The Maxol sponsored Carrick 1st XV lost away to Larne by 14 points to 13 in the Hawkins Cup on Saturday 20 November. In this hard-fought encounter, Carrick have only themselves to blame for the narrow loss. The penalty count against them was something of the order of twelve to three; when a tendency to take wrong options at times and some slack kicking are added in, it is not surprising that the Section 3 home team came out on top. That said, this is a young Carrick side -and a number of players were playing out of position- and they certainly have the ability to put things right. There were some fine individual performances, most notably from team Captain Stuart Currie who was outstanding in the line-out and put in some storming runs at No 8. Ross Crymble also carried well and the team as a whole defended with great courage.
Carrick started the game strongly but it was Larne who took the lead after seventeen minutes with a penalty goal. Carrick levelled the score five minutes later when Glen Picken put over the first of his penalties. but virtually from the re-start the visitors offended and Larne regained the lead with another penalty. However, on thirty minutes Carrick got their only try when Stuart Currie picked up off the back of a scrum on the Larne 22 and broke one tackle and then produced a great hand-off to go over near the post. Glen Picken added the points. With half-time beckoning, Larne re-gained the lead when Carrick had a kick charged down and it was hacked over the line for the home side’s winger to touch down. The try was not converted to leave Larne leading by 11 points to 10 at half-time.
The second half was a dour affair with both sides making a lot of errors. Carrick briefly took the lead on twenty minutes with a second Glen Picken penalty but Larne went ahead again five minutes later with an excellent kick from the Carrick 10 metre line. This was the end of the scoring, despite break-out runs by Currie and Crymble which almost led to tries. Larne, with their better discipline and dominance of territory in the second half, deserved to win the close contest by 14 points 13.
The Carrick team was :
J. Sheriff; B. Alexander(I. Turner), J. Wady, D. Crothers, C. Jordan; G. Picken, M. Patterson; W. McLean(E. McBrien), R. Higgins(J. Hagan), C. Rea, C. Rogers(A. Haire), N. Marsden, R. Crymble, S. Currie(Capt).
For pictures of Carrick IV XV – CLICK HERE –
For pictures of Carrick U19s XV – CLICK HERE –
In Saturday’s other games, the Carrick Under 19s lost at home to Ballyclare by 18 points to 7 in a top of the table contest. Nathan Greenwood scored Carrick’s only try and Adam Kendell, who played extremely well, converted.
The 4th XV lost to top of the table Ballymena V by 40 points to 5 in a game in which the score-line did not reflect the Carrick performance.
The 3rd XV were awarded the points against Enniskillen III who have withdrawn from the League. The 5th XV’s match against Grosvenor IV was postponed because the pitch was unplayable.
Unlike the senior teams, the Carrick youth sides had a very successful Saturday away at Portadown, with the Under 17s winning by 24 points to 18, the Under 15s by 30 points to 3 and the Under 13s by 67 points to nil.
The minis hosted Ballymena and performed superbly, winning the majority of their matches.
On Sunday 21 November, the Carrick Ladies hosted Dublin University and earned a 10 points all draw.The Carrick try scorers were Hilary Cawood and Helen Smyth, with Claire Kirkwood being awarded “girl of the match”.
Fixtures for Saturday 27 November are:
1st XV vs Omagh, away
2nd XV vs Omagh II, away
3rd XV vs Dungannon IV, away
4th XV vs Lisburn IV, home
Under 19 XV vs Larne, away
The 5th XV and Ladies XV have no fixtures
The minis are away Bangor on SUNDAY, kick-off 2pm.
