Victory against Ballynahinch in Crawford Cup
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The Cup run for Bangor 2nds got underway on Saturday, at home to Ballynahinch 4ths. In a close encounter, it was Bangor who came through as 12-5 winners.
The weather conditions were perfect for rugby, and by the time both teams ran onto the field of play, a small crowd had gathered around Upritchard Park, to give the home team their support. Ballynahinch kicked off, and immediately put the home team under pressure, resulting in a line out on the Bangor line – the away team looked to mean business. Over the past few weeks Bangor’s game had started slowly, allowing the opposition too much room to play their game. Before rising to the bait, not this time a few well chosen words from the pack leader S Cullen soon got the hackles up, and Bangor defended their line as if their lives depended on the outcome, repelling the away team, and with some fine kicking from A Brisbane, Bangor cleared their line.
The game then settled down. The referee from the start laid down the law and to his credit he was true to his word. Midway through the first half, he gave a yellow card to S Cullen for illegal use of the boot, although in fairness to Steven he was being held by a Ballynahinch player on the ground. With Bangor being a man down the away team tried to capitalise and threw everything at the home team. Again with the Cullen chat still ringing in their ears, Bangor weathered the storm, and conceded no points during the sin bin period. Young Steve rejoined the game with Bangor defending their line, again the home team defended well. D Charles made a break on his wing – never mind the B.OD side step, it has been renamed the DC side step. As he left the Ballynahinch wing in his wake, the ball was moved out the back line, it was passed to A Brisbane who chipped his opponent. The ball hit a Ballynahinch player coming forward, rebounding off Andrew who pounced on the ball to score Bangor’s first try. Andrew also added two more points with a well taken conversion, giving Bangor the 7-0 lead. A short time later the ref blew for half time.
As the game restarted, both teams in no doubt that this is a cup match, so neither team are going to walk away with an easy win. The away team started the stronger, again putting the home team under pressure. A well rehearsed move from a line out put the visitors back in the game with an unconverted try, however Bangor still held the lead 7-5. This seemed to settle the home team down, and they started to play calculated rugby. Once again R Armstrong was superb at scrum half, bossing his forwards with his witty ways. As with the first half both teams cancelled each other out, with a mixture of fine attacking rugby, and stout defending.
The decisive score came with 25 minutes gone in the second half. The Bangor pack secured the ball just outside their own 22. The ball was passed back to A Brisbane who put a well placed kick down the right wing. D Charles seized the moment and gave chase to what seemed a lost ball. The Ballynahinch full back made a dreadful error by missing the ball, allowing David to dribble the ball over the line to score. It was a try that oozed class, a team try, an absolute pleasure to watch. Unfortunately the conversion was put just wide of the posts, but Bangor’s lead was now 12-5, which they held until the final whistle.
The man of the match award was very close this week. The management team of S Addy, C Cooper and I, all agreed that it would go to Brian McNally who was tremendous throughout the game. He put himself through the mill from the kickoff, stealing and carrying the ball well, and making an absolute nuisance of himself in open play.
The 2nds management and players would like to thank our supporters for giving their support on Saturday – it means a lot to us.
Saturday’s team: Steven Cullen, Brian McNally, Peter Nicole, Adam Rushe, Steven Ferguson, Seth Crawley, Daniel McNally, Steven Gilliland, Ricky Armstrong, Ryan Law, David Charles, James Ferguson, Jamie Foulkes, Harry Millar, Andrew Brisbane.
(Thanks to Tony Heffernan)
