Bangor close in on QL2 title
In near perfect conditions for running rugby, Bangor overpowered Larne with 10 well-taken tries to the home side’s 4, to win by 27-62 and extend their lead at the top of QL2.
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With the sun shining, a slight wind down the slope, a firm pitch and both sides looking for points – each for their very different reasons – the scene was set for an exciting and high scoring game. Both sides were fielding strong selections, given the importance of the fixture in securing improved league positions.
Larne kicked off up the slope, and against a slight headwind – factors that led to their kick not going the requisite 10 metres, and immediately giving Bangor possession. The strong Bangor scrum got off to a good start, and gave the back line the opportunity to run at their opponents. Bangor worked through several phases of play, but were finally robbed of the ball. Desperate to clear their lines and get some breathing space, Larne hoofed the ball upfield only to be collected by Jason Morgan who then ran back at them. From Morgan the ball was passed to Davy Charles who then passed to Curtis Stewart. Although 20 metres from the Larne line, and with several defenders around him, Stewart twisted and turned until he eventually slipped their tackles and ran in to score under the posts. Chris Morgan added the extras and Bangor were ahead by 0-7, with just 2 minutes gone.
Within minutes of the restart, Bangor had a scrum in the middle of the pitch. In an obviously well-worked and practised backline move, Ricky Armstrong fed the ball to out-half Dougie Gordon, who then passed back inside to Jason Morgan. Having broken the home defence and with just the full-back now in the way, the ball was simply passed to Chris Morgan in support who had a clear run to the goal line and scored under the posts. His conversion brought the score to 0-14.
Another 2 minutes elapsed until the next score came – but this time it was a penalty kick for Larne in front of Bangor’s posts. This was gratefully accepted and Larne were now off the mark by 3-14.
The frenetic pace of the game didn’t let up. Bangor continued to pile on the attack, keeping Larne pinned down in their own half. Good positional kicking from Gordon and Morgan kept bringing play back into the Larne twenty two. From a Bangor lineout, Darren Lyttle won the ball and then the pack drive started. The Larne forwards dug in well, and halted the move. However, Bangor recycled the ball well to Gordon, who then slipped a flat pass to Jason Morgan to touch down under the posts. Another simple conversion brought the score to 3-21, with just 13 minutes gone.
Larne, although understandably stunned by the clinical Bangor scoring, managed to settle somewhat and stemmed the flow of points for a further 14 minutes. However, when the ball came to Davy Charles, who had moved up the right wing from his full back position, the Larne tackler kept his leg out just longer than he should and, in taking Charles out of play, earned himself a yellow card and Bangor the penalty. Both sides were now down to 14 men as Charles received treatment to his leg. From the resulting penalty, Morgan kicked for touch close to the Larne line. In another training ground move, the lineout ball was fed back around the front for Paddy Dornan to crash over in the right hand corner for Bangor’s bonus point try. The difficult kick fell short, but Bangor were now 3-26 in front.
Within minutes of the first half remaining, Larne had a lineout on their 10 metre line. However, Bangor stole the ball and quick passing across the backs set Jason Morgan free on the right wing to run around the Larne defence and score under the posts. With Chris Morgan’s conversion kick, the score was now 3-33.
From the Larne restart, the ball came through the forwards to Neil Cuthbertson on the right wing. His speculative kick ahead looked to be well covered by the retreating Larne defence. However, the determined running and never say die attitude of Jamie Clegg was rewarded when the ball bobbled awkwardly, allowing the Bangor flanker to steal the try just to the right of the Larne posts. With Morgan’s kick bringing the score to 3-40, the referee blew for the end of the half.
Although Bangor now had the slope and wind against them, such was the quality of their play that one would not have bet against more scores coming quickly in the second half. This was indeed the case but it was Larne, not Bangor, who enjoyed this early success. Within a few minutes of the restart, Bangor had pushed Larne back to within a few metres of their own line, but had conceded a scrum. Although this was Larne’s put-in, the Bangor pack had enjoyed much success in disrupting the Larne set piece and the scene was set for a possible score. A score did follow, but at the Bangor end! The scrum was won by Larne, whose out-half then quickly broke through several ineffectual Bangor tackles. He was well supported and subsequent off-loads eventually saw the home side go over to the left of the posts for a well-taken try. The conversion was missed, making the score 8-40 with just 3 minutes of the second half gone.
