D'Arcy outstanding in Lansdowne victory

Headquarters produced a one-sided game that said more about Blackrock's difficulties than Lansdowne's potential to be challenging for a play-off position at the end of the season.

The home side, gathering themselves after last week's collapse against Shannon, once again proved that they are a team who with some adjustments could travel a fair distance down the AIL road. But it will take more polish and commitment for them to be there at the end.

For Blackrock it further emphasised their lack of unified soundness. Body language at the end of the game showed that they knew it too. Capable of scoring flamboyant tries and equally capable of casually leaking them, Blackrock's strengths may be a little too thinly spread, their weaknesses too great to hide.

Given that they shipped some heavy damage at Templeville Road last Saturday against St Mary's, it was important that the team somehow consolidated this week. But again the tight five and the back three were generally second placed. The scrums were areas in which Lansdowne were happy to keep the ball and in second-phase play the home side recycled much as they liked.

Lansdowne had big strong men in the front line. Colin McEntee, Liam Toland, Gabriel Fulcher, Reggie Corrigan and Angus McKeen generally won the physical battles while 18-yearold Gordon D'Arcy was quite majestic coming into a line that had plenty of verve. Fearless as only a callow teenager can be, pacy, strong and an uncanny ability to do the right thing at the right time, D'Arcy was outstanding. Two tries, one from inside his own half, a centre of gravity centred around his shin bones and a series of robust in-your-face tackles allowed the youngster demonstrate what a wonderfully natural footballer Lansdowne have netted.

"We worked hard on our scrum. We weren't happy with it last weekend. I think we let Shannon away with it too easy. We lay down too easy. We weren't going to do that against Blackrock," said Lansdowne coach Michael Cosgrave.

"But we have to improve from today. We have to lift it up again. We're away to Garryowen and Munsters in the next two games so there is a lot ahead. Today wasn't the be all and end all by any manner or means. I mean, `Rock scored 22 points."

The score after half an hour had the teams at 10-3 from a Rory Kearns' kick and penalty try to a Neil O'Donovan drop goal. At that stage Lansdowne were largely on top but finding difficulty in creating out wide.

Coming up to half-time Blackrock might have been happy with a seven-point margin but in a three-minute destructive spell Lansdowne hit them with two converted tries, one started by D'Arcy on the left and finished by McEntee on the right and the second finished by D'Arcy coming into the line from 30 yards out down a right hand channel.

At 24-3 the mountain was vast, just the challenge Blackrock needed. In a four-minute spell from 53 to 57 minutes, a skip pass from Robert Casey to Aidan Guinan added five points before out-half Nicky Assaf snaked his way through, changing direction and pace three times for 24-15.

Again Blackrock crucially failed to work from that foothold as Lansdowne hit back within two minutes; Kearns taking advantage of a reverse pass form scrum-half Dave O'Mahony. Kearns then took it to 34-15 with 15 minutes to play before D'Arcy dazzled with a blinding run from five paces inside his own half, again exploiting a channel down the right.

"He belies his years," said Cosgrove of D'Arcy. "He does the right thing every time . . . you know for an 18-year-old."

The win puts Lansdowne on top of Division One with seven games played, the place they deserve to be but with some ground to gain if they want to stay there.

Scoring Sequence: 14 mins: R Kearns penalty, 3-0; 18: penalty try, Kearns conversion, 10-0; 28: N O'Donovan drop goal, 10-3; 36: C McEntee try, Kearns conversion, 17-3; 39: G D'Arcy try, Kearns conversion, 24-3; 53: A Guinan try, 24-8; 57: N Assaf try, D Quinlan conversion, 24-15; 59: R Kearns try and conversion, 3115; 66: Kearns penalty, 34-15; 76: D'Arcy try, Kearns conversion 41-15; 79: penalty try, Quinlan conversion, 41-22.

Lansdowne: G D'Arcy; M Dillon, S Horgan, D O'Mahony, R Kearns; B Everitt, D O'Mahony; R Corrigan, C Egan, A McKeen, G Fulcher, S O'Connor, S McEntee, L Toland, C McEntee. Replacement: O Ennis for Egan 53 mins.

Blackrock: T Keating; A Guinan, E Robinson, D Quinlan, D Johnson; N O'Donovan, N Assaf; M Cuffe, S Byrne, I Mclaughlin, R Casey, H kos, R Wheeler, D Kennedy, L Cullen. Replacement: T Stapleton for McLaughlin 71 mins.

Referee: G Black (Leinster).