Outstanding performance from City of Derry
Thursday, 9 February 2012
City of Derry RFC.................................22
De La Salle Palmerston FC...................17
City of Derry Rugby Club produced an outstanding team performance to defeat high flying De La Salle Palmerston on Saturday last in their All Ireland League Fixture at Judges Road. The key to Derry's success was an outstanding aggressive set piece which dominated completely at scrum time and secured their own line our superbly with go forward ball when required. De La Salle came to Judges Road well prepared arriving in the City on Friday night and expectant of victory to secure their second place in the league and promotion to AIL Division 1B. They were met with a unity of purpose and commitment that saw every Derry Squad member tackle as if their life depended upon it and eventually had De La Salle in disarray and without shape as they strove for that elusive score for victory.
The heavy frost of the previous three days coupled with mid morning torrential rain saw the Judges Road 1st Pitch saturated and unable to drain come game time so the match was transferred to the 2nd Pitch which was perfect for rugby. Derry started positively with pressure but it was De La Salle who were first on the scoreboard on 8 minutes when a slick simple backline move saw scrum half Ian Burke find centre Francis Cooney and when Phil Debarra picked out full back Adam Philpott hitting the perfect line it was try time and when Burke converted it was 7pts to nil for the visitors. That score and the manner of its execution might have given the South Dublin men a false sense of what the war ahead was going to hold in store.
The next twenty minutes belonged to Derry in territorial terms in fact the rest of the first half was all theirs as they owned possession and territorial advantage. Sam McAuley, Sam Duffy, Brian Prue and David Houston were magnificent in both tight and loose and as a result De La Salle went to the bench as early as the fifteenth minute to replace a prop and hooker by bringing on Shane Johnston and Steve Bensaid. Derry showed their power on 27 minutes from a 5 meter scrum ball against the head Stephen Ferguson picked the ball quickly and with support from Stephen Duffy and Stephen Corr, Ferguson found David Funston who touched down for an unconverted try in the left corner to put Derry right back in the game 5pts to 7 pts down.
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