Sat 23rd Nov, 11:00am. Newry RFC 17 – 17 Ards RFC
U17 Stay Top with 3 matches to go
by Alan McHugh
A draw on the road for the U17’s as they rue missed opportunities
Another early start for the Ards U17’s for the road trip to Newry and they were welcomed by a frosty South Down morning and a pitch just the slushy side of frozen. After a game of touch to get the journey out of their legs, the League leaders ran intensive preparations for yet another essential encounter. There is close battle amongst 6 teams at the top and whilst the Ardsmen were 2 points clear, there were 4 other teams, including Newry RFC, tied on points below them and anxious to stake their own claim on either the title or one of the 2 play off berths available.
Newry came into the game on a good winning streak and boasting a strong pack including the 2 current Ulster U18 props and captain as well as a fast backline.
Ards took to their task early and earned a simple penalty opportunity after hard driving by the pack, the 3 points happily taken by fly half Joel DePledge. Newry’s response was swift and with Ards struggling to observe the defensive offside line and stay on their feet at the breakdown, the referee was keen to impose zero tolerance in these areas. A series of plays quickly found Newry an equally simple penalty opportunity and it was taken to draw scores level.
Unable to match the strict requirements of the referee, Ards found their easily gained ground was swiftly ceded back throughout the first half and a series of these led to a well worked move by Newry to release their strong running winger, clad in tackle proof leggings, for a fine converted score.
This spurred the Ards pack into action and their blunt instrument coupled with the rapier of fly half DePledge’s boot gave a number of opportunities in the Newry red zone, culminating in a drive from prop Danny McCullough for a score out wide. On a day when points were clearly at a premium, the touchline conversion was well taken. Forcing their advantage, the Ards pack created plenty of opportunities for the three-quarter line, which they failed to convert in a theme that became unfortunately consistent throughout. Taking the initiative, the pack battered the Newry line and flanker Aaron Bittles took a superb line to cross and score only for the referee to disallow as he felt he himself had blocked a Newry tackler by his positioning, a contentious note on which to end the half at 10 points each.
A slow start to the 2nd half brought Newry into the Ards 22 and from nothing, a comedy of errors in securing and clearing ball from an easy position gifted the ball to Newry, who happily took a converted try and the lead.
After a short period, the Ards pack were turning 1st phase advantage into domination. The Newry scrum was heading backwards apace and losing ball and the Ards lineout were securing both offensive and defensive ball with ease.Newry were limited to playing in the middle third of the pitch and playing everything out of hand, whilst Ards were pumping a series of overlaps to their backline. After failing to execute time and again, they finally ran a complete move to winger Matthew Warnock, who handed off a would be tackler with ease and ran round to score. A difficult enough conversion was secured and the game drawn level to 17 points each with 5 minutes to go.
Sensing the victory was in front of them, Ards pressed hard, yet failed to deliver the knockout blow. Although still clear leaders after Saturday’s results, the missed opportunities and the missed extra cushion of points at the business end of the season were sorely regretted after.
Our thanks and respect to Newry for a hard and honest game and to the referee for excellent interpretation of the game in hand and how he allowed it to flow.
On a final note, the Ulster Youth management team were present due to the number of current squad members on show and they were keen to mark their cards on a number of Ardsmen today.
