Corinthians bounce back from Terenure thrashing to register crucial win

Harlequins 19

Corinthians 21

Corinthians bounced back from their trouncing at the hands of league leaders Terenure last week to snatch a late win away to Belfast Harlequins on Saturday.

The visitors started brightly, and Fionn Gormley kicked them into an early lead with a penalty, but the home side went on the attack and Liam Cambridge kicked them into the lead with two quick penalties, and the home side went further ahead when Josh Fullerton made a great break from the base of the scrum to link up with Cambridge, who broke through the Corinthian cover and score under the posts, adding the conversion for a 13-3 lead.

That set Corinthians a real test of character following the hammering they were at the end of the previous week, but they responded in fine style, and they gained good ground into the opposition half after great play by centre Cian Begley and winger Bryan Dixon.

Referee David Connolly pinged the home side for killing the ball, and Gormley landed the penalty to reduce the arrears to seven points, but the home side extended the lead back to 10 points just before the break through the boot of Cambridge.

The second-half started brightly for the visitors as they upped their game and Gormley had an opportunity early on with a penalty but was just wide. The swings-and-roundabouts nature of the game continued, when Gormley landed a penalty, before Cambridge cancelled that out with another penalty of his own.

Corinthians finally made serious inroads into the 10-point deficit when lock Gary Warde picked from a maul and scrambled over the line for a try out wide. Gormley missed the difficult conversion, but the deficit was down to five and the visitors’ tails were up, and they soon took the lead.

It was Gormley who got the crucial score, capitalising on good play by Davey Keogh and Philip Noone to get in for the try, which he also converted to ease his side two points ahead, a lead they held until the final whistle.