Sir, – I recently attended my first international rugby match with my good friend and rugby aficionado, TQ. Early on, after a particularly vigorous passage of play which ended with several players in a recumbent pose, on top of the ball and each other, the referee blew his whistle. He did so while pointing his arm at a 45-degree angle parallel to the sideline. I inquired from TQ as to what might have transpired.
He explained, patiently, that following the Garryowen, while they were on the front foot, our man shot up causing a dog-leg, which led to their blindside finding our stand-off’s soft shoulder. The resulting broken space, however, was quickly covered by our tighthead, who, with the aid of two locks, held up the flanker, forming a maul, which was apparently favouring us.
However, that ended when the ball fell to the ground, leading of course to the ruck, which our outside centre decided to enter without using the gate. This led to the penalty, which was the right call in TQ’s opinion.
Needless to say, I remained silent for the rest of the match. - Yours, etc,
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SÉAMUS Ó LOINGSIGH,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
