In a match format of four 20 minute quarters, Bangor fell behind early in the first, before cutting loose in the third to build a lead that Inst could not pull back, finally winning by 26-12.
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With many players still in buoyant mood following their successful tour in Italy, Bangor’s senior squad hosted Instonians in a pre-season fixture at Upritchard Park. Although only a ‘friendly’, this game would be a good test in the run up to the start of the Qualifying League 1 campaign, especially as Instonians play in the league above Bangor.
On a perfect playing surface, and with little or no wind advantage for either side, Inst got the game underway. There was an obvious nervousness to Bangor’s start, while Inst seemed to get into their stride straight away. After just 7 minutes, Inst made the first breakthrough, scoring to the left of the posts. The conversion was missed, making the score 0-5.
Bangor managed to steady the ship at this point, and were the equal of their opponents. However, just as confidence in Bangor’s play was growing, they suffered another setback, this time through injury. Having missed all of last season recovering from surgery on his leg, Chris Morris lasted just 15 minutes of his comeback before badly twisting his knee, and looks likely to sit out most if not all of this season as well. The club commiserates in his misfortune and wishes him a full and speedy recovery.
Just 2 minutes later, Bangor produced the perfect response. Some good play between the forwards took play into Inst territory before passing to Jason Morgan, whose pace and strength was too much for the retreating Inst defence, finally touching down between the posts. With the simple conversion, Bangor were now in the lead by 7-5, which remained the case until the end of the second quarter.
Both sides were rotating their players throughout the game, allowing coaches to mix their first choice players with those from their seconds. As the third quarter got underway, it started to look like the squad as a whole were gelling well, and maintaining a high level of play. With Bangor applying most of the pressure, they won a penalty after 10 minutes. Electing to take the scrum, which had been dominant throughout the game, Bangor won the ball cleanly and passed it wide to Davy Charles on the right hand wing, who nipped in at the corner for the try. Neil Cuthbertson converted the difficult touchline kick to extend Bangor’s lead to 14-5.
Another 8 minutes later, great supporting play by the forwards, started by a Curtis Stewart charge, got the ball to captain Jamie Clegg who bull-dozed his way through several Inst tackles to score just to the left of the posts. Cuthbertson converted again bringing the score to 21-5, with Bangor now in the driving seat.
While Inst appeared rattled by the Bangor attack, the home side were now looking comfortable. From the restart, Bangor won the ball and immediately ran back at Inst. Following a couple of quick phases of play, the ball came to Stewart on the Inst twenty two. Seeing the gap, he set off on another charge, this time riding the tackles before scoring in the right hand corner. For the ex-Instonian, this must have been a satisfying try. This time Cuthbertson’s kick was wide, but the score was now 26-5, bringing the third quarter to an end.
The final quarter saw Bangor continue where they had left off, constantly on the attack and dictating the course of play. With just a few minutes left to play, Inst resorted to a kick-ahead down their right wing, which prompted a chase for the ball. On this occasion, the Inst player managed to outpace the Bangor defence, but before he could collect the ball to score, he was tackled illegally leaving referee Davy Coey no choice but to award a penalty try. The extras were added, bring the final score to 26-12.
Although it could be said that the result of a friendly such as this doesn’t count for anything, it confirms what the home side have felt during their pre-season build-up, that they can be competitive and successful against what appears to be much stronger opposition. As both the 1sts and 2nds will be facing stronger sides that they did last season, results like this will provide great encouragement to both players and coaches alike.
Bangor scores: J Morgan (1T, 1C), D Charles (1T), J Clegg (1T), C Stewart (1T), N Cuthbertson (2C)
