Limavady 1st XV 18 Randalstown 1st VX 3
Randalstown travelled to Limavady with the aim of bringing home a victory at a club who were still looking for their first league win. They welcomed back Tim Montgomery and Alex Fleck, but there remains disruption due to injury and unavailability. An early penalty from O’Kane put Randalstown into the lead, however Limavady soon equalised from a penalty in front of the posts.
Worryingly for Randalstown the home side began to control the game both in the scrums and the loose play, and after twenty minutes their pressure paid off with a well taken penalty to put them ahead 6-3.
At this stage in the game only excellent defence from the Randalstown team prevented further scores and as half time approached it looked as though the home side were not going to be able to to extend their supremacy. However after some good forward play Limavady’s winger managed to score a well taken try which their full back failed to convert. Half time-11-3.
The second half began with Randalstown starting to play to their potential, but handling errors and bad luck prevented them scoring a try. A high tackle from Fleck resulted in a yellow card and Randalstown were reduced to 14 men at a crucial stage in the game. The loss of Fleck seemed to inspire the visitors but despite their efforts Limavady held on to the lead.
As the game moved into the final stages a poor kick from Randalstown resulted in the Limavady winger fielding the ball and scoring a try which was converted to leave the final score 18-3. Good performances from I Hume, J O’Kane and Dan Wilson were overshadowed by a poor team performance.
A disappointing result in a game Randalstown could have won will hopefully be the motivation for a better performance next Saturday when they have Omagh RFC as visitors.
Randalstown 2nd XV 47 Cooke 3rd XV 0
The 2nd XV cruised to a comfortable win over Cooke 3s at Neillsbrook with David Smith taking the honours, providing 3 of his teams’ 7 tries.
The home side were on top from the kick off and both Smith and Hodge went close before Peter McCann opened the scoring. Ben Hamilton made the initial break, bursting a hole in the Cooke defence. Skipper Hyndman carried on before the ball was moved across the back line to McCann who scorched in to score.
Less than 10 minutes later strong driving from Hodge and Loughlin moved ‘Town deep into the Cooke 22. Cathcart whipped the ball out to Smith who stepped back inside, beating 3 tackles, to ease over for his first try of the afternoon. McCann added the extras.
On the half hour Cooke lost their tight head prop through injury resulting in uncontested scrums. ‘Town eventually capitalised on their numerical superiority 3 minutes from half time. Tommy Shannon, making his debut at 13 for the 2nds, made a good run into the opposition 22. The ball was quickly recycled and moved to Smith, who charged over again for his 2nd try. McCann again added the extras.
With a 19 – 0 advantage going into the break the home side were now also reduced to 14 men as Nathan Hodge retired from the fray after a hefty knock on the nose. Straight from the restart however Scott McClenaghan fielded the ball and promptly ran from his own 22 to score a great individual try. McCann added the conversion.
Shortly after from a scrum on the Cooke 10m line out half Matty Turner sliced his way through the visiting defence to go in under the posts and hand McCann a further easy 2 points.
The game became fairly scrappy over the next 20 minutes and bogged down around the half way line.
With 10 minutes remaining ‘Town had Cooke under a further period of pressure. A penalty at close quarters was tapped to McClenaghan, who was held up just short, but again quick ball was moved to Smith, who had no difficulty crossing for his hat-trick. McCann was on target with the conversion.
Randalstown finished strongly as the visitors tired and their tackles began to fall off. Dave Harris nearly capped another storming performance with a score after showing a deceptive turn of pace, but was stopped by the Cooke centre just short of the line.
In the final minute Hyndman made a strong drive before Loughlin, moving at pace, took the ball from Cathcart. The prop was held up just short and Turner was on hand to pick up and squeeze over for his 2nd try of the afternoon. McCann’s conversion took the score to 47-0.
A satisfying win for ‘Town 2nds with the team taking as much pleasure from keeping a clean sheet as the 7 tries they ran in.
The 2nds have a break again next Saturday before they take on Ards 3s at Neillsbrook on 3rd November.