Seeing perhaps that Bangor were rattled by not converting their own good scoring opportunity, Larne stepped up again and repeated what they had done just minutes before. More missed tackles allowed the Larne to run through a strangely weak Bangor defence and score another unconverted try, again to the left of the posts, moving them forward to 13-40.
Just 7 minutes later, the home side did it again. The combination of poor Bangor tackling with good attacking speed by the Larne backs resulted in their third try, this time to the right of the posts which was duly converted. With just 12 minutes gone, the score was now 20-40.
Sensing that the game appeared to be turning in their direction, Larne started to play with more aggression. However, this some of this was uncontrolled and the penalty count started to mount up. Seeing the Larne line was out of position, a quick tap penalty was taken and the ball thrown long and wide to Stephen Addy on the left wing, who managed to get around the retreating Larne defence to score in the corner. The conversion was missed, but Bangor appeared to have stopped the rot.
However, Larne just needed one more try to earn a valuable bonus point, and they were eventually rewarded with this after 22 minutes when in a repeat of the earlier 3 tries, Bangor sat back allowing Larne to slip through close to the posts, reducing the deficit to 27-45.
Not content with the try-scoring bonus point, Larne now had their sights on the losing bonus point. However, in their efforts to press forward, and Bangor’s annoyance at having conceded so many points, the final quarter saw the visitors kill off any such allusion with 3 further tries. First it was Chris Morgan who out-ran his chasers to score to the left of the posts (his conversion attempt bounced back from the upright). Then good backline passing and a dummy from Jason Morgan cut the defence to give him an uninterrupted run from the 10 metre to score under the posts.
In the act of preventing Bangor from taking another quick tap penalty, there was an off the ball altercation which led to the sin-binning of a Bangor player – an unfortunate incident with just 3 minutes of play remaining. Although the penalty was turned over to Larne they, in turn, conceded another penalty of their own. This time the quick penalty was taken by Nicky Hatton who was determined to restore Bangor’s honour. He made good ground past the Larne 10 metre line before managing to pass outside to Neil Cuthbertson on the right wing. Having narrowly missed scoring in the first half, he was determined to put things right on this occasion. With what turned out to the final play of the game, he sprinted down the touchline to score in the corner. The subsequent kick was missed, but it didn’t matter as Bangor had restored their commanding lead to finish 27-62.
Local knowledge of the effects of pitch and wind played a large part in how the second half unfolded. However, with an eye on another key game against Grosvenor in just 4 days time, the Bangor players could perhaps be forgiven for not making the hard tackles on the firm pitch.
Nonetheless, when Larne left an opening, Bangor were able to show the kind of clinical finishing they have produced throughout the season. The actual size of the victory is less important than gaining the bonus point win, making the Grosvenor game a potential league winner if Bangor finish in front. For Larne, the bonus point may yet prove to be invaluable as they strive to gather 4 more points from their 2 remaining games to secure another season in QL2.
The rescheduled Grosvenor game has been confirmed as taking place at 7pm on Wednesday 10th April, and will be held at Malone’s ground at Gibson Park. The players and coaching staff deserve a big Bangor turn-out to help see them successfully over the finishing line and deservedly secure the spoils of victory.
Bangor team: J Harrison, P Dornan, C Schofield, F Black, C Stewart, N Hatton, J Clegg, D Lyttle, R Armstrong (c), D Gordon, N Cuthbertson, J Morgan, C Morgan, S Addy, D Charles
Bangor scores: C Stewart (1T), C Morgan (2T, 5C), J Morgan (3T, 1C), P Dornan (1T), J Clegg (1T), S Addy (1T), N Cuthbertson (1T)
