The only competitive action over the Christmas period at Neillsbrook involved the Randalstown 3rd XV as they took on Ballymoney 5s the Saturday before Christmas and Ballynahinch 7s the Saturday after. These were two fixtures not for the fainthearted and the 3rd XV acquitted themselves very well on both occasions.
With the boxing day tradition of the Randalstown teams taking on their Antrim counterparts long gone it was an inspired idea to field a 2nd/3rd XV combination against the Randalstown exiles organised by Neil Foster. The exiles fielded many familiar faces and not an insubstantial amount of talent in their ranks, so it was always going to be close contest.
First up were a strong Ballymoney 5s featuring a number of their usual seasoned campaigners, and they were edged out 6-3 by a new look Randalstown 3rd XV as it gave debuts to four under 19s.
The town lads pressed for an early score with a couple of impressive runs by centre Simon Moon before Ballymoney conceded a few penalties. Young fullback David Mc Whirter was extremely unlucky with a long range kick before hitting the target in the 10th minute and adding another after 23mins.
The lineout performed well with Joe Cross and Hugh Bishop as jumpers and Adam Watt performing well as hooker though the experienced Ballymoney pack as expected proved a handful all afternoon. The town lads moved the ball well through the backs but could add no further points leaving the halftime score 6-0.
Ballymoney began the second half with some purpose and pressed for a score only to be continually thwarted by the stubborn town defence. Birthday boy Ryan McAuley was introduced at halftime and went on to forge a good partnership with the hard tackling Adie Johnston and strong running Jamie Orr.
Man of the match David Mc Whirter ran several cutting lines out of his 22, turning defence into attack to the delight of the Randalstown support. Ballymoney’s persistence paid off when they converted a penalty to leave a nervous last 20 minutes.
The visitors laid siege to the Randalstown line but the heroic defence held firm and a sortie into the opponents 22 again launched by Mc Whirter almost brought a score before the referee brought this tense yet highly entertaining game to a close with Randalstown emerging deserved 6-3 victors.
All eighteen players played superbly and the new players slotted in perfectly and contributed to the great team spirit that has been evident in the 3rds this season. Adie Johnston had a great game at outside half with the afore mentioned David Mc Whirter and Scott Snow at scrum half. Simon Moon and David Frew also had solid games with second row Robin Adair always in the mix.
Team: Mark Mc Cullough, Adam Watt, Gary Paine, Michael Reeves, Robin Adair, Hugh Bishop, John Allen, Joe Cross, Scott Snow,Adrian Johnston, David Frew, Simon Moon ,Jamie Orr, Willie Fleck, David Mc Whirter, Ryan McAuley, Graham Hume, Brian Gourley
Randalstown Select 20 Randalstown Exiles 17 CLICK HERE for shotsssssssssssssssss
Replete with turkey and all the trimmings and out came the boots again for many on Boxing Day as the exiles under the expert guidance took the field against a combined Randalstown 2nd/3rd and Under 19 string.
It was an entertaining game shaded narrowly by the home side in the end 20-17. While the exiles took time to settle into a pattern the young ‘town players recorded two scores through David McWhirter and Jamie Orr (both under 19 players).
They maintained the upper hand into the second half with props Simon Adams and Ben Hamilton stretching the home lead. Adams’ try was the pick of the day as the loose head sprinted from inside his own half, skipping through a number of tackles and a speed bump in the guise of Gary Hyndman.
Gradually the exiles got it together and hit back finishing the stronger. Tries from the oldest exile Nigel Hyndman and two from Martin Connolly, who also slotted over two conversions left the score 20-17, and was a fair reflection of the closeness of the game.
It was a fitting afternoon’s entertainment in front of a sizeable crowd and served well to keep the boxing day tradition of Randalstown Rugby Club alive and well. The organisers will no doubt work hard to ensure that this fixture is repeated, hopefully for many years to come.
Randalstown 3rd XV 17 Ballynahninch 7s 20 CLICK HERE for shotsssssssssssss
This encounter was an altogether lower scoring event than the corresponding fixture earlier in the season with Randalstown almost overcoming the strongly fancied ‘Hinch outfit.
Fielding the usual mixture of youth and experience and one or two ‘exiles’ running off excess turkey the game was hard fought encounter. ‘Hinch started stronger with their number 8 taking a quick tap penalty on the ‘Town 5m line and powering over for a converted try.
They continued to dominate aided by some harsh decisions from the man in the middle and on 20 minutes their impressive full back split the home defence and ran over for a second converted score.
Randalstown gathered themselves together from the restart, sallied forth into the visitors 22 for the first time in the game, and were rewarded with a successful penalty from useful young full back David McWhirter.
Encouraged by this and captain Adie Johnston ‘Town put together some good phases of attacking rugby. Curly Hamilton (powered on by his new xmas boots in dayglo go faster style) initiated an attack in his own half and assisted by Cross, Moon & Fleck they progressed to the ‘Hinch 10 metre line. Graham Hume was in support and able to burst through and touch down under the posts. Hume is a relative newcomer to the game but is undoubtedly growing into it at a rate of knots. McWhirter added the conversion.
The second half was nip and tuck until ‘Town had a player yellow carded and Ballynahinch used the numerical advantage well adding to penalties to their tally. With seconds remaining scrum half David Frew picked up at the base of a ruck on half way and raced down the blind side outsprinting the ‘Hinch defence for a well deserved score. McWhirter added the extras.
