Larne 1ST XV hosted Lurgan on Saturday in their Qualifying 3 League Campaign. The pre match function was kindly sponsored by AMNEXDAY.
There were a few changes to the team from the week previous. Lough and McKinty came into the pack with Thomas and Agnew coming into the wing and full back births.
Larne started with the greater ascendancy. Quick ruck ball by the forwards allowed the backs to get the ball out wide. A Larne scrum on the Lurgan 5 metre line saw the home side push the visitors over to allow number 8 McCluggage to score the simplest of tries. Garrett converted. Five minutes later Larne scored a carbon copy of their first try. This time however it was a Lurgan scrum which Larne counter attacked again allowing McCluggage to go over for his second and his teams second. Garrett converted. A few minutes later Larne went over for their third. Quick ruck ball by the forwards allowed the Garrett to spread the ball out wide to his backs. The ball was off loaded to scrum half McIlheron who made a few silky sidesteps and a great leg drive to score.
The Larne set piece ball was firing on all cylinders. A line out on the Lurgan 22 saw Hagans hit McCluggage at the tale of the lineout. A maul was set up which the Larne team gained momentum allowing D Lough to sneak over for a try. The Larne tails were now up. Strong running in the forwards most notably by Thomas Boyd and Johnny McKinty allowed half backs McIlheron and Garrett to reek havoc with the visiting side. Great interplay by Garrett allowed S Knox to pierce a whole in the Lurgan defence he offloaded to allow the outhalf to finish off the move that he started. The conversion was got. Larne scored just after with a similar move with Garrett off loading to Steve Knox who ran over for a try. The home side went in at half time 42-0 ahead.
Larne started the second half as brightly as the first. Great interplay by forward and backs allowed full back Paul Agnew to score under the posts. Garrett converted. Larne continued to dominate. McIlheron went blind passing the ball out to second row McKinty. Great hands by him saw him put McCluggage in for his third of the day. The backs dominated again. The ball was spread wide by Johnny Hall to Scott Montgomery who scampered over for a try. At this stage Larne were playing show case 15 man rugby using the off load effectively. They were then reduced to 14 men with Boyd having to leave the field with a nasty cut to his eye. Soon after Paul Agnew scored his second of the game. Again great hands by second row McKinty allowed full back Agnew to go in for his second. Garrett converted.
The referee blew the game up with twenty minutes remaining with the score 66-0 to the Larne men. This was a very spirited performance by the Larne side and they hope to take the momentum in to the eagerly anticipated game against the PSNI in the quarter finals of the Gordon West Cup next Saturday.
