Firsts edge out Coleraine
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Cooke have edge on Coleraine in close fought encounter
Cooke atoned for last week’s junior cup performance with a committed effort against a potent Coleraine side. The visitors had the first opportunity to register points but a penalty by accomplished out-half Gourley skewed wide. Cooke winger Jarvis made no mistakes however with two penalties in quick succession when Coleraine infringed at rucks giving the home side a 6 point margin with 15 minutes played. The next 10 minutes saw stalemate with Cooke centre Elliott using his boot to good effect against a solid Coleraine defensive line.
Midway through the half it was the Cooke defence who was over eager and when adjudged off-side Gourley slotted over the penalty from the 10 metre line. Meanwhile a torrid battle was taking place between the forwards with Cooke flanker Cochrane wreaking havoc. The Cooke scrum was dominating affairs and when the ball was secured on the Coleraine 22 close to half time, Finlay’s attempted drop goal was wide of the mark. It was the trusty boot of Jarvis which added a further penalty for the Belfast side while Gourley’s attempt to drop a goal in injury time was off target leaving the score-line at the break 9-3 in favour of Cooke.
Jarvis kept the scoreboard ticking in the right direction for Cooke with penalty number 4 when Coleraine broke early from a scrum. Coleraine then moved up a gear and worked the ball deep into Cooke territory but Cochrane continued to disrupt the Bannsider’s rhythm racing clear from a maul and kicking the ball deep into the Coleraine 22. When the visitors were guilty of not releasing when attempting to run out of trouble, Jarvis was unsuccessful with a further shot at goal.
Undeterred, Coleraine launched another attack. When they secured the ball close to the Cooke posts, scrum half Caithness caught the Cooke defence napping and darted through to touch down between the uprights. His half back partner Gourley added the simple conversion. Cooke responded five minutes later. When the Coleraine scrum was again penalised, Finlay kicked for the corner. The line out set the stage for a clever move as the ball was collected at the tail and passed back to Cochrane to barge over the line between the two sets of lifters. Jarvis was wide with his conversion attempt.
Despite Cooke superiority in the forward exchanges it was Coleraine out-half Gourley who brought the visitors right back into the game with a fine individual try which he converted, levelling the score at 17 all.
Stung into action, Cooke squandered two attempts to finish the game in the final 15 minutes. In a copy of what his opposite number had done minutes earlier, Cooke out-half Finlay jinked his way across the Coleraine line but dropped the ball when touching down. Colin Mitchell was next in line to finish off matters. Following a Cooke scrum close to the Bannsiders line the burly No 8 picked up only to be held up under the posts. With nerves fraying on the side line Jarvis was given the chance to regain the lead for the Belfast side when Coleraine were again penalised in the scrum. While most waited for the ball to travel between the posts, Cooke captain Jewhurst was there to collect it when it rebounded off the upright. His presence enabled Cooke to launch another attack where full-back Cartmill joined the line and out-paced the defence to score in the corner. Jarvis missed the conversion but Cooke had done enough to claim a valuable win Cooke 22, Coleraine 17.
