TRINITY 25-21 OLD RUTLISHIANS

Could Trinity keep the winning run going? No match has been easy this season and this one was no different.

Trinity began with a promising move in which Fuad Agbalaya made good ground but then a pass went astray, and the chance was lost. Fuad then suffered a head injury and had to go off. He was replaced by Adam Stammers. Rutlish now got into the game and Mids needed good tackles from Archie McMillan and Tom Wilcox to keep them at bay. The visitors kept the pressure on and, when Trinity were penalised for not releasing the tackled man, they declined a straightforward kick at goal and went for the corner. They then lost control of the ball, however, and Harry Wilson cleared to touch. Trinity now had some dominance with Ted Wilkie winning good line out ball and Wilson and George Kimmins moving the ball nicely through the phases. A knock-on spoiled one promising attack but Trinity kept running the ball and when Ben Telfer came into the line on the tight side of play, he was able to take Wilson’s pass and unload to McMillan who crossed for the opening score. Kimmins put in a fine kick to convert from far out and it was 7-0 to the hosts after 13 minutes. Rutlish now came back on the offensive and had a number of chances in the home 22 after Trinity conceded several penalties. A combination of strong Mids’ defence and rather one-dimensional approach by Rutlishians meant that they failed to profit from their pressure.

Eventually they settled for a kick at goal and seemed to have opened their account, but the referee was not satisfied that the kick was good. They kept pounding the home line as Trinity infringed far too often. But the hosts were patient and well-organised in defence, Rutlish failed to throw straight in the line out and, though they had the edge in the scrum at this stage, were unable to exploit their advantages in territory and possession. Instead, it was Trinity who scored next. Kimmins sent McMillan through a gap and when he passed to winger Tom Fairclough, the latter was high-tackled. Trinity worked the quick penalty well and Kimmins put Ali Hall over in the corner – 12-0 after half an hour. With the clock ticking towards half time Trinity had a chance to increase their lead when they were awarded a kickable penalty. Rutlish had suffered a yellow card in the previous move and Trinity felt they had a chance of a try so kicked to the corner. The gamble paid off and they worked possession well to give Hall his second try. This time Kimmins produced an exquisite kick from the touchline to put Trinity clear at 19-0. Ben Vaillant was given a yellow card at a ruck and Rutlish opened their account with a penalty from the last kick of the half.

Rutlish began the second half strongly and were soon on the attack. A strong tackle from Wilson and a turnover by Stammers stemmed the flow but Rutlish came again in waves. As had happened in the first half they failed to breach the defence and Trinity were proud of the fact that the visitors had to resort to a penalty kick to narrow the gap to 19-6. The home scrum had been strengthened now with some rearranging of the front row, with Nathan Bacon prominent, and they stood up well to the powerful Ruts forwards. The visitors eventually got through and scored after 63 minutes but failed to convert – 19-11. They kept the boot down and Trinity had plenty of defending to do once again. Ben Edmonson tidied up well and carried to make ground and McMillan put in another of his crunching specials. Tom Wilcox was then carded and Trinity would face the last ten minutes with 14 men, very much under the cosh as Ruts narrowed the gap to 19-14 with a penalty goal.

From the kick-off Ruts were penalised and some back-chat gave Trinity another 10 metres. This enabled a confident Kimmins to stroke over his kick and make it 22-14. But all was back in the melting pot as Trinity knocked on at the kick-off and Ruts quickly nailed a 7 pointer to leave Trinity with the slenderest of leads at 22-21. The next kick-off gave Mids the chance to keep the visitors in their own half for the remaining minutes. Barney Kember, who had come on as a replacement played his part with a big tackle and Ali Hall crowned his afternoon with a towering turnover to enable Kimmins to secure victory with a well-struck final penalty.

The popular current cliché of “finding a way to win” certainly seems to apply to this Trinity team. Ruts will wonder how they failed to win a match which gave them so many chances. Trinity were never over-awed and the work-rate typified by Farooq Agbalaya and Olly Hubbard who never let up all afternoon meant that they were always in the game. The scrum, which had struggled earlier did better as subs were rotated and Marc McEvilly, Nathan Bacon and Ali Hall stood up well to the pressure. Hooker Quinn Singh and jumpers Wilkie, Vaillant, Hubbard and Farooq will be well pleased with the best lineout stats in a match for a Mids team for many seasons.

Match Report GERRY MURPHY
Man of the Match
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