Dromore 1st XV entertained Coleraine 1st XV on Saturday last in a Qualifying League 1 fixture. Dromore were keen to gage their progress this season to date by taking on the high flying Bannsiders and Head Coach Bekker had picked a team he thought could get him a win, Matt Russell came into the side at out half and Blair McDonald made his debut after some eye catching performances on the second string.
Coleraine started the brighter of the two sides as they picked up an early penalty before the Dromore backs set up a debut try for Blair McDonald which was converted by Steenson, who also slotted a fine penalty shortly after to give the home side a 10 – 3 lead at the break.
Kyle Patton replaced Harshaw at the break but the Dromore pack kept the pressure on the Coleraine side, a fine touch find by Matt Russell set up another Dromore attack, a great catch in the lineout by Gareth Fitzpatrick led to a huge drive by the Dromore forwards and old hand Rory Pepper emerged with the try, Dromore gained confidence from this try and with Matt Russell controlling territory from outhalf the Dromore pack forged forward at every opportunity, and two further mauls led to a fine brace of tries from Roderick Dalton who had dominated the line outs all afternoon.
Dromore having secured the bonus point, relaxed which allowed the dangerous Coleraine back line a chance to attack and they rounded off a fine move with a converted try to leave the score 30-10 with 10 mins remaining. Samuel Russell entered the fray as a replacement for the first time this season and nearly scored with his first touch following fine work on the blind by Chris Jenks, from the resultant ruck Steenson fed Patton who dived over to round off the scoring for the afternoon. Dromore the victors 35 – 10.
Head Coach Bekker was delighted with his sides bonus point win, ” I am very pleased with how the boys performed this afternoon, we trained well this week and have been talking about creating a strong culture of winning at the Hill, I suppose today we showed that we are a match for anyone in this league, and our squad is becoming stronger week on week”
