Thirds 8 – Tuam 20

The business end of the J2 league is upon us and the Third XV entertained Tuam in a critical game on Sunday. Wegians, coming off the back of a six game winning streak, looked the form side on paper but unfortunately this did not translate onto the field.

Wegians hopes were bright in the opening minutes when Eoin O’Mahony converted a penalty from the right hand touch line, but things went downhill from there for the sky blues as Tuam took the upper hand. They slotted a penalty in front of the posts to level the scoring and just kicked on from there winning the battle on the ground, poaching ball after ball, and making it very difficult for the home side to build any momentum. Their first two tries were mirror images of each other with their backline playing the conditions, throwing the ball out wide and scoring in both corners. Tuam’s forwards also showed their skills when they barged over after a lineout on the 5m line.

Wegians looked rusty after their five weeks break from games and struggled to get out of the blocks in the first half but some positives can be taken out of the second half performance. Colin Flannery make an impact coming on in the second half and brought an aggression which transferred across the rest of the team which resulted in much better ball retention . Wegians threatened the Tuam line on numerous occasions, most notably when the Wegians pack had the shove on within inches of scoring but this was pulled down (without penalty) and the chance squandered. The only score of the second half came when Colin Flannery broke a tackle and set it up for a show and go by Joe Kerins to touch down in the right corner. The fight back was too little too late and Tuam ran out deserving winners and in turn locked down a spot in the playoffs.

All was not lost for the 3rds, as down the road the boys club beat bucks. This sets up a must win game away to bucks next Sunday for the last semi final spot in the league. There was some hesitance from some members of the Thirds panel to become an OLBC’s twitter follower in order to track this result but we managed to convince one of the lads to take one for the team and join!

Toilet seat: Dan Ryan may feel aggrieved to receive this one, as the toilet seat prosecution provided a lot of circumstantial evidence in relation to him giving away an extra 10 meters from a penalty. In the end a majority rules verdict sent Dan down. However Dan has the right to appeal in court. The date of appeal has been set for the last weekend in April on the junior tour to Cardiff.

Man of the match: Joe Kerins got his name on the score sheet and this was enough for him to hold the thirds magic tankard for the afternoon.