Strabane 0 Limavady 59
Limavady came out on top of this North West Derby at Liskey Road on Saturday past with another clinical and powerful display of rugby, that produced 11 tries against a homeside that were clearly out of their depth, although to their credit, they never gave up to the last minute. After last weeks scrappy opening half against Ophir, the Roesiders went about their business from the 1st minute, but in the first ten minutes passed up the chance to take the lead twice, but handling errors proved to be their undoing.
Strabane’s resistance was finally broken on 15mins when a break from skipper Daniel Irvine laid the foundations for centre, Jamie Mo Miller to touch down. Try number two, wasn’t long to follow as 3 mins later Luke Faulkner took a pass from scrum half Jamie Miller, made a break, and created a four on two break. With a gaping hole in the homeside defence the big out half stormed over a 10-0 lead after 18mins. On 22 minutes came the third major score of the day. A Strabane scrum went against the head. The ball was then worked through the backs to right winger Robert Lamberton who crashed over the line despite the best efforts of covering Strabane defence. The all important try bonus point arrived five minutes later. Another fine attack down the Strabane left some delightful interchange between Jordan, McCollum and Haslett and the latter set Lamberton clear to register his second of the day.
On the half hour mark it was left winger Stewart Roddy’s turn to get on the scoring act. An over thrown from a Strabane line-out was picked up by scrum half Jamie Miller who went off on a mazy run deep into the Strabane half. It was then left for Faulkner and Jamie Mo. Miller to combine and set up Roddy who collected just outside the Strabane ’22’ to finish in the corner. There was still time for one more try before the half time break. A Limavady scrum on half way was picked by No 8 and captain Daniel Irvine at the base of the scrum, and simply raced clear of everyone to claim the Roesiders sixth try of the day in empathic style. With none of the six tries being converted the half time score read, Strabane 0 Limavady 30.
With the victory points in the bag, Limavady could have been forgiven for taking their foot off the pedal, but not today as the relentless pressure on the Strabane line continued. On 42 minutes a quick penalty from Luke Faulkner set up second row Michael Rice who stormed over from five metres. New goal kicker Jack McCool landed his first conversion of the day, but was off target with a conversion just three minutes later when Robert Lamberton touched down for Limavady’s eighth try of the day. A few minutes later, and for the second Saturday in succession, Lamberton touched down for his fourth try of the day. Luke Faulkner added the extras for that one for a 47-0 lead by the 48th minute.
With Strabane losing a prop to an injury they had to see out the rest of the game 14 men, and also see the introduction of uncontested scrums. With the home team tiring and with gaps appearing in their defence winger Stewart Roddy took advantage of this to score a fabulous individual try on 58 minutes when he collected the ball on his own 10 metre line to cross the whitewash for the second time. To their credit Strabane didn’t lay down and for ten minutes threw everything at the Limavady defence in pursuit of crossing the Limavady line, even passing up a few opportunities of three easy points from penalties, but the visitors were determined to keep a clean sheet for the third week in a row. On 67mins flanker Jack McCool finished off another fine team move for the Roesiders 11th try of the day and a short time later referee Joel Stafford-Barton brought proceedings to an end.
Full Time Strabane 0 Limavady 59
Another big win for the Men in Black as they keep up the push for promotion at the end of the season. As we approach the midway point of the season the Roe Men lead the P.S.N.I by 13 points. An all round fine team performance with Clive Scott putting in a vintage performance with a few big hits to go along with a few trademark runs. Peter Browne continues to impress with his defensive displays from the back row and Chris Tinney seems to be taking advantage of his opportunity of 1st XV rugby with another aggressive performance from second row.
Team : M. Haslett, R. Lamberton, J.M. Miller, G. Jordan, S. Roddy, L. Faulkner, J. Miller. C. Scott, A. McIlmoyle, J.McCollum, M. Rice, C. Tinney, J.McCool, P. Browne, D. Irvine.
The seconds put there recent poor form behind them which included four defeats on the bounce with an impressive bonus point win over Ballymena 4ths. Final score at The John Hunter Memorial Grounds was 22-8.
A big thanks to everyone that watched both sides on Saturday in the very wintery conditions. Your continued support is most welcome.
Next week the 1st XV begin a run of three consecutive home fixtures with a game against Belfast High School Former Pupils, while the seconds are in Forster Cup action with a difficult assignment away to Carrick 3rds. At the minute both ties will start at 2.30pm. Keep an eye on the clubs social media sites for kick off times as they may change during the week.
