Vienna Celtic 43 – 27 Rugby Club Innsbruck

Vienna Celtic 43 – 27 Rugby Club Innsbruck

Two late tries gave Vienna Celtic victory over RCI in the opening Bundesliga fixture of 2010.

With the Celts desperate for their first win in over 3 years against the Tyroleans and RCI coming off a 4 month winter break without a competitive game, the win for the home side was far from unexpected and in the end fully deserved.

Dynamic prop Michael Oberhauser got the visitors off to the best possible start after 5 minutes, gathering a loose ball and charging over for a try in the corner. Celtic struck back with a try by their winger and another close range effort to lead after 12 – 5 after 20 minutes.

RCI second row Alisdair Pegg ran a great supporting line off a backs move to gather an offload inside the Celtic 22 and race over the whitewash. Full-back Stephen Neill converted to draw the sides level. However poor discipline from the RCI side at the breakdown led to two more scores from close range, converted by Mushegh Aslanyan to leave the half time score, 26 – 22 to Celtic.

After the break, centre Remi Peillet straightened his attacking line and crashed over for an Innsbruck try, taking three Celts with him in the process, to spark the visitors into life once more. Neill again converted. Unfortunately for Innsbruck, despite another powerful try from number 8 Lukas Kegler, Celtic scored more tries of their own to keep their noses in front as the final minutes approached.

The game was there to be won right up to the last 10 minutes, when Celtic barged over thanks to a close-range forwards move. The last play of the game was sweet revenge for the Celts. Innsbruck has scored similar tries against Celtic during difficult defeats for the Viennese in the last few years, so it was fitting that the final try should come by way of a slick backs try, started from fully 60 metres out. After some time re-organising the club and securing new players, Celtic are back. The scenes of celebration on the sideline showed how much it meant.

In recent years, games between RCI and Celtic have been open and free flowing, full of risk and running rugby. In this game, Innsbruck continued to keep the tempo high, trying to stretch a Celtic defence that held firm, especially in the second half. Celtic were more clinical in possession, particularly when inside the RCI 22, and in the end that was the difference between the teams.

So the dream of reaching a third successive Bundesliga Final is over for RCI for this season. The focus for the club now is to fight for pride and points in the remaining Bundesliga fixtures, starting with the home tie against Linz on 1 May.

The next round will be on the 10th April where RC McDonald’s OberÖsterreich v RC Donau and RCSV v Vienna Celtic RFC. RC Innsbruck have a bye on this weekend.

by Stephen Neill

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