ERFC TOUCH RUGBY TOURNAMENT ROUND 2 (6.6.14)
Round 2 of ERFC’s Touch Rugby Tournament kicked off on Friday night with some exhilarating top table clashes. After an unbeaten first round for both El Niño and The Friday Light Knights, the unstoppable force met the immovable object and made for a thrilling matchup. Rory Connolly and Chris McVitty proved a constant threat, and Stevie Welsh of The Knights exhibited some intelligent organisation in defence, managing to contain the unpredictable brilliance of Neil Carleton and pace of Andy Little to hold out for a 1-0 victory; El Nino however, remain top of the table going into the final week.
Celebrations were short lived for The Knights as Richard Grey’s Sex Panthers immediately put an end to their streak, showing they are still a formidable force. The return of Darren Higginbotham lurking on the wing has added some destructive pace to the Panther’s attack, and they saw a much improved night of results leaving them second in the table. The Knights, now joint in third place with the Scrot Rockets, still have a vital game in hand over the top three.
The Scrot Rockets have shown impressive consistency throughout with multiple tries from Ben Forbes, a 5-1 win over “Portora” with great support play from Kathryn Dane could prove crucial in keeping them in the running for a Semi-Final place, in fact an unfortunate intercepted pass from Ben Parkinson was the only thing preventing The Rockets holding table leaders El Niño to a draw.
Hawaii 7 O showed more good form with a 2-1 shock victory over Scrum and Coke. The crowd erupted and Ashley Finlay’s Scrum and Coke could only watch in bewildered awe as Richard Beatty plucked an interception from the air, the surly prop forward producing an astonishing turn of pace down the wing to put the Taylor Brother’s tropical troop in the lead. Scrum and Coke’s overall night was disappointing, and despite industrious work by Richard Duncan and Iain Mcgonigle they failed to register a win and slipped to seventh place.
The Old Folks had a much better week with Rob Watson, Terry Totton, Alan Crooks and Johnny Gibson’s incalculable years of experience combining well with the pace of Rory Gibson and Josh Crooks to grind out draws against Portora and Scrum and Coke with their first victory over Red. Excellent running lines were on show from Leona Hallet, and Mia-Jayne who grabbed multiple tries on the night.
It was the ladies also dominating for Portora with tries from Alexandra Elliott and Rebecca McVea, but this failed to prevent the young team suffering two defeats on the night. The crucial confrontation to avoid the prospect of a wooden spoon was to follow for Portora against the competition’s other young side Red. The win went to Portora in the end, but perhaps at the cost of domestic bliss, the tension was palpable as Marcus Crawford intercepted a long pass rebounding from his other half and “Red” team member Maeve Somerville leading to a well taken try.
Finals night will take place this Friday the 13th with matches kicking off at 7.00pm with some teams yet to play two league games before the momentous semi-final stages. This year has proven to be particularly competitive and speculation is widespread as to who can take the title on the night, no arguments though that the final should undoubtedly be a great spectacle. Enniskillen Rugby Club urges all to attend; With a BBQ taking place and local DJ Tommy T, performing later that night after the Grand Final.
TEAM P W D L PTS
1 EL NINO 7 6 0 1 12
2 THE SEX PANTHERS 7 4 2 1 10
3 SCROT ROCKETS 7 3 3 1 9
4 FRIDAY LIGHT KNIGHTS 6 4 1 1 9
5 HAWAII 7O 7 3 1 3 7
6 OLD FOLKS 8 1 3 4 5
7 SCRUM & COKE 6 1 2 3 4
8 PORTORA 6 1 1 4 3
9 RED 6 0 1 5 1
