In a close match where the lead swung from Bangor to Ballyclare and then back to Bangor, the home side kept their composure and produced one of their best performances to finish as 22-18 winners.
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With Ballyclare in contention for the league title and Bangor enjoying something of a resurgence in form, the stage was set for a showdown – particularly following the result at Ballyclare earlier in the season.
The day started badly for Ballyclare – in the pre-match warm-up, their out half suffered a shoulder injury and was unable to start. Luckily, Ballyclare 3rds were also playing at Bangor, so a replacement was available. For Bangor’s part, they were without their usual back row forwards as a result of injury and unavailability and, although this was still a very capable pack, its lack of weight would be a cause for concern against their strong Ballyclare counterparts.
From Bangor’s kick-off, Ballyclare immediately capitalised on an early Bangor mistake and hacked the ball on towards the Bangor line. However, in the chase for the line, the ball was knocked-on and Bangor drew a sigh of relief. It was then Bangor’s turn to mount an attack. From deep within their own half, they broke the Ballyclare line and were soon within sight of the line. The quick ball from a ruck in front of the visitors’ posts was passed wide to Jason Morgan who crashed over for a try in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed, but with just 2 minutes gone, the game was certainly on.
Although Bangor enjoyed the better possession over the following 20 minutes, it was not until they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts that they extended their lead to 8-0. Then, as the game entered the last 10 minutes of the first half, it burst into action again. Dogged Ballyclare pressure forced a mistake in the Bangor defence which led to a converted try, bringing the score to 8-7. Just a minute later, a similar mix-up in Ballyclare’s defence gave Bangor another penalty, which Keith Rossan duly converted. From the following restart, yet another mistake resulted in the ball not being collected by Bangor, and having been picked up by the chasing Ballyclare pack, was moved quickly across the backs to give them a try to the left of Bangor’s posts. Although the kick was missed, Ballyclare had now taken the lead by 11-12, and this is how it remained until the half time whistle.
Bangor started the second half with renewed vigour. A great run down the right wing by Rossan brought the game into Ballyclare’s twenty two. From the following breakdown and ruck, Bangor were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch, just short of the Ballyclare line. In pouring rain, the resulting lineout was cleanly taken by Richard Corbett and, in a well worked training ground move, the ball was passed to Nick Hatton who ran back around the front of the lineout to crash over for a try in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed, but Bangor were back in the lead.
Bangor now sensed that the game was swinging their way. Determined to keep the points ticking over, a short time later Jason Morgan kicked a successful drop goal. However, the strong Ballyclare pack was causing the Bangor scrum severe difficulties throughout the game, and 13 minutes into the half forced a penalty which was successfully converted, narrowing Bangor’s lead to 19-15.
Ballyclare realised that their strength was in their forwards, and in particular in the set pieces, regularly wheeling and driving the Bangor scrum. To Bangor’s credit, their defence was excellent, holding their line and forcing mistakes in the Ballyclare attack.
Then, as in the first half, the final 10 minutes of the game produced more drama. First it was Bangor who benefited from a Ballyclare scrum infringement, with the resulting penalty pushing the home side further ahead at 22-15. Then, just 2 minutes later, it was Ballyclare who had a penalty. One try would not be good enough for the win, so they opted to kick. With this success, the score was now 22-18, and just one unconverted by Ballyclare would win them the game. This wasn’t lost on the Bangor players who kept their concentration and played sensible rugby, keeping the ball within the Ballyclare half. The final whistle was met with joy and despair in equal measure, but the day belonged to Bangor, and went some way towards putting the earlier difficult visit to Ballyclare behind them. For the second week in a row Bangor’s hooker, Andrew Jackson, was awarded the Reeds Rains Man of the Match.
Having suffered a difficult middle section of the season, Bangor are rediscovering the type of form they displayed earlier. In fact, it could be argued that they have become a better side because of what they have come through. From the touchline, the improvements in both individual and team performances are obvious, and the players and coaches are to be applauded for sticking to their task in the belief that the results would come again. With Bangor now lying fourth in the league, the next game, away to Grosvenor, is another eagerly awaited game, especially as they are also enjoying a good run of form.
Bangor team: P Nicol, A Jackson, S Irvine, F Black, R Corbett, M Coey, N Hatton, D McNally, R Armstrong, J Morgan, D Charles, M Aspley, C Morris, K Rossan, C Morgan
Bangor scores: J Morgan (1T, 1DG), N Hatton (1T), K Rossan (3P)
