the line to skin the blindside defence to score by the posts. Trinity added a penalty to their tally.

In what was a surreal atmosphere in College Park as everybody in the crowd turned to their phones and twitter to see what was happening in Galway the early news was good as Garryowen led 13-10 right up to ten minutes to go. Then Galwegians to their credit went ahead 17-13 and held on to win the league out right. Trinity did everything they could on the day and for that matter since early October. They have only one 1 point loss (V Garryowen 24-23) since late September’s loss in Ballymena.

Congratulations to Galwegians on winning the league.

Trinity now have a short turnaround for the Colours game with UCD on Thursday evening, 16th April, to crown what has been a fabulous season.

Trinity team; 15 Conor Kearns, 14 Tim Maupin,13 Paddy Lavelle,12 Seb Fromm, 11 Jack Fitzpatrick, 10 Tommy Whittle, 9 Angus Lloyd (Brian Slater 60), 1 George Walsh, 2 Richard Halpin, 3 Tom Collis (Andy Keating 50), 4 Jack Burke, 5 Raef Tyrell, 6 Pierce Dargan, 7 Brian Du Toit, 8 Tom Ryan (Nick McCarthy 50)