Sunday’s Well 5 Instonians 50

Instonians who have been flying high since their promotion from their junior ranks; showed the class and conditioning with a big win on their visit to Musgrave Park. There was little shame for the ‘Well in the defeat; with about half of Instonians points coming in the fine ten minutes after the ‘Well had put up a strong resistance. 

Looking they may regret not doing more in the first half; where they trailed 12-0 courtesy of two tries at either end of the half. Other than that; the ‘Well were more than a match and got into some good scoring positions. The absence of two hookers due to injury and some other key men did reduce their effectiveness at set-piece; and combined with facing a very powerful and efficient Instonians pack, they were unable to break down the visitors defence. 

From the kick-off, Instonians won a penalty off a scrum and kicked to the corner. Needing a second go before their hooker Damien Saulters touched down. The ‘Well made some strong tackles with Conor O’Brien and Shane Keevers managing to gain some big turnovers. Maurice Daly and Reece Mintern carried strongly as well. 

However; after an even first-half, a brief mishap was punished ruthlessly by Instonians centre Bevan Prinsloo who ran halfway up the field to touch-down and make it a 12-0 game at half-time. 

Instonians made another strong start in the second half; with dangerous scrum-half Rhys O’Donnell making a sniping run that set-up an attack in the Twenty-Two. After several phases Mark Keane touched down. 

The ‘Well lifted themselves from that blow. Some big carries by Fabien Loughrey and Conor O’Brien bought play into the Twenty-Two, with the ‘Well being awarded a penalty under the posts. They elected to run it; with the powerful forwards making strong carries before a change in tempo saw the ball spread out. A beautiful long pass by Maurice Daly found Alex Lane who put his head down and ran into the corner for the ‘Well’s try. Loughrey narrowly missed the difficult conversion into the wind. 

The joy was short-lived as Instonians bounced back with their bonus-point try. Then come the final ten minutes; as gaps opened up Instonians impressive conditioning saw them run in a further four tries to put a make the final score more emphatic.  

MATCH REPORT PROVIDED

Scorers: Sunday’s Well: A Lane try;
Instonians: N Saulters (2), R Prinsloo (2), Mark Keane, S van der Merwe, M Mairs, R O’Donnell tries; J Milliken 5 cons. 
Sunday’s Well: A Lane; S Keevers, M Daly, D Hurley, R O’Donoghue-Kelleher; R Geary, F Loughrey; C Axson, K Lannen, Mike McCarthy; R Mintern, J Costello; A Mintern, D O’Brien, C O’Brien (c). Replacements: D Kozik, D Hourigan, E O’Connell, Mark McCarthy, H McHenry.
Instonians: J Milliken; Z Davidson, Mark Keane,  B Prinsloo,  Matthew Keane; R O’Farrell, R O’Donnell; A Lupari, N Saulters, S van der Merwe; E Murphy (c), H Gallagher; M Mairs, P Pritchard, A McGrath. Replacements: M Nelson, J Elliot, J Welling, S Fryers, C Gallagher.
Referee: M Forrestal (IRFU)