Ulster Bank AIL 2B 6th October 2018
Scorers: M.McCusker(1*Try), O'Neill(1*Try), McLean(1*Conv)
After a very encouraging build-up to the AIL campaign, Rainey Old Boys must be wondering where it has all gone wrong. A freak result at Barnhall came largely as a result of Rainey's inability to hold on to the ball in contact, but the alarm bells will be ringing after another failure which saw them make a multitude of unforced errors in a nightmare second half. When Rainey regained the lead around the half hour mark, a home win looked the likely outcome, but Wanderers visibly soared in confidence as Rainey fell apart, to run out 26-12 winners, with a fourth try deep in added time giving them a bonus point.
While South African hooker George Fritz made a welcome return in a Rainey jersey, the Old Boys were without key lineout man Ronan McCusker, who has gone to the US for a few weeks, and prop Calumn Smyth, injured in the pre-match warm-up. Coach John Andrews made a few positional switches behind the scrum, with Damien McMurray returning to action.
Facing a gentle breeze, Rainey threatened when Barker featured in a midfield break with a neat Fritz offload keeping them going forward. A well-placed little kick to the corner from Magrath put them in a great attacking position, but Wanderers were let off the hook when Rainey coughed up possession in front of the posts. Wanderers then showed what they could do when they split the home defence wide open only to be stopped just short of the line.
After 18 minutes, a series of phases in the Wanderers 22' enabled Rainey to move quick ruck ball to the short side, where full-back O'Neill cruised through for a lovely try. Wanderers then missed a very kickable penalty, but, as Rainey's errors were keeping them in the right part of the field, they found a little gap to go over from close range for a converted try. Rainey pushed forward to exert pressure, but a turnover again spoiled an obvious chance. But, on the half hour, they opted to put a penalty into touch and bank on the pack to take it on. A concerted drive had Wanderers reeling, allowing No8 McCusker to apply the coup de grace, McLean converting.
But it was to turn pear-shaped for Rainey after that. They only just held out when Wanderers again broke through the centre at pace, but made heavy weather of clearing their lines when presented with the opportunity and paid the penalty when the visitors countered to pick up a second converted try to lead 14-12.
While Rainey could not be accused of lacking in effort, they looked anything but convincing in the third quarter. For most of the time, it was a case of taking one step forward and two steps back. Sloppy ball presentation caused the forwards to concede some very silly penalties and the backs even managed to get in each other's way on occasions. Frequent stoppages for minor injuries made it a stop-start affair and, for some reason, scrums were uncontested for a period after a forward from each side was binned.
Scrum-half Bloomfield was unlucky when he broke round a scrum in midfield to kick ahead into space, only to see the ball roll a few yards too far. The Dublin 4 side played the corners well to keep Rainey on the back foot and when the pack drove over from a lineout to go 21-12 in front, it was as good as over. McLean had a chance to give his side a possible losing bonus point, but his long range shot at goal drifted just wide. A deflated home crowd had little to shout about, few of them remaining to see Wanderers' fourth try deep in time added.
TEAM: M.O'Neill, S.McLean, C.Fitzsimons, O.Quinn, D.McMurray, A.Magrath, J.Bloomfield, F.Quinn, G.Fritz, J.McIntosh, J.McCusker, T.Barker, P.Pritchard, M.McCusker, C.Clarke.
REPLACEMENTS: A.Harbinson, D.O'Neill, A.Donaghy, M.Miller.