Friday night lights for the first time this season would have been great except we couldn’t see the lights for the rain.
My God, it teemed down for the whole 80 minutes plus. It was a credit to both sides that they managed to play any kind of rugby and a credit also to the grounds committee who produced a pitch that stood up brilliantly to the downpour. Needless to say the game took a while to settle but when it did UCD showed how lethal they are when given space after a defensive kick drifted infield and the away backs had the pace to tear the Tarf defence apart and score in the right corner. That was cancelled out by two David Joyce penalties and the sides went to half time at 6 – 5 to Tarf.
In the second half the home side played the game close to the breakdown, attacked the blind-side, and used the maul and pick and go to great effect. It was an ugly battle in the rain and as much a game monitored from the side-line by ears as well as eyes so intense was the downpour. In the end Clontarf denied UCD any worthwhile ball and ground them down up front. Tries to Soroka, Darcy , and a rumbler to Tom Byrne sealed the win for Clontarf on an evening for otters.