A cold afternoon at Service but a performance to warm the heart.
Service took the field against Londonderry YM looking to get back on track after some poor results of late. The pre-match talk among the fans was centred around the loss of Service’s Openside Flanker Moore Holmes Jnr. who was sidelined with ankle trouble.
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Never the less Service put out a very strong side:
1 Brendan Smith
2 Jonathan P Cartwright
3 Andrew “Boney” Sloan
4 Peter Thompson
5 Michael Murray (C)
6 Robin Fleming
7 Greg Brown
8 Hamish Matheson
9 Andrew Johnston
10 Jonny Armstrong
11 Chris Burns
12 Brian Bogle
13 Gareth Bond
14 Dan Cartland
15 Peter Hoskins
Early points from the boot of Armstong put Service into a lead that they would hold onto all day. Then Service found their gears as Peter Hoskins dashed away from the defence and ran it home from 50yards. This was once of a number of stylish tries scored on the day. The fans pick being that scored by Brian Bogle. Some strong forward play presented good ball to the backs and they moved it outside and inside and back out and finally back in to slice the L’derry YM defence apart. It was a move the Service President Shaun McMoran remarked he would pay money to see again!! Service lead 17-10 at the break.
The second half saw Service again moving the ball well (perhaps to well) as hooker JP Cartwright knocked on seing that he was being presented a 2 vs 1 but 40 yard from the line. From the resulting scrum the tight 5 set to work and Cartwright won the ball back for Service who set Chris Burns “the slowest winger ever” (dubbed by fans) off on a “run” to the cornor for one of his 3 tries.
Indeed a great display of old fashioned rugby where the forwards won the match and the backs decided by how many.
Final score Service 48 – 10 L’derry YM
To many good performance to pick one man of the match but collective mentions were given to the forwards for their excellent work, Brendan Smith, Brian Bogle, Gareth Bond and Boney for their smashing tackling and to the Backs in general for their fine handling all day.
