Winning has become a habit for this talented Instonian team. Made up from boys from a range of schools and colleges they have welded together to make quite a formidable force.
Playing Newry at Shaw’s Bridge on a rather damp day Instonians soon got into their stride. Left wing Michael Melville scored first after a fluent back move after just 5 minutes. The second score came just 3 minutes later, this time from right wing Kadum Hassan, who beat off four would be tacklers and left them in his wake.
At this stage things looked good for Instonians but Newry had other ideas. They scored an excellent try of their own after taking a scrum “against the put in” inside the Inst 22. Their lively scrum half beat the cover for the touch down.
But Instonians were not going to be denied. After a series of 5 metres scrums Kadum Hassan was in for his second try. Full Back Luke Watson then made a clean break to score wide out on the right. This left the score 29-5 at half time.
In the second half the Inst pack were completely in control. Captain Brendan McKenna led by example with some excellent direct running. He combined superbly with his fellow back row players, number eight Hayden Nightingale and open side flanker Adam Spratt. Hayden took the first try of the second half following a driving maul and Brendan had a, well-deserved, final try. These were punctuated by two tries from outside centre, Michael Kirvell, who was full of direct, hard running all day.
For their part Newry never gave up and kept the game competitive although they were missing a few of their “star” players. They are a lively outfit and a tough game is expected when we meet later in the season.
