Malone out Muscle 2nd XV

Thursday, 19 November 2009 09:28

ACADEMY 2NDS V MALONE 3RDS

The very wet conditions underfoot, and a whistle happy referee helped create a very stop/start type of match which was more suited to the bigger and heavier Malone pack.

An early A.Sloan penalty opened the scoring, (3-0,  6 mins), but as Malone’s pack was dominant at the scrums and in the loose, the Academy backline was never on the front foot.

Malone’s opening score came from first phase ball, after a scrum 30m out, when their outhalf stepped through a gap and had his back row on hand to support (3-7,  33 mins).

A.Sloan reduced the deficit with another penalty shortly before halftime (6-7, 37 mins).
Academy scored first in the second half, when Malone miss-fielded a high ball, and then were penalised for crossing (9-7,  55 mins).

Whilst the Malone pack was reduced to 7 men (their hooker was yellow carded for dissent), they were still able to win lineout ball and drive for 25 metres to score their second try (9-14,  66 mins).
The remainder of the match was played out in Academy’s 22, although their defence held out against Malone’s onslaught of attacks.

The Observer