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Randalstown 2nd XV 20 Carrickfergus 3rd XV 13.
Randalstown 2nds maintained their 100% record this season, with five wins out of five, on this occasion going up against Carrick 3s in a tight encounter at Neillsbrook on Saturday afternoon.
This leaves ‘Town sitting four points clear at the top of Junior 4 although their nearest rivals have a game in hand at present.
‘Town’s organisation made a vital difference in this match and they got off to a great start bossing their experienced opponents and taking only 6 minutes to open the scoring. Matty Turner, alert as ever, took a quick penalty and ran into the heart of the defence. The recycled ball was whipped out the back line to Paul Laverty and Matthew Mawhinney who set Andy White away and the young full back galloped over for a score.
Randalstown continued to press and on 20 minutes after being held out a number of times, Laverty, at full stretch, went over in the corner for a deserved score.
As the game continued however the home side, despite the lion’s share of possession, didn’t put points on the board with the result that in the closing ten minutes of the half Carrick were able to edge their way back into the game. Some slack tackling let the visitors break through from just inside the ‘Town half for an unconverted try. They added to this on the stroke of half time after a series of errors from the home side when they landed a penalty to narrow the gap to 10-8.
There was stalemate for the first 20 minutes of the second half as neither team achieved any level of domination. Gradually though ‘Town pulled it back and Murray converted a penalty after they had put together some good phases of play. They upped the pace again and turned the screw in the loose, and in the scrums. When Simon Adams got the ball on Carrick’s 22 there didn’t appear to be much danger for the visitors but the prop showed a great turn of pace to burst through and sprint over for a try in the corner. Murray slotted over the difficult conversion.
Ill discipline from ‘Town allowed Carrick to get a foothold in the remaining minutes and they were rewarded with a late converted try.
Randalstown hung on for a well deserved win against this Carrick side who defeated them home and away last season. Again it was a great all round team performance from the seconds with the front row putting in a mighty effort. Laverty and Turner were impressive in the back line but 2nd row Scott Goodrich got the nod as the pick of a fine bunch this weekend.
BHSFP 2nd XV 51 Randalstown 3rd XV 14
This game was played in ideal conditions at the Greenisland venue, unfortunately Randalstown 3rds preparation suffered a few hiccups and the team that took to the pitch showed many changes from the original selection.
Despite these drawbacks the first half was an evenly contested affair as the Randalstown side scored two converted tries through Kelly and Donnelly ,with Service slotting over both conversions.
The greater experience and seniority showed as the home side started to take their chances and at half-time the score was 24-14 to BHSFP.
With Randalstown’s lack of fitness and some poor tackling beginning to tell a tale, High School took control and ran in a number of tries.
The Randalstown 3XV have been unfortunate in the last few weeks to come across sides who should be playing at a level above Minor rugby. Next week will give Aaron Murray’s side a chance to line out against local rivals Antrim RFC in a game which should be much more evenly contested.
A large crowd is expected to give the side their support at the game.
