Ballymoney 3rd XV win and progress to round 2 of the cup
Ballymoney 3rd XV win and progress to round 2 of the cup
On a cold but dry Saturday afternoon Ballymoney 3’s took to the field to face Ballymoney 4’s in the first round of the Cup. If the fact that the two team who have trained together and with many players having played for both sides throughout the season didn’t add enough spice to the occasion, we had a couple of family rivalries as well.
First we have Matthew Pollock playing scrumhalf for the 3’s, this is first season in senior rugby playing against his father Thomas Pollock who plays prop or hooker for the 4’s. Thomas managed both position on Saturday swapping regularly with Gareth Rankin. Right from the first whistle Thomas was gunning for his son. From the first ruck of the game Thomas entered late and from the side of the ruck just to tackle Matthew, however illegal and spotted by the referee with a penalty to 3’s. Matthew didn’t seem to mind and I am sure will have plenty of nights to rub salt into the father’s wounds and gloat about being on the winning side.
The second family rivalry was the Clyde brother’s with Alfie playing blindside flanker for the 3’s and Jonathon playing inside centre for the 4’s. Alfie again on the winning side for the 3’s will also have plenty to gloat about, scoring 2 tries in the derby match, the first midway through the second half cutting an inside line of Dean Talbot at first centre, coming face to face with his brother before side stepping and racing clear to score below the posts.
Despite the game being played between two sides from the Ballymoney Club the game was a hard fought battle with no quarter given and none asked. Right from the first whistle the 4’s attacked the 3’s from the kick off sending their big runners in waves of attack down the 10 channel, however the defence of the 3’s matched everything offer and knocked them back on several occasions. The larger than usual support didn’t have long to wait for the first score of the game. From turn over ball the 3’s took several phases up the middle with the forwards making good yardage, the ball was sent blind with Russell Irwin making good ground, passing to Lewis Murphy who drew his man before feeding Neil Campbell to race to line to score in the corner being chased by Andy McNaugher. The conversion was missed by Nathaniel Steel. From the kick off the 4’s wanted to get the next score but good defence from the 3’s repelled anything that ran at them. The next score of the game fell to the 3’s, from a lost lineout by the 4’s, Adam Hewitt exited the resulting maul with the ball and raced 40 metres pushing aside wannabe tacklers before scoring close to the posts. Again the conversion was missed by Nathaniel, the score now 10-0. The final score of the half was a nice try by Nathaniel selling a lovely dummy before racing clear to score, again missing the conversion. Nathaniel commented he had left his kicking boots at home. The score at half time 15-0.
The half time team talk was all about looking after the ball better and not giving away as many penalties, the penalties in the first half spoiling many opportunities to extend the lead.
From the first whistle the 3’s started brightly, with strong running from the backs and forwards. This gave Chris Morrison the space to use his electric pace and score the 4th try of the game, converted by Nathaniel. Not wanting to through in the towel the 4’s came back strongly and after some strong running from their forwards namely John McFetridge, Beefy, Leon Beattie and Alywn Stevenson, Slippy(captain) feed the ball to his backs and with numbers on the left Ben Carty scored in the corner. Peter Elliot’s conversion from wide left bounced of the post and fell the wrong direction leaving the score 22-5. The growing number of supporters had to wait for the next the try, but not too long with Alfie beating his brother to score the 3’ss 5th try followed not long after with his 2nd and the 3’s 6th try of the day. Nathaniel converting the second to leave the score now 36-5. The final score of the day coming on the 75th minute was a charging running from prop Andy Brown scoring below the posts but not converted by Nathaniel to leave the final score 41-5.
Captain Dean left the field the much happier of the two captains, but a lot of praise must also go to the whole of the 4th XV who stuck to the task asked of them and never lay down. If they can continue in the same vein for the rest of season they start to win more games and we all wish them the best of luck next week at home to Holywood. The 3rd XV take a well-earned week off next week, since Christmas drawing against a very strong Coleraine side, avenging a heavy loss earlier in the season against Instonians and progressing to the next round of the cup, not a bad start to the New Year.
Special mention must go to both Andy Brown and Adam Hewitt scoring their first senior tries today. The man of the match award goes to Alfie Clyde.
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