Civil Service(NI) RFC 2nd XV travel to Shawsbridge to take on newly formed Cooke RFC 4th XV. The video contains highlights of tries from Moore Holmes, Stewart Ferguson and Ryan Campbell as well as kicks from Moore and Neil Palmer.
Civil Service 2nd XV 41 v 0 Cooke 4th XV
Under sunny skies at Shawsbridge the Civil Service 2nd XV took to the pitch determined to improve upon the draw they had earned in their previous weeks match. Facing them was the newly-formed Cooke 4’s who had some impressive wins under their belt already.
Unfortunately the Cooke team had been decimated by late withdrawals (in total Michael O’Reily was without 36 possible players) and in the spirit of the game Service stalwart Kenny Dane (despite having been promised a week off and then “persuaded” to cover a sub) agreed to take the field for them.
The Service slow start from last week was nowhere to be seen and their young side showed great determination and hunger as they harry and pressed the more experianced Cooke players into mistakes, with rising star Moore Holmes Jr impressing greatly as he disrupted the Cooke attack by putting in big tackles all over the pitch.
Superb Youtube Video Of Civil Service Game v Cooke IV XV
Indeed the youth and industry of the Service side was to pay off early on when inside centre Moore Holmes Jr was able to take advantage of some great work by winger Keith Nichols and scrumhalf David Gonzalez to score a try in the left corner and put Service into an early lead.
The angle proved too much for Moore to score the conversion but when Cooke failed to clear their lines minutes later Service fly half Neil Palmer pounched to score between the posts. In fact things were only to get better for Service as Simon Curry chased and collected his clearance kick before feeding Brian “Beachboy” Wilson who released Hooker Stewart Ferguson to run in under the posts leaving the score 19v0 at half time.
48 Photos on slideshow of Civil Service II XV v Cooke IVxv – Click Here – Courtesy Of Aaron Thompson, Civil Service RFC
The Cooke team battled on bravely and showed great skill and commitment which threatened the strong Service defence and honestly deserved a score for their efforts but as the game went on the scores continued to mount and the game drifted away from them.
Stewart Ferguson was released by Moore Holmes to score a try from within his own half before David “Speedy” Gonzalez out paced the Cooke full back to touch down. The game was secured with two late tries from fullback Ryan Campbell to finsh 41 v 0
In the last 10 minutes Cooke suffered so many injuries that they finished with 3 Service players (Kenny Dane, Brett Jones and Neil Palmer) helping their team maintain a full quota. The Commitment of these borrowed players cannot be questioned as one of the moments of the match was when Cooke winger for the day Kenny Dane made a fantastic tackle on flanker Ben Scott to deny him of a certain try.
A great effort was shown by all and In Touch was delighted to see the spirit this game was played in.Reflecting on his teams performance after the match Cookes Micahel O’Reilly was proud of his teams effort, stating that when his full team was available Cooke 4s were a match for any team but gracious enough to admit that the young Service side deserved their victory for the running rugby they played.
