Bangor 73 – 10 Carrickfergus
Fixture: League
Date: Saturday 8th October 2011 KO: 14:30
By Roger Corbett | Sunday 9th October 2011
Bangor masterclass stuns Carrick
CLICK HERE For Pictures Of I XV v Carrick
Bangor built on last week’s success and produced their best performance of the season so far to crush the unbeaten league leaders by 73-10.
With both sides unbeaten in the league this season, the meeting of Carrickfergus and Bangor at Upritchard Park was always going to be an appetising occasion. However, it’s unlikely many would have predicted the outcome or the manner in which it came about. Coming from a good result the previous week in the Junior Cup, Bangor were anxious to build on this and prove it wasn’t just a flash in the pan. Carrick, on the other hand, had seen their winning streak come to an abrupt end in the same competition and were equally anxious to return to winning ways. However, an inspired performance by Bangor was just too much for the Carrick men, with the home side running in eleven tries, nine of which were converted, to finish as 73-10 winners.
Kicking off into a slight headwind, Bangor gave good chase and were soon putting Carrick under pressure. It just took 5 minutes before the ball was fed to Jason Morgan who took off on one of his characteristic runs, shaking off three defenders before touching down under the posts. With the successful conversion, this was the ideal start. It was only a few minutes later that, in almost identical conditions, Ricky Armstrong repeated Jason’s success by scoring to the right of the posts. This was converted, giving Bangor a 14-0 lead.
Shortly afterwards, Carrick pulled 3 points back for an offside infringement by Bangor. However, Bangor’s response was immediate. Good interplay between backs and forwards saw the ball come to Peter Corbett who characteristically took the direct route from Carrick’s twenty-two to crash over for another converted try, and extend the lead to 21-3 with just over 15 minutes played. Carrick were reeling but had plenty of time to come back. Unfortunately for Carrick, Bangor then produced 3 minutes of inspired forward play to effectively kill off that idea. On the 25 minute mark, Bangor were awarded a penalty in a kickable position, but they instead decided to take a scrum. The ball came to the feet of Peter Corbett at Number 8, who picked up and went for the line. He was held up short but from the resulting ruck, Bangor captain Rob McCausland gathered the ball and launched himself over the Carrick defenders to score the bonus point try just to the left of the posts. From the restart, Bangor came straight back at Carrick. Having started the move, Richard Corbett eventually received the ball 5 metres from the Carrick line and made for the goal line. He needed all his height to stretch over and score in the identical place in which McCausland had scored just minutes before. With both tries converted, the score had now jumped to 35-3.
Carrick could find no answer to the Bangor attack, but proved they could still be a danger when their winger intercepted a loose pass and started off up the right hand touchline. Despite giving chase, the Bangor players were being left behind – except for James McMullan who came across from the left hand side and caught the Carrick player just short of Bangor’s line. The Bangor defence got back quickly, won the ball from the ruck and cleared to touch. However, from the resulting lineout, Carrick finally found a gap in Bangor’s defence to nip in under the posts for a try. The successful conversion coincided with the half time whistle, and the score stood at 35-10.
The second half started without David Noble who was receiving treatment for an injury. Thankfully he was patched up shortly afterwards and was able to resume on the wing. From the kick-off, Carrick were fortunate to be awarded a penalty when Bangor were found to have come in to a ruck from the side. Carrick elected to kick for goal, but the ball hit the upright, and was then collected by Morgan whose clearance kick travelled deep into the Carrick half. The Carrick defender was only able to find touch on their twenty-two. The lineout was won cleanly by Richard Corbett and, from scrum-half Armstrong’s pass, Morgan had a clear run to score again under the posts. Soon afterwards, Mike Aspley got on the score-sheet following a strong run down the left wing and holding off a determined Carrick tackle just short of the line.
Playing with the wind was a bonus for Bangor in the second half, with Morgan being able to push Carrick back into their own twenty-two on many occasions. In their efforts to find some kind of reply to Bangor’s play, Carrick’s penalty count started to rise. On the hour mark, one such penalty was kicked to the Carrick corner. The reliable Bangor lineout gathered the ball and formed a rolling maul which was eventually touched down by Ian McBurney. On this occasion, the conversion (from the left hand touchline) was missed, but the score was now 54-10.
