Irvine Rugby Club maul Marr

Jan 9 2009 by John Woods, Irvine Herald

Irvine Rugby Club

THERE was no rest for the Marress Men as Irvine Rugby Club coach John McHarg decided that a friendly match against local rivals Marr on Saturday was the ideal way to get the effects of the New Year excesses out of their systems.

With a cup game against Premier Two outfit Aberdeen Grammar looming on Saturday and key league matches in the offing, the warm-up match against a Marr side which gave Irvine a hard time in a pre-season friendly match took on something of a revenge mission for Irvine as the sides squared up on the school pitch at Troon.

The continuing frost wiped out just about every other sporting fixture in Ayrshire but the match proved to be a worthwhile exercise as, 80 minutes and 11 tries later, Irvine came away with a fairly satisfactory 49-28 win.

However everything in the garden is not rosy and the Maroons will have to work hard on their ball retention and tackling before they take on the Northern Lights this weekend.

Irvine opened the scoring in six minutes when veteran backs coach James Adams intercepted a pass between the Marr centres and ran over 60 metres to score under the posts.

Sean Christie converted, as he was to do with all seven Irvine scores.

Both teams played an expansive game, tapping penalties rather than kicking them, and one Irvine thrust was stopped in the 12th minute when the Marr centre intercepted an Irvine pass and scampered 50 metres through some feeble Irvine tackling before releasing full-back Gault for a converted try, however Irvine hit back five minutes later when their line-out released Tony Wright to drive over for the visitors' second score, again converted by Christie.

Another Marr interception in the 26th minute levelled the scores again, but Irvine began to pull away when, after a trademark Kevin Lang break through the centre, he fed Matt Kenny who ghosted in for their third try.

The half was topped off right on the interval whistle when Wright won an opposing lineout in the Irvine half and the ball went through eight pairs of hands before Ruchin Filander broke away to score under the posts to leave Christie with an easy conversion and give Irvine a 28-14 lead.

Irvine continued to press after the break and it was no real surprise when, off clean lineout ball, Morne Strydom and Matt Kenny exchanged passes before Strydom dived over for his first try of 2009 and spark off the now traditional cry of "Go Morneeee" from the South African's supporters club.

Irvine then eased up, spurning several chances to go further ahead, and were punished when Marr made them pay with a try on the hour mark when a Strydom charge broke down and, when the pass went to ground, the home side picked up and ran in an easy try which was again converted.

Normal service was resumed when Paul Johnston took yet another quick penalty, allowing Kevin Lang to burst through the Marr defence and dot the ball down under the posts, Marr hit back five minutes later with a converted try from short range, but Irvine wrapped up the scoring with five minutes to go when Strydom popped a backhand pass off the ground, Filander cleverly picked the ball off his bootlaces and released Kenny to score his second try with Christie again doing the needful with his boot.

On Saturday it's a 1.30pm kick-off as Premier Two outfit Aberdeen Grammar Rugby visit Marress for a Hydro-Electric Cup fourth round match.

The Seconds welcome Dalziel from Lanarkshire for an important league fixture and, to complete a busy afternoon at the club, the U18s also have Lanarkshire visitors in the shape of Strathaven.

Both matches kick-off at 2pm.

For more of Steve McKendrick's action pictures from the match click on the camera icon to the right of this story.