Kilkenny - 22
Carlow - 14
Kilkenny Under-15’s successfully began the defence of their South-East title against Carlow RFC on Saturday. In what promised to be a hard fought contest, the Kilkenny boys stood up to the challenge in an exemplary manner. All in all six tries were scored proving the quality and determination of both sides.
Kilkenny put Carlow under pressure from the kick-off. They spent the opening ten minutes camped in the Carlow half. The first try came on 11 minutes when James Rafter tidied a bouncing ball from a line-out just outside the Carlow 22metre line, where he setup a ruck. The ball was flashed out along the whole backline to open-side winger Peter Hutchinson who was stopped in his tracks 10m from the line. From the ensuing ruck, No.8 Matthew McWhee picked the ball and drove through three Carlow defenders to score the opening try in the corner and his first of the day. Unfortunately the conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
From that moment on Carlow shifted up a gear, and this match became the contest it had promised to be. Carlow finally found their footing and exerted extreme pressure on the Kilkenny defence. The defensive tackling of, in particular, Evan Treacy, Sean Moran, Cormac Connolly and Matthew McWee saved the day. Through their sheer determination they managed to stop Carlow scoring on at least 3 occasions. The break for Kilkenny came on the 28th minute. Kilkenny won a line-out just outside the Carlow 22m. Carlow managed to win the ball and attacked the Kilkenny backline. A superb tackle from Sean Moran stopped the attack. The Kilkenny forwards piled in and turned over the ball. The ball was produced to outhalf Evan Treacy who quickly passed to Cormac Connolly who thundered through the Carlow defence to score under the posts and subsequently converted his own try. The half-time whistle blew and Kilkenny had a comfortable 12 – 0 lead going into the break.
The 2nd half began as the 1st half ended with both teams applying equal amounts of pressure. 5 minutes into the half, Carlow won a penalty on the Kilkenny 10m line. They opted to kick for touch. A superb kick by the Carlow outhalf landed the ball 5m from the Kilkenny try-line. Carlow won the line-out and quickly flashed the ball out to their backline. Kilkenny were caught napping resulting in Carlow scoring under the posts and adding the conversion points. From the restart, Carlow attacked with vigour nearly scoring right away again but the Kilkenny defence line held tight and managed to win back possession in a ruck. The referee decided (to the delight of the travelling Carlow fans ) that the ball had been knocked forward in the ruck and awarded Carlow the put-in into the scrum 15m from the try-line. Kilkenny locked the scrum but the ball was spread wide and again Carlow found a hole in the Kilkenny defence and scored under the posts. The conversion was successful.
Suddenly Kilkenny were trailing by 2 points. Team captain Cormac Connolly and pack-leader Conor Quinlan rallied their troops and Kilkenny got stuck in again. From the restart, Kilkenny hit Carlow with everything they had. After 4 minutes they drove Carlow back to their 5m line where a Carlow forward was judged to have entered the ruck from the side resulting in a penalty to Kilkenny. The Kilkenny forwards decided to run the ball themselves. Scrum-half Ciaran Sutton tapped the ball and passed it to prop James Rafter, who, supported by his fellow forwards, setup a ruck 3m from the try line. Open-side flanker John Curtin took possession of the ball and tried to cross the line but was held out. McWhee, ever in support, was there yet again and picked the ball and drove over the try line to score his second try. Cormac Connolly attempted the conversion from a very difficult angle and was unsuccessful. Kilkenny were back on top again and started playing excellent rugby. The forwards managed to hold possession and produce quick ball for the backs despite extreme pressure from the Carlow pack. The Kilkenny backline started moving the ball much better and gave an exhibition of ball-handling that Brian O,Driscoll and the Irish backline would have been proud of! All this effort paid off in the 22nd minute when McWhee again supporting the backline crashed over the Carlow line to score his third try and seal the contest for the champions. Evan Treacy took over the kicking duties but again from a difficult angle, the attempt was unsuccessful.
Special mention must be given to two players who made their rugby debuts for Kilkenny on Saturday, open-side flanker, John Curtin and lock, Kieran Quirke. Both these players have very little rugby experience but that was not evident on Saturday as they both performed excellently. Although each team member performed to their highest level, best on the day for Kilkenny were Matthew McWhee, James Rafter, Conor Quinlan, Evan Treacy, Sean Moran, Cormac Connolly and Dean Conlon.
Tomorrow, (Saturday ), Kilkenny take on Tullow RFC in a friendly in Foulkstown at 11.00am. The coaches thank all the supporters who were present on Saturday and appeal to all to come out and support the boys tomorrow.
