U17’s start their cup campaign with a win
Ballyclare U17’s, 7 – Instonians U17, 29
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Instonians travelled up to Ballyclare for the for this cup match on Saturday 3 March 2012. Conditions were pleasant with a slight breeze but underfoot it was very muddy and the pitch was probably in the second worse condition that Instonians had played on all season.
Instonians got off to a good start. They fielded the ball from the kick off and made progress into the Ballyclare half. A back move led to the ball being passed to winger Kadhum Hasson who made a determined run. When confronted by would be tacklers he kicked ahead and easily won the race for the touch down before the game was fully 5 minutes old. The try was unconverted but things look ominous for Ballyclare. The next ten minutes were something of a “purple period” for Instonians and they looked very determined with ball in hand. Only strong tackling and some handling errors kept them from scoring again.
But Instonians then allowed themselves to be drawn into a forward struggle against the big Ballyclare pack. They started giving away penalties at breakdowns which saw Ballyclare mount a lot of pressure in the Instonian half. A speculative kick ahead was easily touched down for a 22 dropout. Instonians rushed the kick and were penalised when one of their forwards was adjudged to be ahead of the kick.
Ballyclare punished this error by putting Instonians down into the corner, near the 5 metre line. They then mounted a number of drives which eventually led to one of their forwards diving over for a try. This was converted by an excellent kick to push Ballyclare in to a slender lead. Neither side looked like scoring again throughout the rest of the half, which turned into a stop/start affair with Instonians continuing to concede too many unnecessary penalties. The half-time whistle blew with Ballyclare enjoying a 7-5 advantage.
Instonians got their act together in the second period. Within 3 minutes they had crashed over for an unconverted try and five minutes later they were on the scoreboard again after a superb break through the centre by Paddy Neville-Forest. In the next ten minutes Instonians had two more tries, one of which was converted by Fergal Green. The first when second row Robbie Alexander found himself out on the wing just outside the Ballyclare 22. He easily brushed aside several tacklers to go in for an impressive try converted by Chris Moffit. Captain Ben Davis, playing at number 8, then sprinted clear after a strong attack through the pack. During this period Instonians conceded just one penalty and it really allowed them to mount concerted pressure on a Ballyclare defence which was finding the going tough.
With the game over as a contest it began to drift into scrappy affair. Instonians started conceding penalties again and gave Ballyclare a foothold and the opportunity to launch a number of attacks. However, they could not hold onto the ball for long enough to put the Instonian defence under real pressure.
The game fizzled out with Instonians emerging as comfortable winners. One big lesson for Instonians is that they can be an effective attacking machine, provided they do not turn over the ball with reckless penalties. In the first half they gave away 9 penalties and had very little to show for their efforts. In the second half they conceded just 4 penalties and had 4 tries! Overall Instonians will be happy that they have overcome a significant hurdle and look forward to the next cup round with a home game against Malone on the 17 March.
Team sheet: Thomas McCleave, Ben McCune, Paddy Neville-Forest, Tom Mehaffey, Kadhum Hassan, Chris Moffitt, Matthew Wilson, Forwards, Sean Shuttleworth, Chris McMenamy, Aaron Davis, Ryan Hickland, Robert Alexander, Fergal Green, Luke Hopkins, Benjamin Davis Subs: Ben O’Donnell, David Quigley, David Barron, Connor Johnston, Matthew Austin, Stuart Watson
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Ireland Ladies Rugby I XV Are playing England this weekend and need as much support as they can get – please watch the clip below and feel free to share it, they are on the verge of a great VICTORY & with Ulster representation!
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