Sat 26th Oct, 11:00am. Ballymoney RFC 19 – 10 Carrickfergus RFC
Ballymoney RFC U15s show what their made of!!!
by Richard Gault
On Saturday 26th October, the Toon welcomed to Kilraught’s road, Carrick RFC who are the team to beat in U15s youth rugby. This was going to be the biggest test of the season so far.
On Saturday 26th October, the Toon welcomed to Kilraught’s road, Carrick RFC who are the team to beat in U15s youth rugby. This was going to be the biggest test of the season so far.
With one of their best players (Adam Coulter, Hooker) missing through an ankle injury Philip Beattie moved in to hooker and played probably his best game of the season so far!
The game was kicked off by Carrick who, with a strong wind in their face put the ball high for their big pack to chase but what they met was 6’2” Matthew McConaghy and 6′ Graham Donnelly coming at them and proceed to blast clean through Carrick’s on rushing pack and pass the ball to the backs who took their first chance to run at Carrick and test what is a very well turned out team! The toon backs found out early on that Carrick were going to be a tough nut to crack!
After 15 minutes of hard fought rugby by both sides the “friendly game” went out the window when from the back of a scrum Mathew McConaghy picked at 8 and crashed it round the corner and pop the ball to Brian O’Neill at scrumhalf he passed to Stevie Culbertson, outhalf, who took the ball right into their face and hit fullback Jonny Storey coming between centre James Orr and winger Matty Bell, this was to prove fruitful when Storey and Bell exchanged passes around their winger and fullback for Jonny storey to score below the posts for the first points of the game Bell slotted the extra 2 points over 7-0 the toon!!
With an unbeaten run of their own to try and keep Carrick tried to make up for a costly lapse in concentration and worked a really good forward move up the blind side brushing off the toon winger’s attempt to stop the big 8 scoring in the corner for Carrick’s first points. The conversion was missed leaving the score 7-5.
That seemed to spur Carrick on and for the rest of the half put Ballymoney under pressure, even more so when Carrick scored again in the corner after knocking on the door and finding a very stubborn toon defence! Again Carrick’s big number 8 crossed the line!! The conversion was missed and the halftime whistle went!! HT score 7-10 Carrick in front.
This was the first time this season the U15s found themselves trailing on the score sheet. Some words of encouragement (shall we say!!!) were ringing loud and clear in the 15’s ears when they kicked off the second half and with the maturity and bravery that was asked for, these young lads set about making the Ballymoney RFC club shirt something to be proud to have on your back!!
With the blind side firmly shut down and only 3 points in the game Carrick started to run out of ideas to kill off Ballymoney, this was to be where the toon lads showed their mettle up front and pushed Carrick off their own scum, catching them cold with another try out of the top drawer. The ball was took hard at their backs again and for the second time young Culbertson found Matty Bell hitting a beautiful line to carve clean through the defence and score a classy try in the corner! The conversion was missed from a wide angle and against a very strong wind. The score was now, Toon 12-10 Carrick.
The lads from the Toon now started to think we’re going to just hold on to our winning streak and you can think again if you’re coming to our pitch to try and beat us!
From the restart the determination to win this game and put a marker down for the rest of the season was plain to see with brilliant work from the tireless Ballymoney forwards hitting ruck after ruck. Their opponent’s fitness faded and Ballymoney went in for the killer blow that Carrick failed to find in the first half!!
After countless hard runs by the pack Carrick finally cracked and that pair of Storey and Culbertson popped up again and linked well to send Storey crashing over between the posts to score the final try and smash any hope Carrick had of retaining their winning run!! After the conversion was added the score was 19-10 to the Toon!! This young side should be very proud of themselves, every time a question is asked of them they all stand up and show a maturity and hunger for rugby that will stand them well for the future!!
Man of the match for his sheer work rate hard tackles and rampaging runs goes this week to
Matthew McConaghy
Well done big fella keep er lit!!
Training Tuesday night at 6pm sharp bring a friend!!
See you all Tuesday night!!
UP THE TOON!!!!!
