Firsts 3 – Lansdowne 3

Galwegians and Lansdowne battled bravely through atrocious conditions and finished deadlocked in a closely fought contest at a rain and windswept Crowley Park on Saturday.

Despite playing against the stiff breeze, Lansdowne had the better of the opening half. Ex-Buccaneer Justin Meagher, who was a late call-up at out-half, missed an early kickable penalty, but he was on target after 20 minutes to put the visitors in front. However the lead lasted less than 2 minutes as Wegians won a penalty straight from the restart. And when referee Ger English penalised the visitors a further ten metres for dissent, Wegians out-half Cormac O'Beirne gratefully accepted the opportunity and struck his effort straight between the sticks to level it up. This is how it stayed at half-time, with Lansdowne having more possession and territory without ever really threatening the Galwegians try-line.

Galwegians started with much more urgency in the second-half, as this time it was their turn to play better against the elements. However the miserable conditions made handling extremely difficult, meaning they were rarely able to threaten inside their opponents 22. It was always likely to be a low-scoring game, but Wegians had the best opportunity to seal victory when awarded a penalty in front of the posts on the 22 with barely ten minutes remaining. But scrum-half Robbie Shaw opted to tap and go, only to run into a brick wall of defenders, and the chance was gone. Then in the last act of the game, Wegians were awarded another penalty, this time 30 metres out. But the strong breeze made it a very difficult kick, and O'Beirne's effort fell just short to ensure the spoils were shared.