CLONTARF 43 BARBARIANS 42
A largely partisan crowd were treated to a wonderful spectacle of rugby at Castle Avenue, where newly-crowned Ulster Bank League champions Clontarf edged out the Barbarians 43-42 in a 13-try thriller.
This fast-paced encounter not formed part of the Battle of Clontarf 1,000th anniversary, it also saw ’Tarf becoming just the fifth Irish club side to face the Barbarians.
The only previous triumph by a domestic outfit over the Baa Baas was Old Wesley’s 37-36 success in 1991, and Clontarf coach Andy Wood was delighted his charges were able to emulate the much-heralded Barbarian style.
“It was a good occasion, you can see by the score there. True Barbarian style of play, and I think our lads matched them, to be honest.
"We played some seriously good rugby there," the New Zealand native remarked.
Swapped tries
After Clontarf's Max McFarland and Baa Baas lock Hayden Pugh had swapped tries during the early exchanges, five-pointers from Darragh Fitzpatrick and the powerful Anthony Ryan helped the north Dubliners to gain a stranglehold.
Baa Baas replacement Bryan Rennie crossed over moments after his introduction for a 23rd-minute converted score, and although the home side threatened to pull away following a brace of majestic individual touch downs by outstanding right wing Michael McGrath, the visitors reduced the Clontarf lead to three (31-28) by the mid-way point thanks to further tries by Lansdowne’s Charlie Butterworth (one of six Irish-based players in the Baa Baas squad) and the increasingly influential Rennie.
Determined to give their supporters a worthy swansong to a momentous season, McFarland registered his team’s seventh try after the elusive McGrath had completed his hat-trick.
The Barbarians – coached for the evening by Ireland Under-20s supremo Mike Ruddock – refused to throw in the towel, however, and after Ritchie McMaster of Queen's University gave the Barbarians a fighting chance by crossing on 46 minutes, the deadly accurate Ceri Sweeney added his sixth conversion to Tom Biggs' stoppage-time score.
Double whammy
It was a case of too little, too late for the Baa Baas, though, and with their All-Ireland League victory acting as a double whammy alongside the arrival of the Barbarians to the Dublin 3 venue, the triumphant Clontarf players were presented with their league winner's medals on the field following their energy-sapping exertions.
CLONTARF
: D Fitzpatrick; M McGrath, K Lett, E Ryan, M McFarland; D Joyce, S Cronin; I Hirst, C Culleton, R Burke-Flynn; B Reilly, T Byrne; K Moran, A Darcy, A Ryan.
Replacements
: T McCoy for Fitzpatrick (31), C O'Keefe for Byrne (h-t), P du Toit for McGrath (40), D Hegarty for Hirst (43), M Garvey for Ryan (53), C Keegan for Cronin (55), C O'Flynn for Culleton (59), K Donoghue for Hegarty (61), L Murphy for Darcy (66)
BARBARIANS
: F Harkness; T Biggs, J Shoemark, T Cheeseman, P O'Dwyer; C Sweeney, J Grindal; L Ward, G Slattery, B Evans; M Powell, H Pugh; D Schofield, C Butterworth, W Ryan.
Replacements
: B Rennie for Harkness (18), C McMahon for Ward , R de la Harpe for Grindal (both h-t), R McMaster for O'Dwyer (41), M McCraith for Schofield (46), P Synnott for Butterworth, A Jones for Evans (both 53)
Referee
: N Owens (Wales)
