Larne RFC I XV 55 v Enniskillen RFC I XV 29
Sat 14th Sep, 2:30pm.
Larne overcome Enniskillen
by Stephen Johnston
Larne 2nd XV travelled the long road to Enniskillen on Saturday 14th September in an entertaining 29-55 win for the Larne side.
The early stages of the game was fairly contested by both sides aiming to put authority on the game and Enniskillen’s hard work paid off with an early penalty to take the lead.
From the kick off, Larne retained the ball and spread the ball wide to winger Chris Moore and finished off a well worked try in the corner. More pressure was put on the home side through determined line breaks from the Larne pack, before Jonny Hall sped through the defense and with some fabulous footwork, scored to the left of the posts. Andrews converting the score for his first of the day.
Chris Moore was on hand to score in the corner after a run from Garrett proved too much for Enniskillens defense. Andrews Converting.
A surging up field run from Colin McKinty offloaded to Ryan McAlister to put Larne 3-22 into the lead.
The home side fought back and through the forwards, scored 2 tries in quick succession to give the half time score 13-22.
A line break from Gareth Jamison in the opening period of the second half saw him offload to Garrett and put Ryan McAlister in under the posts. In an almost identical move minutes later, McAlister was on hand again to complete his hat-trick and Andrews duly converting both scores.
eddie hunter led a hard running counter attack move from inside Larnes 22 with support from Nick Kelso gave Larne’s try of the day when quick ball was given to Garrett to bamboozle the Enniskillen defense and score. Andrews successful conversion kept Larne well into the lead.
Enniskillen proving not to give in early, were rewarded with 2 more tries give a worthy consolation.
Larne however hit back again through a third Chris Moore try and another try by McAlister that saw him into the Enniskillen’s record books. Andrews and Garrett converting them both. Final score 29-55.
Larne Team: A. Ferguson, R. McAlister (capt), D. Lough, S. McDowell, C. McKinty, L.Cameron, G. Jamison, E. Hunter, R. Garrett, P. Andrews, C. Moore, J. Hall, R. Gabbey, N. Kelso, L. Brownlee.
Larne prove too good for BHSFP
A squad game for Larne 2nds and 3rds proved to be the better side against Belfast High School Former Pupils.
Larne overcame the threat of Belfast High School with a 27-7 pre season game.
Malone overcome Larne 3rds
by Stephen Johnston
Larne 3rds played Malone 5ths on Saturday 14th September and lost 27-7 against a strong, well drilled Malone side.
Starting slowly Larne allowed Malone to slip through and score an early try. This galvanised the red defence and forced Malone to work hard for any more points with Malone resorting to kicking their next 3 points. Larne pressed forward strongly playing good running rugby but couldn’t find any gaps in the Malone defence. Malone on the other hand finally found a gap in the Larne line to score another try before the end of the first half. Larne came out renewed in the second half and after sustained pressure battering at the Malone defence, R Thomas powered his way through several tackles to score under the posts. Despite continued attack Larne failed to find any more opportunity to score. Malone stepped up their game and taking advantage of a tiring Larne side ran in two more tries to win the game.
Line-up: J. Butler, B. Meikle (capt), C. Rea, J. McCluggage, P. Reid, C. Gibson, S. Johnston, R. Jones, J. Shirley, S. Marshall, R. Bergin, R. Thomas, S. McWhirter, G. Rennix, A. Brennan, D. Wilson.
