On Saturday 17th August a Lisburn RFC team made up of 1st and 2nd XV players took part in the annual Ophir RFC 7s tournament at Mallusk. The Lisburn side was captained by Peter Graham who was making his return to action after missing all of last season due to injury.
The Lisburn team that took part in the Ophir 7s Tournament
Lisburn lost their opening game of the tournament losing by 5 tries to 2 against a strong Academy RFC side. There was a short gap between games which allowed the Lisburn coaches to give the side a few stern words to refocus the team. It was clear for all to see that the coach’s team talk had had the desired effect when Lisburn played Civil Service in their second game of the tournament which Lisburn won by 5 tries to nil.
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The third game of the day saw Lisburn take on their league rivals Carrickfergus who had beaten Academy in their previous game. The Lisburn boys did not let this result phase them and following some superb rugby from Mark Uprichard, Stewart Evans and Owen Hilary Lisburn won by 4 tries to 1.
Going into their final match the Lisburn boys knew that only a big win in versus Ballyclare would be enough to finish ahead of Academy who had a higher try tally. Lisburn beat Ballyclare by 6 tries to 1 in their final game of the group stages. This score left Lisburn and Academy tied on points and also on tries scored so it came down to tries against. Lisburn had the better defensive record only conceding 7 tries and therefore were crowned group winners and would progress to the final versus a strong Queens University team who had won the tournament on the past 2 occasions.
Unfortunately despite all their efforts and never give up attitude the Lisburn side were out classed by their All Ireland League opponents in the final and finished the tournament as overall runners up.
Matthew Graham was selected as Lisburn’s player of the tournament and the club coaches were very impressed with the performance of all the players despite their loss in the final, who have no doubt created a number of selection headaches for the coaches ahead of the opening game of the season as a number of 1st xv regulars from last season were unavailable for the tournament.
Lisburn’s final pre- season game takes place on Friday night 30/08/13 at Blaris versus Civil Service kick off 7:30, ahead of the first league match versus Ballyclare at home on Saturday 07/09/13. A large support is expected on Friday night.
