Nevin Spence
“Our deepest sympathy to the Spence family on the loss of Nevin, his father Noel and brother Graham. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Belfast Harlequins 5 vs 45 Larne 2
I XV: Rainey 5 vs 10 Belfast Harlequins
Larne 3 18 vs 13 Belfast Harlequins
The 4’s paid dearly for a very sluggish start in a dry and sunny Glynn today and, despite a phenomenal last twenty minutes, which included a great solo try from Mark Scott and a disallowed try for a very suspect forward pass, the result was a lesson for the side who failed time and time again to tackle low against bulkier opponents.
The week long front-row farce resulted in Martin Malseed agreeing to come out of retirement/hibernation (without any contract signed by the way) and without his efforts the game could simply not have been played therefore both sides owe him a great debt of gratitude.
Caren Degan also deserves our sincere gratitude given that he was due to take part in a boxing bout on Saturday night but was forced into action. (He won his bout easily and was awarded “fighter of the night” by the way!)
For the record, two Mark Scott penalties were cancelled out by the Larne out-half and then, some sloppy tackling (story of the day), allowed Larne to cross the Quins line to make it 13-6 at half time.
Larne scored their second try late in the second half to make it 18-6 but the 4’s showed some great determination and spirit to rally and keep the Larne men on the back foot for the final ten minutes. Mark Scott danced his way through about 8 opponents to score under the posts and convert. With 2 minutes to go, an equallising try was disallowed for a forward pass much to the dismay of the travelling support. The final score 18-13.
This was a big wake up call for all involved and shows how much work still needs to be done. Simply put, Quins did not deserve a victory for their first half peformance but the most encouraging thing was the way the team responded when it looked all but over.
Belfast Harlequins 27 vs 8 Ards
Quins eventually overcome a determined Ards.
It took two second half tries to make this look a convincing win against an Ards side which never give up until the final whistle.
The visitors were the first to score after just 2 minutes when Paul Cox slotted over a straightforward penalty.
A well worked try allowed ‘Quins Roger Kirkwood to dash over in the corner on 15 mins. Peter Foley attempted what was to be first of four failed conversions during the game.
With a further 8 mins gone the Ballyclare express, Matthew Holmes glided over for the home sides second try. Again Foley was unsuccessful with the extras.
Not to be out done, Ards stemmed the flow with a Andrew Foster try on 31 mins. the conversion was missed by Cox.
On the stroke of half time the robust Tom Fraser was driven over for ‘Quins third try. After a continuos two week stint on duty, an exhausted Dr Pete couldn’t add the extra points.
HT score 10-8
‘Quins scored two more tries in the second half, the first by Mark Kettyle on 49 mins and Roger Kirkwood added his second on 62 mins. Dr Pete broke his duck and added the conversion to the final try.
