Sat 16th Nov, 2:30pm. Kukri Qualifying 1. Coleraine 28 – 3 Donaghadee
DEE FALL IN NORTH WEST FOR SECOND WEEK IN A ROW
by Jim Lyttle
Depowered scrum hampers the Dee
Saturday proved another difficult day for Donaghadee in the North West in their latest Qualifying One game – this time against Coleraine . Injury had deprived the Dee of Chris Good and Rory Garnham from last week’s side defeated in Ballymoney in the Junior Cup along with the unavailable Richard Martindale and Paul Blewitt. Allied to this Nigel Barker remained on the injured list so the Dee lined out with some unfamiliar personnel and positional changes.
Coleraine dominated the first period of play with their strong forward unit expressing their power in a series of surges towards the Dee line from virtually every facet of play. The Dee men held firm until the 8th minute when Coleraine’s influential No. 8 Kenny Calladine drove over from second phase play to score in the top left hand corner and scrum half Bokkie Carstens added the extras. Donaghadee grew into the game a little at this point and pressured the opposition but remained hamstrung principally by the Coleraine scrum which turned out to be the dominating factor in the game and about which more later. After more first phase pressure from Coleraine Dee flanker David Murray was sin binned for allegedly killing ball killing ball in the ensuing ruck. Three minutes later Coleraine struck again with the lively Carstens nipping under the posts before converting his own try in the 28 the minute. After some enterprising play from the Dee backline in injury time in the first half Coleraine were penalised and No. 10 Mark Cooper got the Dee on the board with a well converted penalty goal – half time Coleraine 14 Dee 3.
Play in the second half continued in much the same pattern as the first with the Dee looking dangerous when ball was secured but unfortunately these opportunities were few and far between due to the continued lack of first phase possession. From the possession they were securing mainly due to the scavenging of the Dee back row two long range penalties were awarded in their favour but were narrowly missed by Cooper.
The turning point in the game came after Paul McKenzie had made a superb break from half way to be pulled down five metres short of the opposition line. Unfortunately the Dee were turned over at the ensuing scrum and Coleraine cleared their lines. Shortly after this Cooper had to leave the field after a late tackle left the energetic stand off with an injured shoulder. This further disrupted the Dee shape with the hard working Murray having to leave the pack to fill in in the centre for McKenzie who moved inside to cover for the departed Cooper. On 66 minutes Coleraine drove their way up the field again and despite some heroic defence Andrew Neely broke through a gap in a maul to score from close in with Carstens again converting.
At this point the Dee attacked manfully to once again threaten the Coleraine wide defence which although appearing brittle and susceptible to the Dee’s thrusting threequarters throughout the game remained steadfast and eventually paly moved back to Dee territory. After a succession of scrums and mauls close to the Dee line Bernard Mullan finally broke through to score Coleraine’s bonus point try in the 82nd minute which was converted by Carstens to leave the final score 28-3 to the North West side.
Not a memorable day for the Dee then but some sterling efforts from some of the youngsters in the side and special mention for the first-class performance of Chris Hamilton. The Dee’s Ulster Juniors No. 7 stood out in a creaking pack taking the game to the opposition, dealing manfully with poor ball at the back of the scrums where he was packing down at No. 8 for Dee put ins and linking skilfully with the threequarters in attack.
Sat 16th Nov, 2:30pm. Coleraine 3 24 – 7 Donaghadee
Disappointment on the road once again
by Stuart Thompson
Dee lose 24-7
On Sat Donaghadee 2nds ventured to Coleraine 3rds hoping to break their away duck but unfortunately this away trip stuck to the script that has been away defeats. Once again the struggles began well before kick off with fielding a team for an away match. With the warm-up having gone well the Dee kicked off hoping that they’d got the journey out of their legs but as has been the case each away trip this season it appears playing away is a mental challenge that is proving difficult to get over. From the kick off the Dee contested well but Coleraine played the corners and then got over for a try inside the first 2mins exploiting the Dee’s uncertain defence out wide with a grubber kick. A 2nd try followed before long from a mix up at scrum time. With the Dee, struggling to gel together, they found it difficult to get out of their own half in the first 20mins. As mentioned before the there is a script to these away games and having gone 10-0 down the Dee began to gel and started to play. The set-piece was solid and the backs put together some flowing moves but unfortunately when the time came for the killer pass the Dee either ran out of support or composure. The Defensive effort improved immeasurably and the Dee turned around 10-0 down with ideas of a comeback.
The Dee started the second half strongly and following a lengthy period or possession in Coleraine’s half, including a disallowed try, Glen Sharrat scored a terrific solo try. The Dee were pressing on the Coleraine line but once again were turned over at a crucial moment. Coleraine cleared their lines but the kick was loose travelling around 30m but landing 5m in from touch in the arms of Glen. Glen set off on an arching run that began with screams of “RUN STRAIGHT” and ended with him touching down between the posts having barely been touched. 10-7 Coleraine. From the ensuing kick-off the experienced Coleraine 10 launched a superb high kick off that proved too difficult for the Dee men to deal with and the bouncing ball was collected at pace by the Coleraine 7. He shrugged a couple of half tackles to run in under the posts. 17-7. Losing this try seemed to take the stuffing out of the Dee comeback and another try was conceded making the score 24-7. The Dee finished the match camped around the Coleraine 22 but once again a lack of composure and patience led to no try being scored.
Congrats to Coleraine on a deserved victory and well done to the Dee men who stood up to represent the club, some at short notice. Special mentions to prop Mark Poole who was a rock at scrum time and the back three of Glen Sharrat, Austin Long and Marcus Gibson who fielded many a kick and showed some superb scramble defence to stop at least 3 tries when it seemed it was easier to for Coleraine to score.
