Brute force and quick feet too much for Lisburn
by Roger Corbett
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Bangor 2nds hosted Lisburn 2nds in their Junior League fixture at Upritchard Park. Having gone ahead by 24 points, the home side withstood a spirited fight back by a strong Lisburn side, to finally win by 27-24.
Bangor got the game underway and were immediately under pressure, especially from the powerful Lisburn pack. After just 5 minutes of play, and having been driven back into their own twenty two, Bangor conceded a penalty in front of their posts to give Lisburn a simple kick and take the lead by 0-3.
The home side soon settled after this, and for the following half hour, contained play in the centre of the pitch. Eventually they had an opportunity to level the scores when Lisburn gave away a penalty. Mark Thompson duly converted the kick and the score was 3-3.
Bangor’s battering ram, Serelli Magoon, was starting to impose himself as he made a number of characteristically direct runs into Lisburn territory. Having made good ground, and with the ball recycled through the backs, it was fitting that he should finish off a great move by charging over to score the game’s first try. Thompson made the kick, and the score was now 10-3.
As the first half drew to a close, Bangor threw everything into attack. Dave Miller made a break from his own half before passing to Pete Nicol. Although tackled, he got the ball back to Stephen Addy who set off on a looping run. Having sufficiently confused the opposition, he then passed to Glen Irwin who continued the drive forward before finally passing to Serelli who made the final yards to the line. Thompson’s conversion kick was just wide, but as the sides turned around at half time, Bangor were ahead by 15-3.
The second half saw Bangor continue to show the variety of play that was causing Lisburn all manner of problems, and it took just 10 minutes before they forced a mistake in the Lisburn back line allowing them to pounce on a passing mistake. Although the visitors were moving into Bangor territory, a slow looping pass was intercepted above head height by Miller, who pinned back his ears and sprinted through the gap in Lisburn’s defence to score under the posts. The simple conversion extended Bangor’s lead to 22-3.
With just 2 minutes more played, Bangor undoubtedly produced the best score of the game. Another good passage of play between forwards and backs brought play to Lisburn’s 10 metre line. From a ruck, scrum half Mattie Baillie collected the ball, ran round the blind side and started off down the left touchline. Having little room to work with, and with supporting players inside him, he showed as if passing inside, but continued down the wing. Again, he dummied the approaching defender, making yet more ground. By now, the supporting Bangor players were not as close as before, so the only option now was to put the head down and drive for the line. Although closely tracked by Lisburn players, he finally managed to squeeze over in the left hand corner for an excellent and well-deserved try. The difficult touchline conversion was missed, but with just over a quarter of the game remaining, Bangor looked comfortable at 27-3.
A combination of complacency by Bangor and renewed determination by Lisburn took the game into an unexpected passage of play. With 15 minutes of the half gone, Lisburn were awarded a penalty. Although within kicking range, the option to kick for touch was taken. The resulting lineout was won cleanly, and from the rolling maul the Lisburn pack drove over the Bangor line to score. With the conversion added, the score had now moved to 27-10.
The next 15 minutes was a fairly even affair, with neither side able to break through. However, from a Lisburn ruck inside Bangor’s twenty two, the forwards repeated their earlier option of the rolling maul and again pushed the Bangor defence back over their own line to score a second try. The conversion was successful, narrowing Bangor’s lead to 27-17, with just 10 minutes to go.
Lisburn now knew that their best form of attack was through their pack. It was therefore no surprise when they won another lineout deep inside Bangor’s twenty two, they once again produced a well-formed maul and drove over again for the third time. Again, the conversion was successful which brought the visitors to 27-24, and within a score of taking the lead.
With just 5 minutes remaining, and now fully aware of the one game plan their opponents had, Bangor rallied and wisely kept play away from the danger area within their twenty two. The final whistle brought relief, but also a well-deserved victory for Bangor, and keeps them well placed in the league standings. The next fixture for the 2nds is an evening kick-off at home on Friday 13th December against Banbridge 3rds in the first round of this season’s Crawford Cup.
Bangor scores: S Magoon (2T), D Miller (1T), M Baillie (1T), M Thompson (1P, 2C)
