The under 17s & under 15s recorded emphatic victories in Coleraine while the Under 19s, despite a glut of injuries early in the game, held on to narrowly defeat Larne. The 1sts came away with a win at Newry and the 3rds held Civil Service 2nds to a draw.
Newry 1st XV 14 Randalstown 1st XV 17
On an unseasonably warm afternoon Randalstown made the trip to Newry to encounter a well drilled Newry side who indicated from the off that they fully intended to cause their visitors headaches.
15 Pictures here from Newry v Randalstown- click here –
The opening exchanges showed 2 evenly matched sides and even a sweet kick from centre Laverty taking ‘Town to within 5 yards of the Newry line didn’t allow them to break the deadlock. Newry defended ferociously and pushed Randalstown back outside the 22. Still with the lineout advantage ‘town gathered and spread across the backline but had to settle for a penalty with the line at their mercy. Boyd failed to convert on this occasion. After yet another lineout that Randalstown failed to fully capitalise on, the pack regained possession and Boyd was able to ship to Laverty who straightened the line before feeding Blayne McGarry. McGarry is rarely denied from anywhere inside the 22 and he scampered over to put the first points on the board with less than 10 minutes gone.
Any euphoria the travelling support may have felt at this stage was quickly replaced by nervous tension as Newry came right back with all guns firing and pinned ‘town down for the remainder of the half with little respite.
Still Randalstown defended for all they were worth, tried to counter at any opportunity, and held out till halftime. Flanker Fleck was very enterprising at the base of the scrum and was undoubtedly a thorn in Newry’s side as he was ever alert to their attacking potential and on hand to help snuff it out.
The second half saw some intense play from both sides without ever getting themselves into good attacking positions until Newry, courtesy of the boot of their experienced player coach Botha, were awarded a scrum deep in ‘town terriority. Millar, who has looked fit and sharp this season, put everything on the line to hold the home side up and deny them the try. ‘Town defended well around the fringe of the resulting 5m scrum but couldn’t quite do enough to halt the tide and Newry crashed over beside the posts making the conversion a formality for Botha.
Ryan Wilson had to retire from the fray at that point with an ankle injury reducing Randalstown to 14 men and what looked like a mountain to climb. Blayne McGarry was on hand to settle the nerves though as he broke upfield and did enough to be awarded the penalty. Boyd saw his kick come back of the left upright but fortunately Newry couldn’t gather cleanly and ‘Town were awarded the scrum for the knock on. More to-ing and fro-ing resulted until Boyd got some quick clean ball and was able to spread wide where McGarry made no mistake yet again and crossed for his second try of the afternoon.
Still Newry attacked and at one stage should probably have closed the gap when Laverty’s attempted clearance was blocked, but Ryan McGarry and Montgomery were alert to the danger and were able to race back and prevent the score. Newry changed the point of attack to the left flank and continued pressure saw ‘Town concede a penalty. Newry elected to run this opportunity and only some heroics from captain Hurrell prevented a certain score. However the Newry men stuck to their task and eventually squeezed over just to the right of the posts to retake the lead.
With 5 minutes remaining and a deficit of 1 man and 4 points strong words of encouragement from Hurrell saw town get their tails in the air and proceed straight back up the pitch with an air of determination. Newry continued to amass handling errors and hand ‘town the advantage so that a series of penalties found them with a lineout 5 metres out. Having struggled in the early stages the ‘Town lineout was now functioning efficiently and Allen won possession. The ball was well set up and the Randalstown pack rumbled forward towards the line for Hurrell assisted by Allen to fittingly claim the touchdown. Boyd put over probably the most difficult kick of the afternoon to take the visitors 17 – 14 ahead as the ref, to the relief of the travelling support, blew the final whistle.
Coach Stevenson probably best summed up the afternoon. To win today in the 79th minute, having been reduced to 14 men just after half time takes character and belief, and today neither attribute was found lacking today in this randalstown side.
Team: Stevenson Finlay D Millar Allen M Millar Hume Fleck Hurrell(Capt) Wilson Boyd R McGarry Laverty Montgomery B McGarry McGlade
Civil Service 2nd XV 12 Randalstown 3rd XV 12
Randalstown 3rds travelled to Civil Service and returned with a 12 all draw. Skipper Curly Hamilton was relishing the prospect of playing on the perfect service pitch, which suited his natural free flowing game, and his team started with a bang. Using the breezy conditions well ‘Town pinned the home side in their own 22 in the opening minutes. Despite being up against a bulky pack Randalstown took one against the head and then saw ‘Donkey’ Reeves just held up over the line. Minutes later another solid scrum inside the Service 22 let Johnston split the home defence before releasing winger Michael Kennedy. Kennedy, who is the epitomy of the modern trend for large wingers, left civil service ground staff with an additional chore on Monday morning, filling in the sizeable furrow he created as he slid in to score the opening try. Adam Service added the extras with an exceptional kick from the touch line.
Randalstown’s early domination in the scrum was ended as Service lost their tight head prop with a rib injury, resulting in uncontested scrums. The home side gradually took control of the first half using their bulk in the forwards and half backs to keep ‘town on the back foot. Only stout defending from town saw them reach half time still in the lead, with Duncan & Service making one marvellous try saving tackle in the corner.
The 2nd half started in similar vein and the Service pressure was rewarded with an unconverted try with about 10 minutes played.
Just on the hour a neat grubber kick from Johnston pushed the home side back onto their own line and Ricky Duncan was up quickly to keep them under pressure. The attempted clearance kick held up in the wind and was closely watched by Ben Hamilton who rose like a salmon to pluck the ball out of a defenders hand and bulldoze over the line.
Randalstown then went to sleep and allowed Civil Service to win the drop out and again only some fine last ditch defending held them out under the posts. They did however concede a penalty which was quickly taken by Service and they were able to crash over the line. The conversion levelled the scores and despite a late Randalstown flourish the points were deservedly shared.
For Randalstown scrum half O’Kane was impressive while Hamilton and McConnan threw everything into their defensive duties. Credit to all for a hard won point.
Team: Service Duncan Winter Johnston Kennedy Walker O’Kane M Hamilton (Capt) B Hamilton Pedlow McConnan Reeves Spiers Savage J Kennedy [Morriss, Young]
Next week the 2nd XV travel to Grosvenor while the 3rds entertain Holywood at home. Kick off 2.30 pm.
