Terenure College moved above Lansdowne into third place in Division 1A of the Energia All-Ireland League with a statement 27-20 win on the Aviva Stadium back pitch although the champions’ eighth successive league win came at a cost.
Centre Colm de Buitléar, one of nine Terenure players who had been included in the Ireland Club XV squad which reconvened in Sports Campus Ireland yesterday ahead of playing Portugal A in Lisbon on Friday, March 8th, suffered an Achilles tendon injury. This followed the fractured foot which winger Stephen O’Neill suffered a week ago.
In another high-quality meeting between the leading sides this season, Terenure led 17-10 at half-time thanks to brilliantly worked tries by former Munster, Irish under-20s and 7s winger Conor Phillips and flanker Luke Clohessy.
Phillips then scored a well-taken breakaway try but once again Lansdowne responded with their third try from a lineout maul which earned them a losing bonus point, keeping them a point behind Terenure and five off leaders Clontarf, who recovered from a 12-0 deficit away to City Of Armagh to win 15-12 with a penalty by Conor Kelly with the last kick of the game.
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However, this win for last year’s beaten finalists may also have come at a cost, with influential number 8 Tony Ryan suffering a suspected broken hand.
Cork Con moved to within a point of Clontarf after running in six tries — three of them by left winger Matthew Bowen — in their 38-24 win over Shannon, who were the only team not to pick up at least a bonus point in Saturday’s 1A games.
Ballynahinch led Trinity 19-5 early in the second half thanks to two Claytan Milligan tries and one by Paul Kerr, but the students rallied through tries by hooker Zach Baird and South African lock Juan Beukes to earn a bonus point. Trinity are six points adrift of Shannon and eight off Armagh, whom they host in a huge game a fortnight hence.
St Mary’s will return to 1A next season for the first time in six years after a 10-9 win away to Highfield sealed first place with four games remaining. In the six-way contest for the three remaining play-off spots, Old Wesley made the most significant move with a thumping 40-7 win away to Blackrock featuring tries by Pims, Reuben and Josh.
Queen’s University ended a ten-game losing streak in 1B with a 35-16 win at Buccaneers which moved them five points clear of their hosts at the foot of 1B.
Instonians extended their record-breaking run of wins to 32, albeit their first in that sequence without a bonus point, courtesy of a 13-8 win at Shaws Bridge over second-placed Wanderers to move a dozen pints clear in 2B and take a giant stride toward successive, and unbeaten, promotions.
They broke from their policy of never kicking a penalty at goal to seal a 39-38 win in Merrion Road last November and after Neil Saulters scored their only try in the first half, two late Ritchie McMaster penalties sealed another close contest.
Division 1A results
Ballynahinch 19 Dublin University 15
City of Armagh 12 Clontarf 15
Cork Constitution 38 Shannon 24
Lansdowne 20 Terenure College 27
Young Munster 31 UCD 24
Division 1B
Blackrock College 7 Old Wesley 40
Buccaneers 16 Queens 35
Garryowen 56 Naas 5
Highfield 9 St Mary’s College 10
UCC 22 Old Belvedere 21
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