AMNEXDAY Larne 1st XV made their way to Bangor on Saturday (5th February) to play in one of their last 4 Qualifying 2 league games.
Larne men claim massive away victory
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AMNEXDAY Larne 1st XV made their way to Bangor on Saturday to play in one of their last 4 Qualifying 2 league games. The previous fixture back in November saw the Bangor side run out winners 44-11 against a Larne team that finished with 13 men that day.
In horrendous weather the Larne men took the field with a changed side from that that lost to Lisburn a fortnight ago. With 4 regulars unavailable Garstin and McKinty came in to the second row, with Burns and McBride coming in to the back line. Phil Agnew stood in as stand in skipper for the day with McFetridge unavailable.
With the wind and rain in their faces the Larne men kicked off. It wasn’t long until the scene was set for the game with the first ten minutes littered with handling errors. Aaron McBride settled in to full back well, peppering the Bangor back three with garryowens that they could not deal with. This allowed the Larne side to gain territorial possession up field. The Larne scrum also began to dominate a much bigger and heavier Bangor pack. A Larne scrum on the Bangor ten metre line saw the scrum half McIlheron pass the ball out wide to half back partner Garrett. The outhalf produced one of his magical moments and danced through the Bangor backline to score near the posts. He then duly slotted the conversion over to put the Larne men 7-0 up. With the rain continuing to beat down heavily, conditions under foot were becoming poor. However, the Larne men played to the conditions carrying ball in hand against the wind. As the first half continued, Bangor began to gain territorial possession. Their out half pinned the ball in the corners clamping themselves in the Larne half. A Bangor lineout saw McKinty receiving a yellow card after the referee had had enough with Larne continually infringing at the breakdown. Reduced to 14 men Larne clamped themselves in their 22 and defended heroically. Phil Agnew led by example executing some thumping hits. As it looked as if Larne had sought off the Bangor onslaught the home side made their numerical advantage count by spinning the ball out wide and going over in the corner for a score. The conversion was missed. McKinty made his way back on to the field of play and Larne rallied back at it. The Bangor team and support were clearly becoming frustrated as the Larne men disrupted their play dominating at the break down and contact area. Notable hits by Burns, Garstin and Thomas set the tone and knocked the confidence of the Bangor side. Both teams slogged it out for the rest of the first half.
At half time the Larne men gathered together in a huddle in the thumping rain. With the wind subsiding Larne knew they could not rely on it to win the game for them. In the first ten minutes of the second half the back row of McIlheron, Thomas and Hunter came in to a league of their own dominating their opposite numbers. McIlheron and Thomas made telling runs in the Bangor half with it taking numerous defenders bring them down. eddie hunter was outstanding at the base of the scrum taking the pressure off his scrum half McIlheron in the wet and slippery conditions. As the visitors began to dominate Garrett pinned the Bangor side back on their own 5 metre line with a lineout. The wet conditions resulted on Bangor spilling the ball and open side flanker McIlheron was on hand to bounce on the ball and worm his way over for a score. Garrett was unlucky with the conversion. Bangor were rattled and tried to come back in to the game. However, the kicking game of Garrett and McBride pinned them back. With the conditions underfoot worsening it became more of an arduous task for the Bangor side to run at the Larne men. Any attack that they did
launch through their back line, the resolute centre combination of Phil Agnew and Ian McIlheron kept them at bay.
In the pack the Larne men tails were up and there was a genuine belief that they would not concede another score. Bangor threw everything at the Larne side in the final ten minutes of the game however they could not break through and the Larne men ran out winners 12-5.
A fantastic team performance by the Glynn men from numbers 1-15. They played to the conditions and got much needed points for Qualifying 2 safety. They now look forward to what should be up another level against a table topping Omagh side next Saturday.
Larne Team 1-15 D Hagans, C Gibson, M McMullan, J Mckinty, D Garstin, R Thomas, M McIlheron, E Hunter, R McIlheron, R Garrett, A Burns, P Agnew, I McIlheron, J Hall, A McBride
