VIDS FIRST
I XV v Lurgan & II XV v Malone below then report on I XV game + Pictures link
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Civil Service met old rivals Lurgan in the first round of matches in the Gordon West Cup at Stormont. Recent history suggested that Lurgan would be the likely conquerors, having won a number of tight encounters over previous years, twinned with the fact that Lurgan are now in the division above Civil Service.
The game was a tight affair for the entire 80 minutes, with only rare forays into the opposition 22s and two late tries finally securing victory. Civil Service set out with a game plan to stop the Lurgan runners through the centres and from the base of the scrum. With this tactic working well, Lurgan were limited in the ground they could make with ball in hand and were left with the trusty boot of Stephen Nolan as the only way to make ground or score any points. During the first half, Service also found it difficult to break into the Lurgan 22 with defence being the victor in the first 40 minutes. The penalty count was also high as both teams adapted to the interpretation of the rules around the tackle, and these presented the only real scoring opportunities in the first half, with Johnny Armstrong successfully converting one of his two first half penalty attempts.
Half Time: Civil Service 3 – 6 Lurgan
Lurgan started strongly in the second half and extended their lead to six points with an additional Stephen Nolan penalty penalty, but this was all that Lurgan were able to offer in a second half in which the Service pack became increasingly dominant, especially at the scrum. As the match entered the last quarter, Service were uncharacteristically calm, whilst being behind, with a tangible belief that the scores would come.
And come they did, again after good pressure from the pack driving towards the line, the Lurgan defence was sucked into the contact area leaving a three on two for the Service backs on the right hand side. Brian Bogle dummied to the outside backs and then crossed for Service’s first try of the match, which was converted by Johnny Armstrong.
From this point onward, Service continued to control possession and the match was wrapped up when a Lurgan scrum on their own five metre line was pushed back to the extent that in the confusion Moore Holmes was able to pick up the loose ball and dive over to wrap up the match 15-9.
For all the match photos CLICK HERE
This is the first time that Civil Service 1st XV have won the opening match in the group stages of the Gordon West Cup, and hopefully this can be built upon against the other two teams in the group, our old friends PSNI and Newry.
Service took to the pitch on a beautiful sunny day eager to defeat a Malone that have bested them several times in recent years. A number of well recognised faces in the Malone team made it even more important that Service go out and get a good result and with the 1st team playing just yards away the atmosphere at the Pavilion, Stormont was fantastic with supporters for all the teams coming out in full voice.
MOM Moore Holmes
Civil Service (NI) 2nd XV 29 Malone 5th XV 18
Malone started nervously and Service with a good mixture of experienced players who’d been there for a few years mixing in well with some guys making debuts were fighting hard for every ball. The Malone backs looked dangerous, in particular former Service player Bruce Harper playing against his old club showing some good touches on the ball. Against him in his second season for Service was Danny Ansell and the two were to have quite a battle through the course of the afternoon. From the first kick off Malone kicked straight to touch and the pack who went on to have a collectively inspired game drove their opposition back to secure ball in what was to become a very strong platform for Service.
The first few minutes were attritional, both teams defending hard but Service had more possession and the forwards worked the phases well with great rucking and mauling particularly from Robin Fleming and Brian Wilson retaining the ball well. The Lineouts became another strong area for Service as they started to exert some dominance over the visitors whose exertions were starting to tell early on. Something had to give and it soon did with two tries in quick succession.
Firstly after some good work by Ryan Campbell, Boney was able to power through a couple of despairing attempted tackles to score, David Knox able to convert easily. Then soon after Service retained ball well, working it through the phases from left to right with good carrying from Zombie at Number 8 and George Brown at 10 keeping the flow of the attack going well. The ball was secured in the ruck and spotting Danny Ansell facing a prop on the blindside Rab Snodden distributed the ball well to the flying centre to allow him to touch down, the conversion being missed to give Servicea 12-0 lead.
The match then became more open for the remainder of the first half, Service put pressure on Malone through some good carrying from Kenny Dane and Chris Davey but the Malone backs looked dangerous and some high balls kicked through were fielded well by Bryn Sturgeon at full back.
David Knox at centre had done well in his debut to cover the threat posed by Malones very capable centre pairing but Bruce showed good acceleration to burst through a gap from short range and close the score to 12-5. A Service penalty from Danny Ansell then left the scores at 15-5 going in to half time after a scrappy end to the half.
Service then struggled to quite get going again at the start of the second half while Malone rallied well. A contentious score from Bruce again for his second and a conversion and penalty from Malone out half Steven Stone levelling the scores but this seemed to galvanise Service again. In particular Brendan Smyth making his debut at the unfamiliar position of prop completely destroyed his opponent in the scrums and with Chris Davey winning ball against the head they helped turn the match towards Service once more. Ball won, the irrepressible Danny Ansell barged his way through a number of would be tacklers, refusing to fall and drove his way over for his second of the day before converting it himself.
MOM Chris Davey
