Second half collapse sees Wegians waste a 19 point advantage

Date Published: {J}

Galwegians 22

UL Bohemians 24

Galwegians squandered a glorious opportunity to secure their fourth successive victory in the Ulster Bank Division 1b on Saturday when they somehow managed to lose this game against UL Bohs. The bare facts of this game are that, with less than half an hour gone, the Blues held a 22-3 lead, having scored three tries to nil. And yet the visitors went away with the spoils, and deservedly so.

Playing in relatively mild conditions for early January, with a cross-wind not really favouring either side, the sides traded early penalties with Ireland U-21 rivals Tadhg Leader and JJ Hanrahan each opening their account within the first five minutes. But the remainder of the opening half hour belonged totally to Wegians who put in a near perfect performance.

In the eighth minute, debutant back-row TJ Anderson should have scored an opening try when put clear by Conor Muldoon. But when the Blues turned over the first scrum of the day following Bohs’ own put-in, their pack soon set about dismantling the opposition scrum. And following three successive scrum penalties near the visitors’ try-line and three collapses by the Bohs front-row, Ulster referee Stuart Gaffikin awarded a 12th minute penalty try.

Leader landed the easy conversion to make it 10-3 and, just after the first quarter, the promising out-half aimed a perfect cross-kick which was fielded by full-back John Cleary near the visitors’ try-line. And although wrapped by his tackler, a sublime offload by Cleary fed centre Colin Conroy who darted over near the right-hand corner for his first try of the season. Five minutes later and the hosts had their third try, when Cleary was fed possession inside the opposition half, and went on a trademark weaving run which left the Bohs defence for dead before diving over under the posts.

Leader’s simple conversion put the Blues 19 points clear, and with their pack utterly dominating proceedings and the backs looking very dangerous, a bonus point win looked only a matter of time at this stage. However, the visitors failed to read the script, and Hanrahan pegged back the deficit with two quick penalties just after the half-hour mark to give them a chink of light. The visitors suddenly found their rhythm and ended the opening half in the ascendancy, almost scoring a try before the half-time whistle, only to knock-on near the line.

For more, see this week’s Connacht Sentiinel.