Ballyclare 1st XV entertained a good Grosvenor F.P. side at the Upper Cloughan on Saturday and produced a fine opening half with the back row of Rainey,Logan and Weatherup who went in for a hattrick of tries outstanding. The 32-12 win to the White Hare men should have been by a greater margin had full back Byers been on his usual kicking form. The victory gives the Clare another bonus point and should take them back as Qualifying 2 league leaders as Enniskillen were playing their Junior Cup game on saturday.
The match was sponsored by Simpson Developments and the pre match lunch was the best attended to date with a good number of the unbeaten 4th Xv from last season attending.
In excellent conditions home out half Lawther kicked his side up to the opposite 22 but a knock on halted further progress as Wylie was stopped close to the line. Continued pressure by the home side saw a break from Weatherup with Lawther making ground to put lock Rob Boyd in for the opening try converted by Byers to go 7-0 up. Grosvenor tried to run the ball from deep b ut lost out on half way to see flanker Weatherup race in to score on the right side. The visitors made ground and forced the Clare off side but the Grosvenor out half was just wide from well out. His team kept going forward and were held up near the corner. A break out from Jackson was taken further by Rainey and Weatherup was available to go over near the posts but amazingly Byers failed to convert as Ballyclare now took a commanding 17-0 lead. The home back row dominated play and next to surge into the visitors 22 was Logan and there was Weatherup to nip in for a try thay thankfully Byers did convert.So this gave the Clare flanker an excellent hat trick of tries. Grosvenor did well to break out and force a try that was converted to reduce the lead to 24-7. The home side had McKinstry sin binned for an offence at a ruck and Grosvenor missed a penalty chance. A strong run from Weatherup put the home team into a good position but play was halted for an injury to prop Hall who continued after treatm ent. Excellent work from scrum half Morrow made ground and when Grosvenor were penalised Byers made ground and centre Cusack raced in for a score that was again not converted at half time with the Clare leading 29-7.
The city side started the second half at pace when Morrow lost posession but strong tackles by Jackson and Cusack halted their intentions.Despite another strong run from Weatherup Grosvenor did get back into the game with an unconverted try on the right. Ballyclare still tried to run the ball from their own 22 but eventually Lawther was forced to kick and Rainey made ground up the right only to lack support. However the pressure was maintained with Byers and Baird makink it into the opposite 22 and Morrow gave the chance to Lawther to slot over a drop goal for a 32-12 lead.
Grosvenor retaliated from a penalty into the home half forcing Lawther to clear his lines and in another attacking move in midfield from the visitors superb tackling from Jackson and Loughlin snuffed out the last scoring chances and Ballyclare on the day proved to be the stronger team with an immense display by the back row in front of one of the best attendances of the season so far.
Ballyclare -G.Byers;J.J.Baird,J.Jackson,S.Cusack,N.Loughlin;N.Lawther,C.Morrow;A.Boyd,A.Wylie,R.Hall; G.McKinstry,R.Boyd;G.Weatherup,M.Rainey,W.Logan.
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