With 20 minutes to go, and the result not in question, the game could now have slowed down. However, at almost exactly 5 minute intervals, Bangor ran in three further tries – one by full-back Davy Charles who sprinted from the half way line to score in the left hand corner, another by Aspley after some slick handling between himself and Morgan, and the game was rounded off by another Morgan try in the final play to bring the winning margin to 73-10.
While the critical eyes of the coaching staff know that there are areas of play that still need attention, nobody would deny that this was an outstanding team performance. The interplay and support between forwards and backs was obvious from the start, with players having the confidence to run at their opponents, knowing that there was always going to be support close at hand. Players are also beginning to develop close playing relationships within their specific positional roles. Attacking yet unselfish play like this was personified by Chris Morris who picked up the Reeds Rains Man of the Match award. All these qualities will be put to the test next weekend when the focus returns to the Junior Cup – this time a second round encounter with QL1 side Portadown. However, if Bangor can reproduce performances like this, you wouldn’t bet against them!
Bangor team : S Irvine, A Jackson, J Harrison, T Brown , R Corbett, R McCausland (C), I McBurney, P Corbett, R Armstrong, J Morgan, J McMullan, M Aspley, C Morris, D Noble, D Charles
Bangor Scores: J Morgan (3T, 9C), M Aspley (2T), R Armstrong (1T), P Corbett (1T), R McCausland (1T), R Corbett (1T), I McBurney (1T), D Charles (1T)
Belfast Quinns 3rds 7 – 17 Bangor 2nds
By Roger Corbett | Sunday 9th October 2011
2nds come from behind to beat ‘Quins 3rds
Having trailed by 7-0 at half time, Bangor 2nds came back with two tries by Steve Gilliland and Daniel McBride to finish winners by 7-17.
Bangor 2 travelled to Harlequins 3 in a league game; again the weather was good, little wind and sun shine. The game was played on their 1st pitch, it was wide and inviting to our much younger and fitter team, Harlequins had a mixed team of old hands and youth which as we know from our own 3rds of the past was a winning combination, unfortunately this was not the case for Harlequins. The first 32 minutes of the first half was quite uneventful with both teams cancelling each other out although Bangor showed more aggression in open play, then an unforced error by Bangor which led to Harlequins first and only try. This was converted and Harlequins led by 7 points.
The first half was brought to a close by the referee. Andrew Brisbane, Bangor’s captain, gathered his team and told them that although they were behind they were not the worst team on the pitch. A few mistakes were made but we still controlled the game. He urged his pack to keep up their hard work and the rewards would come our way. The back line were doing everything right, but just lacked that last coerce to go over the line – again he urged his team to be patient.
The second half started with Bangor in control. Our new import David McNally from across the pond made a lovely break, offloading the ball for Steve Gilliland who scored – unfortunately Daniel McBride missed the conversion.
After the restart Bangor were taking more control of the play again, but the last stage of any attack lacked the finishing that Bangor have in bucketful’s when they decide to use it. 30 minutes into the second half a well won ball by Bangor’s pack was moved out to the back line who in true Bangor style moved the ball out to the wing, where the effervescent Andrew Brisbane collected the ball and ran in to score under the posts – Daniel McBride was successful with the conversion. The Bangor pack were now starting to put pressure on a tired Harlequins side, and after some fine passages of play from Bangor, Steve Gilliland emerged with the ball making a driving run towards the line and offloading at the right time for Daniel McBride to score – the conversion was missed leaving the score Bangor 17 Harlequins 7.
aaron orr and Ryan Meek were in fine form through the game winning most of the line out ball, the front row of Steve Cullan, Craig Hampstead and Pete Morrow had a steady game controlling most of the forward play, although Steve Gilliland and David McNally were on the score sheet the other member of the trio Mat Coey who was tireless in his pursuit of the ball to his credit won control most of the time. Again the backs had a steady game – on some of their sorties they lost that final penetration, but overall they played very well.
Just to finish Coops, Steven and I picked Andrew Brisbane as Man of the Match for his overall leadership and positional kicking.
No game next week. Don’t forget training – if you’re not there, then we can’t put right what went wrong on Saturday.
Thanks again to Tony Heffernan for this match report.
