Saturday 13th February. Upritchard Park, Bangor
Without influential out half Adam Gowing, many thought that this match would be a closer affair than the scoreline shows. Armagh are extremely conscious that all their remaining games must be won by a bonus point to advance towards the round robin stages of the promotion battle.
From the first whistle Armagh were on the attack keen to add to their impressive 65 points tally from this week and they did so with an impressive 8 try haul.
The first attack of the match saw Bangor looking round them, as Johnny Steenson made an excellent kick that was brilliantly picked up by Andrew Willis and Eddie Irwin to advance up the field. Unfortunately this run was stopped by knock on, but quickly regained and Armagh again charged over the Bangor defence to allow Leigh Manu to score. With Gowing watching from the sidelines it fell to the boot of Johnny Steenson to make it the goal and the score 7-0.
As soon as the whistle had gone for the restart Armagh easily put the ball to the Bangor 22 and continued their onslaught with an as usual solid line out. The ball was then easily worked out cross-field and Willis capitalised and without the conversion the score went to 12-0. But Bangor were instantly on the attack.
For several minutes the Armagh defence held the Bangor attack between the half and the 22, but then Armagh made a mistake that gave Bangor the chance at 3 points. But the penalty attempt was wide and the score remained 12 -0 to the visitors.
After the 22 drop out Eddie Irwin made an attempt at his now usual chip and chase but it was deftly picked up and cleared by the Bangor back line. A period of mismatched play followed with Armagh making all the breaks in play and being stopped by their own mistakes. Bangor found themselves out of trouble so many times but not by their own defence. Thankfully this section of the match was short lived but interrupted by a second penalty attempt from Bangor’s Alan Andrews that this time went over to bring the score to 3-12.
At the restart Armagh simplified their rugby to a much more effective recycling ruck passage which allowed the ball out to Eddie Irwin for his first try of the day. Again Steenson stepped up to the tee and took the score to 3-19.
Again Bangor challenged the restart, but Armagh proved too strong, as the attempt at clearing from 22 went straight to the hands of Matty Wright who passed crossfield to Eddie. However, when the ball went further out towards the line two Armagh players ran into each other and halted the play. The scrum that followed was won by Bangor but then stolen by Armagh who used it their advantage and passed wide to the line and then back into the centre and allow Manu over for his second of the day. An easy kick for Steenson saw the half end with the bonus point already secured and the score 3-26.
The second half began in with Bangor making their way skilfully up to the Armagh 22, but an interception from Armagh saw the game return to the half way line. After two bad tackles, one on the line and one in the centre, and both Andrew Willis and captain James Morton were down for several minutes. Both players returned to play to join another disjointed passage of play. More ball in this period was lost through mistakes than won through hard work and tackling.
Armagh showed that their fitness at this stage of the season was superior as Bangor slowed and could not recycle as quickly as they should and Armagh capitalised with well worked ball passing and Willis went in for his second of the day. Again Steenson showed he was on form and took the score to 3-33.
As soon as the restart began it was almost over as Bangor made a move towards the Armagh line and scored a well worked simply try. But they could not take the full points and the score crept up to 8-33.
This time Armagh took play after the restart slowly and made steady progress up the field. After Bangor put hands in the ruck, Armagh took the scrum on the head and passed the ball to substitute Ralph Mercer for a brilliant score at the sideline. The angle like Bangor’s try proved too steep for Steenson and the score went to 8-38.
Armagh lost their concentration and allowed Bangor to steam past them for another try straight after the restart. Nerves had left the Bangor kicker and he duly slotted over the conversion to take Bangor’s score to 15-38.
The match was far from over as Armagh powered their way passed every inch of Bangor defence and when the ball was picked up by Joe Clarke there was nothing between him and the try line. However, the angle proved to be Steenson’s Achilles heel and the score remained 15-43.
Again from the restart Armagh made their way back up towards the Bangor line only to be halted by their own mistakes, and this time Bangor took the chance they had been given. They took a couple of well worked movements and found themselves over the line. This time kicker Andrews made the kick and gave Bangor a bonus point of their own for 4 tries.
Armagh knew that with time edging away they needed to stop the Bangor attack and did so with decisive move that returned the impetus to them. Having won the scrum Armagh continued to power forward slowly until a free ball came out to Andy Hughes and he ran for the line. Touching down he returned the ball to Johnny Steenson who slotted over the kick to take Armagh’s final score to an immense half century.
Armagh have a week free next Saturday, but will be keen to watch the other scores around the league to see just what has to be done with their last five games.
