UUC RFC I XV 28 v 28 Bangor RFC I XV
On a good pitch and in perfect weather, Bangor took on league leaders UUC at Coleraine. Having taken a quick lead, Bangor fell behind as the result of unforced errors. However, despite trailing by 14 points, they fought back to draw the game at 28 all.
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From Bangor’s kick-off, UUC immediately returned the ball with interest, pushing Bangor deep into their twenty two. Having come up against little resistance against Bangor earlier in the season, UUC must have been confident of a similar result, especially with home advantage. However, the visitors were determined to build on recent improvements. This became obvious when, just 2 minutes into the game, they gathered the ball from their own line and, instead of simply kicking for touch, opted to run the ball out of defence. The Bangor back line ran and passed with purpose, eventually bringing in full-back Chris Morgan who found space on the right wing and ran in under the posts for the opening try of the game. With the straightforward conversion by Keith Rossan, Bangor led 0-7.
Spurred on by the small band of travelling supporters, Bangor continued to dominate the next 10 minutes, with more incisive breaks through the centre by Jason Morgan and Chris Morris. However it was a case of déjà vu once more, as a Bangor clearance kick from within their own twenty two was charged down, gathered and passed across their back line before being touched down for a try in the left hand corner. The difficult conversion was missed, but UUC had been gifted 5 points.
No doubt encouraged by this stroke of good fortune, UUC started to apply pressure. Just 5 minutes on, and from a penalty in the middle of the pitch, UUC won a lineout deep inside Bangor’s half. Although the lineout was disrupted and stolen by Bangor, the ball was knocked-on giving UUC the scrum. The strong UUC pack was able to provide a quick, controlled ball to their back line who found a gap in the Bangor defence to score to the left of the posts. Once more, the conversion was missed, but UUC were now in the lead by 10-7.
With just over a quarter of the game played, UUC suffered an unfortunate setback. As Jason Morgan was making another break, he was ‘tip tackled’ (or speared in old terminology) by the UUC number 14. Although thankfully no injury came of this, and no malice was intended, it was undoubtedly a dangerous tackle. As has been the talk in many a rugby club bar in recent months, the guidance to referees in these instances is that they ‘start with red’ – and so it was now, with the UUC winger playing no further part in the game.
To their credit, UUC were able to maintain their momentum and were determined not to let Bangor capitalise. From a speculative kick-through into Bangor’s twenty two, the Bangor defence got into a mix-up with nobody being able to clear the ball, allowing UUC to gather and scramble over in the right hand corner for another unconverted try, extending their lead to 15-7.
Both sides drew breath during the following 10 minutes. However, it was a terrific break by Chris Morris that got things going again. He was held up a few metres from the UUC line, but won a penalty for his efforts. Bangor spurned the easy kick and went for touch. A well executed lineout move saw the ball won by Richard Corbett, passed down to Ricky Armstrong who fed Ian McBurney who ran around the front of the lineout to surprise the UUC defence and score to the right of the posts. Rossan successfully kicked the conversion which narrowed the difference to 15-14. This was a quality try that was well worked and enjoyed by all the Bangor forwards.
With just a few minutes left, Bangor applied more pressure on the UUC line, but were repelled each time. Unfortunately with the last play of the first half, one of these attacks resulted in an injury to Chris Morgan, which prevented him from taking any further part in the game.
With Morgan’s injury, the second half started with both sides back on even manpower terms. UUC’s tails were up, but Bangor didn’t help their cause by making yet more mistakes. From the kick-off, Bangor didn’t secure the ball and were lucky to escape without conceding a try after compounding this with further mistakes in front of their posts. Relief finally came after UUC had infringed, and Bangor were able to clear their lines from the resulting penalty. However, UUC came straight back, winning a penalty themselves in front of the posts. The straightforward kick was taken, bringing the score now to 18-14.
Again, Bangor regrouped and pressed forward. With 15 minutes of the second half gone, Bangor had worked their up to the UUC line and, although Jason Morgan had crashed over for what he thought was a try, the ball had been knocked on just beforehand. From the UUC scrum, the scrum half whipped the ball to the out half who took the ball at speed and simply cut through the Bangor line. With Bangor back-peddling and not making the important tackles, UUC had a free run to score their best try of the game, and secure their bonus point. Once again, the conversion was missed, the score moving to 23-14.
Half way through the second half, Bangor were guilty of conceding yet another soft try. With no apparent danger from UUC, but still within their own twenty two, Rossan attempted a little kick through for the Bangor men to chase. Unfortunately, this was charged down resulting in the ball being handed to UUC who duly scored in the left hand corner. The UUC kicker missed again, but Bangor were now 28-14 down and left with a mountain to climb.
Matters weren’t improved for Bangor when Rossan was yellow-carded for a late tackle on one of the UUC centres. With just over 10 minutes until the final whistle, UUC must have been looking forward to picking up 5 points to secure their place at the top of the league. Bangor , however, were not prepared to go home empty-handed. From a move starting close to their own line, the ball was eventually passed to second row forward Richard Corbett on the Bangor 10 metre line. With little room to work with, he started off down the right hand touch line. Seeing the space ahead, he turned on the gas, and showed a clean pair of heels to the chasing UUC winger before sensibly running in under the posts to make Jason Morgan’s conversion a formality. With the score now 28-21, and just one more converted try in it, the UUC coaching staff were anxiously telling their players to hold onto the ball and not let the game slip any further.
Rossan returned to the game with just 4 minutes left. UUC were holding on desperately while Bangor produced the sort of play they had displayed at the start of the game. With just 2 minutes to go, UUC gave away another penalty inside their twenty two and had one of their players yellow carded as a result. Sensing the game was swinging back in their favour, Bangor took a quick tap and go. The ball came to Andrew Jackson who, with the support of the rest of the Bangor pack, charged over to score Bangor’s fourth try, and hence secure a bonus point. However, the drama wasn’t over. The conversion was to be taken from left of the posts – a kick that had proved too difficult on a number of occasions for UUC earlier. With the UUC players sprinting towards him, Rossan held his nerve and slotted the conversion home to tie the game at 28-28. The referee’s full time whistle was met with delight by Bangor and despair from UUC, who although picking up 3 points for the draw and bonus point, will no doubt view this as 2 points dropped.
It has been noted by other teams in this league that while UUC has undoubtedly a talented team, their success regularly comes from the mistakes of their opponents. Their clinical finishing has certainly served them well. However, had it not been for Bangor’s mistakes and the soft tries that resulted from them, the result could well have been quite different. Without doubt, this was one of Bangor’s most spirited performances of the season. With their back against the wall, they played themselves back into contention and truly earned their points. This result should provide the encouragement the players need as they host Enniskillen in what is expected to be another hard encounter at Upritchard Park next week.
Bangor team : P Nichol, A Jackson, S Irvine, R Meeke, R Corbett, M Coey, I McBurney, P Corbett, R Armstrong (C), K Rossan, M Aspley, J Morgan, C Morris, J McMullan, C Morgan
Bangor Scores : C Morgan (1T), I McBurney (1T), R Corbett (1T), A Jackson (1T), K Rossan (3C), J Morgan (1C)
