City of Derry RFC 29pts, Rainey OB 17pts
Match Report by; Moss Dineen
City of Derry Rugby Club 1st Team produced an exciting performance at Judges Road on Saturday last to gain a bonus point win over Rainey in the Ulster Senior League. The victory gave Derry a hat trick of wins over their nearest senior neighbours having already been beaten them in the Ulster Senior Cup and All Ireland League earlier in the season.
The Judges Road men produced five excellent try’s and despite been reduced to twelve men at one stage at the beginning of the second half, with their deficit reduced to two points, they finished the game in style with two excellently carved try’s to confirm their superiority. Rainey never gave up the fight as they gave their all with some decent passages of play that kept them right in the game throughout.
Rainey started with the wind advantage blowing straight down the pitch towards the Limavady Road on a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon. Derry were soon into their stride as the movement flow and rhythm of their game was there from the start. They scored their first try on six minutes when Stephen Corr and Neil Burns took play down the left wing as the Rainey committed too many men to stop the move. Half Backs Jack Caithness and Andrew Semple spotted a mismatch out right and two passes later Richard Baird mesmerised the Rainey cover with an exquisite side step to find his mate the unstoppable Stephen Ferguson who powered in for a special try which Burns converted for a 7pts to nil lead.
Rainey had a sustained period of pressure with their captain Neil O’Kane involved in every forward drive supported by Stephen Rutledge and Colin Mitchell. Derry’s defence was solid with Ryan Campbell having an outstanding game in the centre giving leadership to Burns, Jack Hargan, Mark Robinson and Stephen Brennan as they held Rainey at bay. Rainey for all their possession only had a miss penalty chance on fifteen minutes to show for it. Derry took over half was through with Paul McFeely immense at the breakdown supported by Gareth Beatty and Cathal Cregan this allowed Ferguson to run amok with his fellow back rowers Corr and Baird nor too far away.
Derry attacked on twenty four minutes through Sam Duffy, Corr and Baird and quick breakdown ball was moved to Chris Copper, he found winger Stephen Brennan outside him to run in for an unconverted try and a 12pts to nil lead. Rainey retorted with a typical Mark O’Connor penalty from 45 meters on the half hour and the lead was back to 12pts to 3pts. Derry went into all out attack mode two minutes later Cooper won good line out ball to setup a series of pick and drives with McFeely, Baird, Corr and Cregan to the fore but a knock on stopped the flow. The scrum to Rainey saw Derry turn over possession as Paul McFeely thundered in for a try converted by Burns for a 19pts to 3pts have time lead.
Derry had the wind advantage in the second half but slipped into defensive mode from the start. Rainey were on all out attack and Derry lost Jack Caithness on three minutes to the Sin Bin followed by Chris Cooper a minute later as they tried to stem the tide. Rainey were awarded a penalty try on five minutes and O’Connor converted to reduce the deficit to 19pts to 10pts.
Derry Coach Mark Nicholl went to the bench to bring on the heavies Bob McKillop and San McAuley to stabilise the situation but McAuley was also binned on 11 minutes to reduce the Judges Road men to twelve. Derry had to work hard to make up for the loss of numbers but Stephen Corr, Neil Burns and Ryan Campbell produced some powerful tackling and commitment. Rainey eventually breached the Derry line when Mark O’Connor touched down for a try which he converted and Derry’s lead was back to 19pts to 17pts with twenty second half minutes gone.
Derry now had their full complement back on and regained control of the game, Chris Shields was on at loose head prop and along with McAuley and Sam Duffy in the front row and Bob McKillop and Chris Cooper in the second row it was one way traffic at scrum time. Ferguson was now producing some big carries and supported by Corr and Baird they looked a powerful back row when in full flight. Derry had three quick five meter scrums in a row on twenty five minutes and with the Rainey pack fire fighting, Stephen Ferguson picked up at the base of the a scrum and touched down for an unconverted try and a 24pts to 17pts lead.
Derry brought on Phil Duffy and Paddy Blennerhassett to the back line as the Judges Road men owned the remainder of the game as they produced some sparkling attacking rugby. It was no surprise as they finished off Rainey with as superb try on thirty five minutes. Ferguson was unstoppable as he carried ball forward out of his own half engaging four men to slow him down, he offloaded beautifully to Richard Baird in support as usual and when he found Man of the Match Ryan Campbell there was only one result a try out wide which bought the final score to 29pts to 17pts to end a great game of rugby. Derry’s next game is on Saturday week at home to Ballymena in the All Ireland League Division 2A top of the table clash.
City of Derry RFC Team V Rainey : Gareth Beattie, Cathal Cregan, Sam Duffy, Chris Cooper, Paul McFeely, Stephen Corr, Richard Baird, Stephen Ferguson, Jack Caithness, Andrew Semple, Jack Hargan, Ryan Campbell, Neil Burns, Stephen Brennan, Mark Robinson. Replacements: Chris Shields, Sam McAuley, Bob McKillop, Philip Duffy, Paddy Blennerhassett.
