In a rearranged Ulster Senior League game Ballynahinch secured a bonus point victory over Instonians in the process scoring seven tries and now have a maximum haul of points from 8 League games played.
Hinch played against the wind in the first half and in a fairly even and uneventful first 25 minutes both teams missed opportunities to score before Johnny Cullen opened the scoring after great work by James Simpson and Ryan Bambry.
Harry McAleese scored following a blind side break and good inter-passing with Aaron Ferris. Instonians reduced the arrears with a Curtis Stewart try but straight from the kick off Ryan Bambry sent James Thompson in for a fine try converted by himself to leave the half-time score 17-5 in Hinch’s favour.
The second half had just started when Thompson scored his second picking up a loose kick to give Hinch the bonus point with Bambry converting. Inst hit back with a converted try by Gary Mitchell. Following
more concerted pressure Matthew Irvine picked up from a scrum and crashed over with Bambry converting – 31-12 to the Hinch.
The game became a little disjointed and with Hinch emptying their bench they scored twice in the dying minutes through Adam Bratton and man of the match James Simpson with James McBriar converting both to leave the final score 45-12 in favour of the Hinch.
This was and excellent result and team performance with outstanding support and team play throughout the eighty minutes bearing in mind that only six of last Saturday’s starting XV played thus demonstrating the strength in depth of the Hinch squad. Young players who stood out were props Kyle McCall, Fergal Lynch and James Simpson although all twenty players contributed to a convincing victory.
After a free week, next up is the Home AIL game against Old Crescent on Saturday 26th March when a big support would be appreciated.
