Ards 2nds produce great performance !
by STEPHEN NUTT
It was a much changed Ards team from last week’s promising performance against Ballyclare in the Towns Cup, playing resources were stretched with the 1sts in Limerick and the 3rds in Foster Cup action added too a long injury list at Hamilton Park
It was a much changed Ards team from last week’s promising performance against Ballyclare in the Towns Cup, playing resources were stretched with the 1sts in Limerick and the 3rds in Foster Cup action added too a long injury list at Hamilton Park.
Ards legend Stevie Nutt answered Ards call, along with the returning DAVID CALVERT and Alan Sinnamon.
City of Derry had defeated Ards earlier in the season at Judges Road and Ards were hopeful of gaining revenge.
The home team dominated early possession and a constant supply of quality ball to fly half Andy Todd enabled him to break through tackles and score a fine individual try from 20 metres out, scrum half STEVIE McKEE added the conversion. Ards 7 – City of Derry 0
Shortly afterwards another good combination between forwards and backs saw the ball moved wide to NEIL ARMSTRONG who finished near the corner, McKee added the difficult conversion. Ards14 – City of Derry 0
Ards continued to pressure the visitors defence and veteran Stevie Nutt was held up on the line after good build up play from the Ards forwards.
City of Derry worked their way into the Ards half and kept sustained pressure on the Ards try line, scrum half Mckee was just too eager at a scrum and was given a yellow card.
The Ards defence held firm and a turn over from captain Chris Beacom saw the ball played out of the Ards 22 along the backline by centres TAYLOR FERGUSON and Trevor Devlin to Armstrong who’s pace stretched the visitors defence which resulted in a scrum to Ards.
From this scrum No8 ben smith accelerated through a gap shaking off a number of tackles to get Ards 3rd try, Ferguson added the conversion.
Halftime: Ards 21 – City of Derry 0
Ards started the second half with a second try from Armstrong following a line break from Ferguson inside the Ards half, the ball then went through the hands to Armstrong on the wing who finished with a chip over the fullback, the conversion was missed. Ards 26 – City of Derry 0
City of Derry upped their game and had Ards on the back foot for long periods, but solid defence at the breakdown from the back row of Smith, Calvert and Jack Coulter eased the tempo.
A turnover from the hard working RYAN YATES lead to another line break by Ferguson supported byMARK AIKEN, the ball found McKee on the wing who had a 70 metre dash for the try line but a covering tackle by the City of Derry winger just managed to prevent a try on the corner flag.
Unfortunately McKee suffered a shoulder injury in placing the ball and was forced to leave the pitch.
With Ards reduced to 14 players the play became scrappy and City or Derry finished strong, scoring two well deserved tries.
This was an excellent Ards performance that brought a return to the kind of form that the players are capable of.
Team: S Nutt, C Beacom (captain), D Chivers, A.McKee, R Yates, D Calvert, B Smith, J Coulter, S McKee, A Todd, M Aiken,T Ferguson, T Devlin, A Sinnamon, N Armstrong
Winning Start in Play Offs for U17s
by Alan McHugh
U17’s hit a Dozen wins for the season to date with an away win in Enniskillen
One of the good things about rugby is that it often isn’t long before you get the opportunity to revisit a situation and put right a previous performance that you weren’t happy with. Ards U17’s arrived at Enniskillen for the first of their League Play Off Round Robin games with memories of their first League game of the season and their only League defeat of this campaign still raw in their minds.
A fired up squad of 22 plus good support arrived and started their pre-match with plenty of time in hand, only to discover the opposition could only offer 13 starting players. Unfortunately, Enniskillen have many players who cross-code with GAA and with the start of that season, their already small group had been depleted.
The impact of this soon became obvious as we started our 13 a side game that increased to 14 a side with a late home arrival and Ards found space and mismatches easy to identify and exploit. A succession of well worked and executed tries from Danny McCullough, Adam Carroll, Conor Uprichard, Matthew Warnock and Cameron McKee were seen. Aggressive defending from a still motivated Ards team was having a heavy impact on the home players and reduced them to 11 early in the 2nd half, at which point the game was conceded as a contest.
Our hosts have a committed and high quality youth coaching set up and their guys who put on their jerseys are as game as any you could meet, so it was unfortunate to see what could have been a cracking contest fall away as it did. However, the Ards U17 machine keeps on moving and keeps on posting the wins.
Our thanks to the guys at Enniskillen for the best hospitality on the road for the 2nd time this season and we wish their injured players a quick recovery.
The U17’s also received the great news that age grades are to be realigned next season to U14, U16 & U18, meaning that this team will continue their development together for another year and transfer in groups into the senior side of the club with much better timing.
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