Antrim 1st XV 12 Randalstown 3rd XV 10 (Images thanks to Marc Lawrence CLICK HERE)
It doesn’t seem so many years since Antrim 1sts would have been competing with Randalstown 1sts at Qualifying level. An unsettled and difficult time has seen them forced to regroup and rebuild hence they are currently competing in the Minor League and so entertained the Randalstown 3rd XV on Saturday afternoon. In the end the game could have gone either way but in the event the more experienced Antrim 15 ran out narrow winners. ‘Town were missing one or two regulars but were able to call upon the services of some of last year’s juniors, and, whilst they proved very able deputies, the experience of a few of the Antrim players was perhaps a vital difference as they were able to slow and disrupt the play without attracting too much attention from the referee.
A large travelling support turned out at Antrim Grammar School playing fields for this local derby. As expected it was a fairly cagey affair with neither team prepared to give away much ground. Randalstown inched their way up the pitch and seemed to be making good headway in the opposition ’22’ during the first half before the Antrim winger collected an intercepted pass and raced the length of the pitch to touch down and take Antrim into a 7 nil lead.
Randalstown regrouped and seemed set to score when Ryan McGarry made a break up the left only to be hauled down just short of the try line. Antrim struggled to clear their lines from this point and good pressure from Ash Mclenaghan paid off as he charged down the Antrim out half clearance kick and pounced on the loose ball for a well earned try. The first half finished 7-5 to Antrim.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. It was nip and tuck stuff but Antrim enjoyed the early period of pressure and clever box kicking kept ‘Town pinned on their own line. Despite this the Randalstown line held firm and seemed to have averted the danger as a good turnover saw them awarded a 5 metre scrum and an opportunity to clear their lines. Unfortunately the ball squirted out of this scrum and the Antrim flanker was first to react, snaffling the loose ball and dotting down for the try.
With one score in it Randalstown tried valiantly to level the game enjoying a lot of possession but frequently losing it in contact preventing them from building any phases. The referee called last play on an Antrim scrum which signalled one final push for the red and whites. Great harrying by Tommy Brownlee forced the turnover from the scrum and ‘Town set off in pursuit of the try line. After numerous phases, great ball retention and re-cycling by the whole team, Sam McComb squeezed in at the right hand corner. The strong wind caught the difficult conversion so it dropped short allowing Antrim to run out narrow victors.
While there was obvious disappointment from losing this local derby it was a much improved all round performance with a great defensive effort. Hopefully with a settled side this can be built on in the coming weeks. There were great displays from Dan Morgan and Thomas Kelso in the pack, whilst Emmet Crawford was the pick of the backs.
Next Saturday the 1st XV entertain Carrickfergus at Neillsbrook while the 3rds look forward to a visit from Armoy.
