This game was always going to be a test for Armagh. Last week’s convincing win against Ards was now history. Saturday’s opposition, Instonians, one of the most respected clubs in Ulster rugby promised to be a much stiffer test. They play in a league above Armagh so it was always going to throw a tremendous challenge to the young Armagh team.
From the kick-off, the game was played at a frantic pace and the warm, if light drizzly, conditions enabled both teams to pass the ball about with great confidence. After ten minutes play an Instonian hand in a ruck was penalised. Armagh’s Johnny Steenson’s kick put the home side three points ahead. Although the Instonian side was big both in the forwards and backs, indeed, they displayed fantastic mobility and launched attack after attack. They were definitely going to be difficult to keep at bay. Armagh, on the other hand, were playing with a degree of caution and appeared to be over wary of the opposition. They had a try disallowed when the referee decided that winger Eddie Irwin had strayed off-side. After twenty five minutes play some loose tackling allowed the Instonian centre to score a relatively soft try at the Armagh posts. This was converted to put the visitors 7-3 ahead.
The home side, despite the narrow score difference were winning the battle up front and were more than able to win their share of ball both in tight and open play. This was emphasised when Armagh captain, Phill Hill, broke free and scored in the left corner. The conversion went wide but with the score at 8-7, the Armagh side were reasonably confident that they could retain control of the game. After 37 minutes play Colin Atkinson was yellow carded when the referee decided that his play was over physical! The last minute of play before the half-time break some slack defensive tackling let a big Instonian lock forward through to score at the Armagh posts. This was converted to bring the score to 14-8 at the break hardly an insurmountable lead.
The feeling around the large crowd was that the narrow lead that the visitors had secured was definitely contestable. The Instonian side had different ideas, however, and two minutes into the second half saw a further penalty for a rucking offence which opened the gap out to 17-8. While Armagh were winning more than their share of ball the backs were unable to make any real penetration through the resolute Inst. defence. But the visiting out-half broke through some slack defending, kicked ahead and scored in the left wing. The conversion went wide but the score, at 22-8, now began to take on an ominous appearance! Just two minutes later saw another Inst. try when the home defence appeared to melt away! Yet again, the conversion went wide but with the score at 27-8, the visitors seemed to be able to score more or less at will! And after another two minutes play they put in another in the right corner. The conversion went wide again but the score at 32-8 was beginning to take on an embarrassing note! At last, the final whistle was blown to bring to an end the most embarrassing ten minutes of rugby seen at The Palace Grounds for some time. The Instonian side appeared to have an extra gear which they could call on when required!
After the dust had settled and the result was given due consideration the consensus of opinion was that Armagh were always going to come up against this sort of opposition in senior rugby after all we have joined the big game now. This was just part of the learning curve but painful it certainly was! Certainly, the defence requires some reinforcement and I would suspect some strong words may be exchanged on the training pitch on Tuesday evening.
Next Saturday sees Ards return to the palace Grounds to play in the Senior Cup.
