AIB 15 Lansdowne 3, DCU Sports Complex. 31/10/2009

Wet enough for 'The Crab'

Ok, so lets start with the positives:

At least it wasnt raining!

But seriously folks, there were, believe it or not, one or two positives.. The performance of the scrum was very strong, the performance of one or two key players like Brian Gahan and most notably Rob Moore were very good. And thats about it.

Now moving on to the 'where did it all go wrong' section... In a nutshell I will say this: For any player to take on board the work, advise and recommendations of the coaches and decide to themselves 'f@ck that, i'll completely ignore them and do it my way' means they are either very skillful and brave, or they are stupid. With respect, i dont know that there are too many of the former on this "team".
In my history i am struggling to remember another example of a team beating themselves so badly... AIB were at best an average side, and yet had it not been for a last ditch tackle in the corner from Justin Comer they would have been playing for a bonus point!

I think what concerned me most is the tenuous grasp of the basic skills and rules of the game displayed by many of the team... when i was a boy, back in the 40s, i would watch matches, keeping an eye on my positions player, for hours and hours until i had picked the rules apart in order to gain a hint or tip or two... I would also not have the arrogance to believe that I knew more about the game than my coaches.

I could rant like this all day, but to be honest i couldnt be bothered, I have not seen much indication that anyone listens. If I was playing on Saturday, i would at least have the decency to go training this week and push myself until I puked.

Man of the match: Robert Moore

written by Philip McGoldrick

photos by Gabriel Portier

Team

1: Peter Geoghegan 2: Brian Gahan 3: Chris Reid (c) 4: Andy Fleming 5: Robert Moore 6: Conor Gahan 7: Adam Kavanagh 8: Ed Bruce 9: Conor O'Sullivan 10: Eoin Gantly 11: Rory Gavin 12: Ross Bloomfield 13: Paul Havey 14: Gearoid Carvill 15: Justin Comer Subs: Jeff Iszeham, Andrew Tracy, Millan Alonso, Dan Logan, Enda Kilkullen, Shane McEl, Oisin and Mark Forrest.