U18 v Virginia RFC
Randalstown U18s continue their unbeaten run with a hard fought victory away to Virginia.
After a long journey down, Town started the match well with Stephen Carey making a big hit to set the tone for the match early on. Unfortunately the following passage of play saw the visitors concede a penalty leading to a Virginia line out which they won despite stiff competition from second row Conor Doran. Again, Carey was on hand to offer another brilliant tackle, continuing his form of previous weeks, this time forcing Virginia to give away the penalty. Under the expert lifting of Gay and McLaughlin, Doran won the ball, popping it down to scrum half Peter Longwell. An impressive phase of backs play then followed, led by out half Michael O’Connell and centre Josh Henry, with Paul Johnston running an excellent line to touchdown under the posts making for an easy conversion for MOC.
Despite Ryan O’Dea’s excellent restart catch, town quickly conceded a penalty for a knock on, leading to Virginia running in their first try but missing the conversion.
O’Dea showed his class, making some excellent hits, earning Randalstown a turnover. They then dominated possession over the following phases of play, forcing a penalty by the hosts to win themselves a scrum on the 10m line. McLaughlin linked up off the back of a backs move to touch down for what looked to be a certain try but was deemed held up by the ref. Town then once again won the scrum, with scrum half Longwell passing the ball to Stuart Dempster to run a dangerous line. The Virginia defence prevented him breaking through though, however in the process they did concede another penalty which O’Connell then kicked over with ease to make the score 10-5 to Randalstown.
From the restart Virginia went through the phases, gaining ground and despite a wonderful defensive line by Carey and superb tackle by Dempster, Virginia touched down over the line, this time making their conversion as well, making the score 10-12 to the hosts. Wing Paul Johnston came close to scoring thanks to a fantastic line at the restart but was hit with a high tackle. The backs then ran a beautiful dummy line only for the ball to be dropped. For the remainder of the half, Town showed moments of promise thanks to a lovely charge down by O’Dea and lineout steal by McLaughlin, but the team was plagued by simple handling errors throughout that cost sure scores.
Half Time score: Randalstown 10 Virginia 12
The half began with Daniel McGrandles replacing Sean O’Rawe who had had another good game at 6, scrumming very well. Randalstown continued to concede penalties for simple errors. One such penalty led to a Virginia lineout on the 10m line which was expertly stolen by Paddy Mitchell.
Adam Johnston came on as a replacement for Peter Longwell who’d had another good performance at scrum half. A Town scrum followed, with Ryan Magill passing out to Michael O’Connell to break through a gap in Virginia’s line. Virginia then conceded a penalty at the breakdown, with Randalstown opting for the lineout which has proven successful all season. Hooker Hampton’s throw went straight to Conor Doran but the ball was lost in the subsequent maul. Play then continued back and forth with both sides showing skill but conceding penalties before they could achieve anything. Randalstown took advantage of one such penalty though with Magill putting into action a training ground tap penalty move to send Curtis Gay in for a try. The difficult conversion was missed.
Shea McLaughlin looked to ready to set up Town for another score after a lovely 10m break but unfortunately the ball was knocked on. Mitchell and Johnston were then replaced by Scott McClay and Aaron Steele after two very impressive performances.
Stuart Dempster made a fantastic break to link up Henry and McIvor, with McIvor running close to the line only to be taken out by a dangerous tackle. Again Town chose to opt for a tap penalty with McLaughlin running a great line. Another dangerous dummy by Dempster drew in Virginia defenders to allow the offload to Adam Johnston who ran in under the posts making for an easy conversion for Michael O’Connell. From the restart both McGrandles and McLaughlin made some fantastic tackles. James Murphy who had replaced McIvor also showed skill under the high ball, making a good break with fantastic support play by Josh Henry. Randalstown though once again conceded a penalty, allowing Virginia to score off a line out move in the final play of the match to make the final score 20-17 to Randalstown.
In a match filled with indiscipline and silly mistakes, individuals showed moments of skill but failed to maintain it for a full 70 minutes. However coaches were impressed by the work rate and performances of McIvor, Paul Johnston, Gay and Carey, with MOTM going to Shea McLaughlin for showing a solid performance and displaying some brilliant rugby.
1Curtis Gay; 2. Jack Hampton (c); 3Shea McLaughlin.; 4. Conor Doran; 5. Patrick Mitchell; 6. Sean O’Rawe; 7. Stephen Carey; 8. Ryan O’Dea; 9. Peter Longwell; 10. Michael O’Connell; 11. Paul Johnston; 12. Stuart Dempster; 13. Josh Henry; 14. Ryan Magill15. Malachy McIvor; 16. Scott McClay; 17. Aaron Steele 18. Daniel McGrandles 19. James Murphy; 20. Adam Johnston 21. Colm Griffin;
Coaches: Mark Hermin; Aine Doran; Garry Irwin; Adam Service; John Kennedy
