Junior Cup victory against Academy by Roger Corbett
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The first round of this year’s Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup conjured up an interesting fixture between the sides that swapped places in QL 1 and 2. In the end it was Bangor who justified their current league standing, coming through as 51-27 victors.
With some changes to the line-up that came close against Portadown, Bangor got the game underway, kicking off with a slight wind at their backs. Within the first minute of play, the Bangor forwards swamped the Academy defence, forcing them to concede a penalty for not releasing the ball. In the absence of Bangor’s usual kicker, Jason Morgan, Neil Cuthbertson stepped up, but pushed the ball wide. However, within another 2 minutes, Academy gave away another penalty which was successfully converted, putting Bangor on the scoreboard by 3-0.
Bangor’s receiving from opposition restarts was noticeably better today, and this was most evident in the next 7 minutes of play. The Bangor forwards collected the ball and started to move back into Academy territory. Good support play and quick passing eventually provided the space for full-back Mike Weir to come into the line and score towards the right hand corner. The conversion was missed, making the score now 8-0.
From the resulting Academy restart, the ball was taken in the air by Richard Corbett, who started to run it back. Andrew Jackson received the pass and made more ground, before off-loading to James Henly who, having taken play into the Academy twenty two, then passed outside to captain Jamie Clegg who made the final metres to score on the left hand side. Cuthbertson’s kick hit the post this time, but Bangor were well into their stride and leading by 13-0 with just 10 minutes played.
The Academy scrum was proving a tough test for Bangor, and with 17 minutes gone the home side were penalised for their front row turning inwards. From quite a distance out, the Academy kicker successfully converted, getting them off the mark with 3 points.
However, in the battle of the forwards, Bangor looked the more composed and dangerous when in possession. This was obvious when, after 25 minutes, Curtis Stewart collected the ball from the back of a Bangor scrum and set off on a charge. Having shaken off the attentions of the defending Academy pack, his forward momentum was too much for the full-back allowing him to score to the right of the posts. Cuthbertson’s kick was successful, extending Bangor’s lead to 20-3.
Just 4 minutes later, Academy won a penalty and kicked for touch. However, the ball stayed in play allowing Bangor to regain possession. A couple of quick passes later, and the ball came to Mark Widdowson who then sprinted from around the half way mark, down the left wing to score an excellent try. Cuthbertson converted the kick making the score now 27-3.
Academy kept pressing forwards but had so far been stopped by some effective defensive tackling. However, on one such occasion, a Davy Charles’ tackle upended his opponent and was deemed to be dangerous. While no-one could have said it was malicious, it still earned him a yellow card which kept him on the sidelines until the start of the second half. The Academy players sensed an opportunity, and from the resulting penalty and line-out, produced several driving phases before passing wide to the left and scoring in the corner. The difficult kick was successful, bringing the score to 27-10.
Anxious to restore their lead, and with just 2 minutes left in the first half, Bangor once again mounted at attack. Starting on the half way line, Stewart broke away from the base of the scrum. Having taken the tackle from the opposing wing forward, he passed to Jackson, who took on another couple of defenders. The ball came to Corbett, who then deftly passed to Widdowson on the wing. With growing confidence, Widdowson took on the defenders ahead of head, finally stretching over to score in the left hand corner. The difficult touchline conversion was missed.
Although Academy had another penalty opportunity on the stroke of half time, this also was missed making the score 32-10 as the teams turned around.
As the second half got underway, it was obvious Academy were going to throw everything into attack. For the first 10 minutes, Bangor were mostly in their own twenty two, but defended well. Then another good forward break started by Jackson was taken up by Henly who made good ground through the centre. The ball was then passed wide to Widdowson who, seeing his route to the try line was blocked, wisely passed inside to Cuthbertson who cut through the remains of the Academy defence to score under the posts. The simple conversion made it 39-10 in Bangor’s favour.
However, whatever Bangor may have thought at this stage, Academy were not finished. They came straight back and forced the home side into making errors, some of which were penalised. Despite defending Academy’s direct approach, they could not prevent a flowing backline move that saw the ball moved swiftly and cleanly from one side of the pitch to the other, eventually finding just enough space to score in the left hand corner. The Academy kicker was on top form and slotted over the difficult touchline conversion, bringing the score now to 39-17.
Just a few minutes later, from a Bangor line-out on the Academy twenty two, the ball was quickly brought into the centre before being popped up to Weir who came into the back line at speed and handed off his tackler to score beside the posts. The kick was good, making the score 46-17.
Bangor’s high penalty count soon resulted in another yellow card, this time for prop Phil Whyte. This forced a reshuffle in the Bangor front row at the expense of one of the backs. This lack of backline defence and an unsettled pack led to some sloppy handling by Bangor while inside their own twenty two. Academy turned the ball over and pushed on to score in the right hand corner. This time the kick was unsuccessful.
A few minutes later, Bangor gave away a bizarre penalty for crossing in the lineout. From the resulting kick for touch and line-out, Academy formed a good rolling maul and drove over from 5 metres out. Once again the kick was missed, bringing the score now to 46-27.
With just a minute of normal time remaining, the final points in this tit for tat scoring half belonged to Bangor. Although having to defend close to their own line, Bangor produced a long clearance kick which started a race for the ball. First it was Clegg who got a foot to it, then Widdowson managed to pick it up on the bounce. Although quickly tackled, he managed to pass the ball to Henly who was lurking outside and had a clear run for the line. His try brought the score to 51-27, with Cuthbertson’s conversion attempt bouncing off the upright.
The first stoppage in play following the restart brought the referee’s final whistle and Bangor could celebrate a good win. It was encouraging to see improvements from the mistakes that were obvious in the Portadown game, and also the growing confidence in some of the newer squad members, most notably with Man of the Match Mark Widdowson who scored two excellent tries and provided the scoring pass on two further occasions.
Bangor’s next game is next Saturday at Upritchard Park when they host the current league leaders, Clogher Valley, as the QL1 campaign continues.
Bangor side: P Whyte, A Jackson (P Dornan), J Harrison, J Henly, R Corbett, G Coughey, J Clegg (c), C Stewart, R Armstrong, M Thompson, M Widdowson, M Aspley, N Cuthbertson, D Charles, M Weir
Bangor scores: M Weir (2T), J Clegg (1T), C Stewart (1T), M Widdowson (2T), N Cuthbertson (1T, 4C, 1P), J Henly (1T)
Resounding bonus point win away to Lisburn by Roger Corbett
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Newly promoted Bangor 2nds kicked off their assault on the league with a resounding 39-5 bonus point win away to Lisburn 2nds.
On a miserable afternoon, the Bangor faithful showed up in force to support their boys. With an exciting new structure and game plan in place, Bangor set about their opposition right from the off.
Lisburn had no real answer to the firepower of the Bangor pack, evident by the fact all 7 of Bangor’s tries came by way of the forwards. Karl Lamont, Matty Coey,Scott Irvine and Ian McBurney crossing the whitewash for a try apiece. Number 8 Andrew(Rhino Jackson) however crossed the line on 3 occasions, the second of which included a glorious dummy to send the cover defence floundering.
The backs looked dangerous when in the loose, some exciting breaks from centre pairing Glenn Irwin and Desi Fusco and new half back pairing Ricky Armstrong and Mark Thompson linking up well. There are concerns though for Desi, who took a blow to the knee.
Captain Ryan Meeke led his team well throughout and was a rock in defence, but the Man of the Match went to Matty Duffy whose all round performance left coaches Andy Brisbane and Davy Coey with no doubt as to who most deserved the award.
