Ballyclare Rugby Club used their get out of jail free card at Roughfort on Saturday in the local derby against a gallant Academy XV when a conversion attempt from the home side`s Dave Kenny narrowly slipped past an upright leaving the Clare as 15-14 winners. After a decent first half performance by the league leaders into rain and wind in the second period they may have been inside the home half for ninety eight per cent of the time but continued to make basic handling errors, lacked conviction, failed to be decisive and gave away a host of penalties for not moving away after the tackle. This was reminiscent of the derby games last year against Larne and Carrick and it would have shocked coach Bob Young who on the day had an other commitment.With two massive games coming up at home to Clogher Valley (Quarter final Junior Cup) and Omagh (League ) the Clare need to get back to their normal high standards and adapt to the prevailing conditions correspondingly. On the more positive side there were very sound performances from Chris Coburn and Dave Crawford for the Seconds in their good win over Coleraine 2nds
ACADEMY 14 BALLYCLARE 15
Ballyclare were forced to start without Byers, Finlay, Wylie and Clotworthy for this derby at Roughfort in the worst conditions of the season to date. Academy had advantage of the driving wind and rain in the first half and made ground from the whistle forcing Lawther to clear.But they were awarded an early penalty and Kenny easily slotted it over to go 3-0 ahead. The league leaders hit back as Reid made ground but Lawther just pushed a kick too far ahead. Then from the next scrum Logan made the hard yards to give Baird the chance to power over for a try that Wardrop was unlucky not to convert. Academy countered effectively and when Ballyclare were penalised for a scrummaging offence Kenny kicked the penalty to regain the lead at 6-5.The home pack was competing strongly but when Ballyclare moved the ball there was always a threat and in one of these moves Baird cut inside to find Wardrop in support and he went in for the try -he has scored in each game since promoted but did miss the conversion. Immediately Lawther made a break but the visitors were penalised at the breakdown and the chance was gone.
Ballyclare now had to defend and Weatherup and Wardrop ran the ball from deep only to see another penalty conceded and the reliable Kenny cut the Clare lead to 10-9. The visitors continued to play an open game as Morrow took play into the 22 and another surge by Baird almost had Reid in as the whistle went for half time. The big travelling support was looking forward to Ballyclare making positive use of the strong wind in the second half but Lawthet lost posession forcing a covering tackle from J.McKinstry.
Reid did manage to kick deep and G.mcKinstry had a promising run up the left but Academy defended well -they do have the best defensive record in the league. Graeme Mc Kinstry again made ground and the Clare pack drove from the next lineout for prop David Lawther to get the try which was not converted but they were now 15-9 up and it semed that the bonus point was due as Academy had an injury and later a player yellow carded.. Wardrop again was wide with a penalty as the Clare began to make hard work of the challenge. The pack won plenty of ball but an unusual lack of incision in midfield enabled Academy to stay in touch though they did have to defend for most of the time.Time and again at the breakdown the Clare were penalised and any momentum was soon gone.A kick ahead by Morrow could have brought that vital fourth try but twice the final pass was dropped with the line beckoning.A run from Loughlin took play deep into the home 22 only for Greer to fail to hold the pass.
Then into injury time Academy for the first time in the half reached the Clare 22 and won a penalty which was kicked to the corner. A powerful drive from the lineout ended with John Kelly getting over for the score and the crowd held their breath as Kenny attemped the conversion with the last play of the game . He just pulled it inches wide of the left post to leave Ballyclare as15-14 winners.But this was a very poor second half performance from the visitors -error strewn -a far cry from the 61-3 win by Ballyclare over Academy in a pre -season friendly just over a year ago. On the day Academy`s pack and hard running centre made better use of the conditions playing a much simpler game. For Ballyclare Logan again did most of the work up front while Baird and Wardrop tried to run at the opposition on a wet surface and often did make ground.
Ballyclare-A.Wardrop;J.Greer,N.Loughlin,J.Reid,J.J.Baird;N.Lawther,C.Morrow; A.Boyd,I.Holmes,D.Lawther;R.Boyd(capt),G.McKinstry;G.Weatherup, W.Logan,J.McKinstry;
BALLYCLARE 2nds 22 COLERAINE 2nds 9
This was the fourth win for the Clare Seconds that takes well into the top half of Junior 1.The conditions were not the best but the ground was in quite good shape at the lowerCloughan. Coleraine did show up well early on and went into a 6-0 lead following two penalties. But the Clare pack began to get control with outstanding work in the loose from Chris Coburn which brought the flanker a deserved try near the corner that was not converted. However Steven Beasant made amends when he slotted over a penalty to give his team a narrow 8-6 lead at half time.
In the second half the home pack took a stranglehold on the game in the loose and began to put pressure on the visitors but the latter did manage another penalty before Crothers went over for a try from a ruck and Beasant added the points. With more ball coming from the pack both Crawford and Beasant had several strong runs into the 22 and from one of these Beasant cut back to get a try which he also converted.This put the Seconds well clear at 22-9. There were fine performances from Dailly and Coburn in the pack with the latter the man of the match while in the backs both Beasant and Crawford played well.
BALLYMENA 4ths 49 BALLYCLARE 4ths 10
Unfortunately for the second consecutive week a Clare Xv went down heavily at Eaton Park.According to Clare skipper Mark Fox the Ballymena pack were too strong and controlled much of the play. As a result they were able to score several tries in the first half against a sole penalty from John Wasson so it was 35-3 to Ballymena. In the second half the Clare side showed up more as an attacking force and Wasson got atry that he also converted. Ballymena did add a couple more tries for a very comfortable win. For the Fourths there were sound performances from Simon Milton, Mike Crothers, John Gillen,Gareth Smith and John Wasson.
Saturday Fixtures -1st XV vStrabane (away); 2nd Xv vMalone 3rds (away); 3rd Xv v Queens 3rds (home); 4th Xv v Dungannon 4ths (home)
