Armagh seconds met Queens second in a 2nd xv encounter at the Dub in Belfast on Saturday. Captain for the day Matthew Steenson elected to play into the strong wind against a useful Queens side. After 10 minutes, with play brought into the Queen’s 22, Andy Hughes playing his first game of the season drove over at the corner for an unconverted try, 5-0 to Armagh. With Queen’s keen to move the ball from all over the park, Armagh spent some time in their own half defending their line. However on 30 minutes a breakout from defence ended with a pushover try from a 5 metre scrum by Jonny Clarke. Matthew Steenson converted despite a swirling wind 12-0. Just before half time, some slack defence let the Queens left winger in for a converted try to make the score 12-7 to Armagh. This was the wake up call needed as Armagh weren’t firing on all cylinders. On the restart Armagh had difficultly using the wind to gain territory, however on 45 minutes John Purdy broke through a couple of Queens tackles and cleverly offloaded to Andrew Willis who beat his winger with ease to touch down, 17-7 to Armagh. The next score came from a kick ahead by Andy Hughes which was followed up by Jonny Clarke for his second try, converted by Steenson 24-7. At this stage one could be forgiven for thinking an Armagh victory was certain, however Queens had other ideas and scored a quick converted try to peg Armagh back to 24-14. After Clarke scored his hat trick try from another pushover scrum, the gap opened again to 29-14. Once again Queens came back with more determined running to score another converted try, 29-21. With 5 minutes to fulltime, Armagh brought play into the Queens 22 where from a lineout, Andy Hughes received the ball and side stepped his way over to score in the corner, This left the final score 34-21 to Armagh. This wasn’t a vintage second’s performance by any means but credit to Queens for playing an expansive game to the final whistle.
INTOUCH REQUEST – CHECK THIS OUT – THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ireland Ladies Rugby I XV Are playing England this weekend and need as much support as they can get – please watch the clip below and feel free to share it, they are on the verge of a great VICTORY & with Ulster representation!
[youtube w72eOkj_XYI]
