Leaders Terenure College made it five successive bonus point wins with a barnstorming second half display at Lansdowne. They prevailed 32-12 with 22 unanswered points, including tries from Adam La Grue, Conall Boomer and Alan Bennie.
Lansdowne were first to strike on the Aviva Stadium’s back pitch, Michael Silvester acrobatically diving over in the right corner from a Cormac Foley pass. Caolan Dooley answered back with an opening penalty for Terenure.
‘Nure took a 10-5 lead when Stephen O’Neill beat Silvester to pluck down a cross-field kick from Callum Smith and score to the right of the posts. Dooley comfortably converted.
It was nip and tuck during the second quarter, a Connor O’Sullivan-inspired break giving Lansdowne a shot at a late try. ‘Nure lost Colm de Buitléar to the sin bin and Lansdowne captain Clive Ross seized the chance to power over from a few metres out, giving the hosts a 12-10 advantage.
Five minutes into the second half, a short Smith pass put Terenure’s returning winger O’Neill darting downfield from halfway. He linked with Craig Adams who passed back inside in swift fashion for La Grue to finish off.
Terenure kept kicking towards the corners in search of more tries, and their decision-making eventually paid off in the 66th minute. Their maul was stopped short but Boomer burrowed over with support from fellow flanker Luke Clohessy.
Dooley converted and tagged on a further penalty to widen the margin to 25-12, and the icing on the cake was scrum half Bennie’s last-minute bonus point try, which saw him dummy from a ruck and squeeze over on the back of another determined spell from his forwards.
Extract from Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1A: Round 5 Review on IrishRugby.ie
(C) Phillip Duke