Last Friday and Saturday, Ophir Rugby Club opened their 2015/2016 season with the traditional Seven-a Side competition at Magowan Park, The Cottonmount, Mallusk. Weather on both days was ideal for the feast of rugby on display.
The Friday evening tournament for the Under 18s Ken Bonar Memorial Trophy was won by Randalstown and the County Antrim club repeated their success on the Saturday morning with another brilliant win in the Under 16s category. With the Cottonmount bathed in sunshine, the crowd of spectators enjoyed some sparkling in the senior event and in the end Malone defeated Ards 22 – 0 in the final, winning the Will Totten Memorial Trophy.
The Club was honoured with a visit from The Mayor of Newtownabbey, Thomas Hogg who presented the trophies at the end of the afternoon. The Club was also delighted and privileged to welcome three special guests, President of the Ulster Rugby Branch, Bobby Stewart, Ulster prop, Callum Black and Ulster Academy player, Craig Ternier.
Ophir President, Ken McMordie, said:-
“We have been very fortunate to enjoy near perfect weather conditions for the Sevens and all the teams have provided us with a great day’s entertainment. Many congratulations to all the winners!
We were honoured to have such distinguished guests visiting us this year and I want to convey my heartfelt gratitude to the Mayor of Newtownabbey, the President of the Ulster Branch and of course to Callum and Craig for giving their time to attend our tournament. We very much appreciate their commitment to our level of rugby.
My thanks also to those members of our Club who have toiled tirelessly behind the scenes. It has taken a lot of hard work to stage this tournament and we also owe a great debt of thanks to our main sponsors for the day, Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council. We are also indebted to our main Club sponsors, MCW Properties and Biffa. The Club very much values this backing, and indeed the generous support of many local businesses and companies who advertise in the Sevens programme”.
CLICK HERE for all the shots from the 2015 Ophir RFC 7s
