Navan 23

Corinthians 63

A stunning second-half of rugby saw Corinthians go top of Division 2A of the AIL with following a 40-point win over Navan on Saturday afternoon at Balreask as nine tries, combined with the stunning kicking of Sean Naughton, who nailed all nine conversions, sees them ahead on points difference from Barnhall, Cashel, and Instonians.

Conditions were windy but dry, and the home side – who had drawn with Old Crescent and lost narrowly to Greystones in their opening games – took the lead with a penalty from Tom Gavigan who followed with another from almost identically the same place within six minutes of each other to give them the early advantage.

Six minutes later, Corinthians had their first try. A line-out that was well marshalled by Ray Dufficy and Bryan Walsh saw Emmanuel Oifoh go close, and following up was John Devine, who skipped inside the cover to score.

Navan were unfazed, and they scored their first try when their lineout was driven over and touched down by Jayden Henderson, but the lead of six points lasted all of two minutes with Corinthians scoring their second try.

Dufficy picked up a loose ball from kick-off and Joey Tierney gleefully collected the pass and ran under the posts to score. A third would soon follow.

This time Sean Fox got in on the scoring bug with an incredible individual effort, picking up the ball after an attempted kick was blocked down by Tom Waters, and running near the length of the field for the try.

A Gavigan penalty at the end of the first-half would mean that Corinthians would lead by just five points at the break, 21-16, but the visitors took complete control of the game from the first whistle of the second-half

Soon after the restart, Tom Waters took full advantage of well-timed pass inside from Devine and MacCearra then joined the list of scorers after a pass from James Nicholson with credit also going to the Corinthians pack to lay the groundwork for the score.

The conversion from Naughton for this try was from near the touchline and the out-half’s kick was close to perfection as he split the posts.

Navan, to their credit never gave up and when Conor Hand went over for a try that was converted by Gavigan, the Navan pack showing great patience as they drove over following seven phases on the Corinthians line.

The gap was down to 12 points with over 20 minutes remaining, but Tomas Farthing put his side back in control, the sub substitute scoring after a crazy period of play that saw possession swap between the teams twice before the Corinthians pack settled matters and a long looping pass from Naughton found Farthing out on his own to score.

Pictured: John Devine scored a couple of tries for Corinthians.