After a strong pre-season preparation stretching back to May last, and with several new, quality recruits in their ranks, Lisburn went into their first competitive fixture of the season against Bangor. Rumour had it that Bangor had recruited well in the close season and so it turned out with some excellent showings both up front and in a strong running back line.
Within three minutes of the start Lisburn had their first opportunity of points on the board but a penalty almost in front of the posts went wide and after a further seven minutes of probing each other’s defences it was Bangor who opened the scoring when their scrumhalf broke wide from a five metre scrum. 5-0 to the visitors.
Lisburn came back immediately and with a plentiful supply of ball from their hard working pack, especially Hill, Jones, Evans and Prime they threw everything at the Bangor defence. However, on the 25 minute mark, one of the Lisburn centres was caught offside from a set piece and Bangor kicked the penalty to open an eight point gap. On what was a very warm day for playing rugby, Lisburn threw the ball about in the perfect running conditions and were rewarded when centre David Scott got himself on the end of a passing movement with a well-timed overlap and he galloped into the corner for a try. Unfortunately, Scott Hughes was unable to add the conversion from the long distance kick.
The score of 5-8 at that stage indicated that it was still anybody’s game but just on the stroke of halftime, Bangor made a strong forward drive to the Lisburn line and their flanker was on hand to pick up the loose ball and score. The conversion brought up a 5-15 interval score which slightly flattered the visitors at this point of the game.
Within minutes of the re-start Bangor put the nail in Lisburn’s coffin by scoring again through their very fast backline, exposing some frailties in the home defence. This was followed by a penalty and then a further try when once again the home defence was found wanting. Bangor then started to run everything and a further converted try was run in before the end of the third quarter.
To their credit, Lisburn at this stage could have capitulated but they started a strong comeback in the fourth quarter and did manage to put their counterparts under some pressure. The pack started to dictate affairs a bit better than they had been doing in the middle part of the game and a number of driving runs by Hill and Jones in particular, almost got them tries. They were eventually rewarded for their persistence when Mark Hill went over to make the final score 10-39.
Lisburn will dwell on this scoreline but bearing in mind that if was their first game together as a team, as against Bangor’s third game in a row, they should not be too despondent and there were passages of excellent play to show what could be done. The gelling of the team must start on the training pitch and next Saturday they have an opportunity to put things back together again in a local derby at Dromore who they take on in the Junior Cup. This will be excellent preparation for their following league game against league newcomers, Randalstown, who they host at Blaris on Saturday 22nd Sept. Next Saturday, the 2nd XV take on Dungannon 3s, away, while the 3rd XV host Ballymena 4s in the junior league.
