Rock travelled to Forenaughts to take on their Leinster rivals knowing that a victory would see them leapfrog their opponents and edge close tot he promotion places. The win for the J1 on the Naas main pitch was the perfect curtain raiser for the first team who had to reshuffle their backline after an injury to David McCarthy in the warm up.
This didn't unsettle the visitors and they almost scored immediately from the kick off, the final pass just going astray. It wouldn't take much longer to click into gear though. A scrum penalty led to a 5m tap and David Fortune found the line for his first try of the season. Soon after it was 14-0, a midfield scrum for Rock, quick hands by O' Shaughnessy and Colclough found Matthew Dwan and he ran under the posts without being touched.
The hosts seemed stunned and opted to take 3 points on their first visit to the Rock half. 14-3. Rock replied almost immediately, another Dwan break go them deep into the 22 and after the forwards softened the Naas defence, scrum half Ringrose was on hand to snipe and dot down. There was time for one last attack from Naas, a brilliant cover tackle from Matthew McCarthy followed by strong goal line defence meant the scores remained 21-3 at the break.
Rock were in complete control after the break. Oliver Coffey reintroduced himself to the AIL with a trademark break from the base of the scrum. 28-3, bonus point secured and the contest was all but over. There was time for Naas to cross the whitewash but this was answered by another O'Shaughnessy penalty and then a Matthew McCarthy try from a chip kick by man of the match Colclough. Game Over and Rock moved into fifth in the league table heading into a 2 week break.
Two more games before Christmas, home fixture v third placed UCC on the 7th December followed by a Christmas Cracker Dublin derby in College Green on the 14th versus Dublin University.
FT: Naas RFC 10 - 38 Blackrock College RFC
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