City of Derry Rugby Club marked their return to the Ulster Senior League after an absence of two years with an emphatic victory away to Banbridge on Saturday last.
Derry scored eight try’s in total and were fourteen points in front with less that ten minutes gone. City of Derry Coach Bevan Lynch said after the game “we have had a good pre season with three victories but pre season is what it is and you can never be sure where you stand. We were happy with today’s performance and we will continue to give everyone in the squad game time over the next four weeks. The main goal is the All Ireland League which starts on the first Saturday in October away to Connemara. We will build gradually and everyone in the Club is excited about our return to the AIL”.
City of Derry started the game bringing the confidence gained from pre season victories to their continuity off loading style of play. Early possession saw scrum half Andrew Semple chip ahead for full back Peter Henderson to score a try with just two minutes gone, Richard Brady added the conversion. Further pressure from Derry gave No 8 Stephen Ferguson a chance to show his return to form with a strong drive to release winger Simon Logue whose clever chip allowed him to beat the Banbridge cover and score a converted try with just eight minutes gone.
Lynch’s men were enjoying the majority of possession throughout the first half. Bob McKillop, Sam McAuley, Philip Beady and Sam Duffy were making the hard yards up front and giving quality ball to the playmakers. Henderson made a terrific 50 metre break from his own half on thirty two minutes and chipped ahead for Ferguson to score a converted try which gave Derry a 21prs to Nil lead at the break.
Derry were straight on the attack from the kick-off after half time, the forwards won three quick rucks and Ferguson picked to score an unconverted try with just one minute gone. Confidence was high and the North West men won twelve phases in a row on ten minutes and Semple spotted a gap to score a converted try. Banbridge eventually got on the scoreboard after 15 minutes when Pollock scored a try which was converted by Scott to make the score 33pts to 7pts in Derry’s favour.
The game went into a lull for 20 minutes but was suddenly brought to life on 35 minutes when Andrew Semple increased the tempo of the game taking three quick tap penalties and eventually scoring an unconverted try himself.
The try of the game came a minute later when the impressive Simon Logue broke several tackles in a mazy run that took him to the Banbridge 22 metre line before he ran out of support but a clever cross field chip kept the move alive and when Peter Henderson collected to score an unconverted try Derry’s superiority was confirmed. Henderson completed the scoring on 40 minutes when he intercepted to score a try under the posts to allow Richard Brady to kick his fifth conversion to leave the margin of victory 50pts to 7 for Derry.
