4’s Earn Home Victory
Holywood made the short trip to Deramore for this Minor League encounter against the 4s and with several changes to the Quins team, it was a difficult game to predict however the Quins men performed admirably and put in another solid performance, running in 7 tries and kicking four conversions.
The first exchanges were pretty even in terms of possession however, after ten minutes, the Quins team started to settle into a rhythm and put together a series of quick rucks allowing the backs to run at their opponents. From one such ruck, Fergal made a great break in the Holywood 22, he off-loaded to Scott Mac who was lurking/skulking/loitering on his left shoulder and he then scampered across the line to open the scoring to make it 7-0 with Scotty adding the conversion. This had the required calming effect on the side and from the kick off big Kevin drove well as did Caren and the two Petes in the second row. After 15 minutes the ball was moved wide to Ben W, who once again made a lot of ground only to be stopped by a great defensive tackle by his Holywood opponent. Shortly after, Ben Craig, playing out of position at full back, popped up on the left wing to round off a great passing move in the corner to take the score to 14-0 with a great Scotty kick from wide on the left. The Quins men did make several errors and allowed Holywood to come back at them but with ten minutes left of the half, Ben Whitley rounded off another slick backs move to make it 21-0 with the conversion once more. With 5 minutes remaining more Quins pressure allowed Ricky to put Ben (ginger ninja) Craig in for his second of the game to leave it 26-0 at the half time whistle.
The second period was a little disjointed and it took a while for the 4s to regain their composure on and off the ball as penalty after penalty was awarded against them. Holywood took advantage of this fully and, to their credit, gave the Quins men a taste of their own medicine with some great rucking and driving. This resulted in them scoring a converted try to make it 26-7 and they looked as if they could put the 4s under real pressure however, once the 4s relaxed and reverted to basic moves, they looked in the ascendancy. A series of solid rucks saw McC barge over for a good try and with the conversion the score line was 31-7. Unfortunately, with 20 minutes remaining, the Holywood full back had to retire with a hamstring injury however Quins made good use of the extra man, moving ball wide and running hard at the defenders. One attacking phase saw the ball moved wide to the right and McC found himself in acres of space. Although Monty was hovering outside him, he dummied to go in under the posts to make it 38-7 with the conversion and with 5 minutes remaining the game was put out of sight by Scott Mac who again popped up in the right place to go over for his second and the 4s final try of the game. Final score 43-7 to the hosts.
This was a good solid home victory for the 4s who performed admirably in all aspects of the game. The line out worked well as did the scrum and the rucking was excellent at times with some great ball left for Ricky who was playing out of position at 9. The backline looked comfortable with ball in hand but made several unforced errors that thankfully went unpunished however this is just nitpicking by a grumpy old man! The 2 Peters did well in the second row (although I was reliably informed that Pete McClug has to score sometime soon or else his mum won’t let him play again) and Fergal, Paul (didn’t score again) and Tim played very well as a unit. The backs showed a good turn of pace they defended resolutely throughout the game and were rewarded with some well taken scores. Thanks again to all those who turned up to support the team. Your attendance is greatly appreciated. We now now have a two week break before the cup campaign starts on 8 December. Training is essential and continues on Thursday nights at 7pm.
