Nutty Krust Tournament Malone U18’s v Randalstown U18’s 2nd March 2016
The sixth of this season’s games in the Nutty Krust U18 Tournament took place under the floodlights at a cold, dry but windy Chambers Park when Malone U18’s and Randalstown U18’s played on Wednesday evening. The Randalstown U18 team recorded a 25-24 victory despite having been 21-0 behind at the interval. This was the first appearance for the Randalstown U18 team in the tournament and a sizeable crowd had gathered to watch an entertaining game which featured quite a few talented players on both teams. The game was packed with action from the first minute until the last minute with both sets of players really applying themselves for the entire seventy minutes. Among the group watching the game was Jonny Gillespie, the Ulster Rugby Talent ID Manager. Bobby Stewart, the Ulster Branch President, took time out of his busy schedule to attend the game as well. The continued interest of Ulster Rugby in the Nutty Krust Tournament is greatly appreciated by everyone connected with the competition.
The Malone team was 7-0 up with just forty five seconds on the clock. A lineout just outside the Randalstown 22m line was won and Jack Knox was the beneficiary of a well-worked midfield move when he touched down for the first try of the game. Malone continued to dominate the proceedings and might have increased their lead shortly after this only to see a penalty attempt drift wide and a try scoring pass going forward. Randalstown did recover and weathered the storm. They did gain some territory but handling errors and difficulty in dealing with the windy conditions meant they did not really threaten the Malone goal line at this stage of the game. Twenty seven minutes into the game a Randalstown attack broke down when Jack Knox intercepted a loose pass and he finished with a try under the posts. Niall McKeating converted the try to give the Malone team a 14-0 lead. With the last play of the first half the Malone lead was increased to 21-0. Several penalty kick opportunities were spurned and the ball was kept in play. Rory McCloskey took a quickly tapped penalty and outstripped the Randalstown defence to touch down for a try. Niall McKeating added the extras to give his team what seemed like a comfortable 21-0 lead at the break.
The second half was almost a complete turnaround from the first half with the Randalstown team staging a remarkable comeback. Michael O’Connell and Paul Johnston got their hands on the ball and really increased the tempo of the Randalstown attacks. Ten minutes after the restart a loose Malone clearance kick was fielded by Michael O’Connor who started a counter-attack which finished with Paul Johnston scorching his way in for an unconverted try and reduce the Randalstown deficit to 21-5. Three minutes later another Randalstown attack was prevented from scoring when resolute Malone defence got to the touchdown in their in-goal area first. Midway through the half another quickly taken penalty by Randalstown was finished off by Michael O’Connor with a try in the corner. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful but the deficit had been further reduced to 21-10. Almost immediately Malone responded positively and took play into the Randalstown 22m area. The Randalstown team conceded a penalty, which Niall McKeating converted, to increase the Malone lead to 24-10. The Randalstown backs were playing a lot of constructive rugby in the second half with the ball in hand. Their outside backs were running some great lines and one such attack was finished off by Michael O’Connor with his second try of the night in the corner. The conversion was missed but the Randalstown team was back in the game with the deficit reduced to 24-15 with eight minutes of the game remaining. Three minutes later Randalstown ran a penalty out of defence. A series of plays ended when Malone carried the ball over their line and conceded a 5m scrum. Stuart Dempster picked the ball from the scrum and a well-timed pass to Matthew McCaw finished with the scrum half touching down for a try. Philip McGreevy stepped up to confidently convert the try and reduce the arrears to 24-22 with just minutes remaining. The Randalstown attacks kept coming and when a Malone player picked up a clearance kick from in front of the ball the referee had no option but to award a penalty to Randalstown. Adam Johnston converted the penalty, the referee blew the final whistle and Randalstown celebrated their hard-earned but, ultimately, well-deserved 25-24 bonus point victory.
As usual with the Nutty Krust Tournament the players all received a post-match meal which was sponsored by Jim Hewitt Meats, prepared by the staff in “Scrummies” kitchen and organised by the ever present Sid Rowe. All players, as well as their coaches, received a Nutty Krust loaf on departure.
The Ulster Branch President, Bobby Stewart, presented the hard working Randalstown scrum half, Matthew McCaw, with the Nutty Krust “Man of the Match Award” at the post match ceremony. Bobby congratulated both teams for the positive way they entertained the supporters watching the game in the course of this seven try thriller.
The first of the Third Round group stage games in the 2016 Nutty Krust Tournament will feature Banbridge U18’s v Omagh U18’s at 7-45 pm on Wednesday 9th March. All supporters will be made to feel very welcome.
