Quins arrived at Eaton Park on a cold but dry afternoon. Due to unavailability, injury, and sickness, the Team List for Quins saw only 4 players from the 15 that started against Old Wesley. However, among the interesting selections were, the debut of ex MCB hooker Gareth Reilly, John Higgins in a first run out at centre, the appearance in the back row of the much travelled Niall Greenan, and Danny Annett demonstrating both his versatility and ability by taking on the open side wing forward role.
Quins played from the entrance with the stand on their right, and against a slight breeze.The early stages of the match saw plenty of errors from both sides, but Ballymena then took a grip on proceedings and dominated both possession and territory. 2 well struck penalties and a converted try put Ballymena 13-0 up. The try was quite spectacular from a Ballymena vierwpoint, with their left winger racing diagonally from the halfway touchline through the entire Quins defence, who seemed to be waiting for the off load.
However just as it appeared that Ballymena had takien a firm hold on proceedings came a Quins try out of the blue.Twenty minutes into the half eeceiving the ball 30 metres out on the left, Mark Kettyle chipped precisely across the field to the awaiting Roger Kirkwood on the right wing. Roger took the ball perfectly, outwitted the defender and was over. While Richard Reaney was unable to convert, no further scores occurred and Quins supporters would were delighted to arrive at the halftime mark only 13 – 5 down, having played 2nd fiddle for most of the first half.
The 2nd half kicked of with the arrival of new SA prop Ian Mathew and Quins now had a slight wind advantage.
This time it was Quins who put the foot down on the accelerator and for a period of 20 minutes were rarely out of the Ballymena half. A further try, at 10 minutes, again from Roger Kirkwood, after some excellent back play, brought the score to 13 – 12. The Quins backs were playing an expansive game with Keith Pyper showing an extensive range of attacking ploys – moves that would have terrified the Quins supporters if they had been inside their own half. Shimmies, sidesteps, inside passes, loops, chips, all kept the pressure on Ballymena. However the Ballymena defenc eheld out and the play then dramatically switched to the Quins 22 with not much more than 5 minutes to go. Luckily for Quins, a couple of dropped passes by Ballymena with the line at their mercy kept the score unchanged.
Having survived this flurry, Quins returned to the Ballymena 22 and from a fluid back movement, John Higgins broke through and seemed certain to score. However a despairing hand trip by a defender and with pursuing taclklers at hand, John dived early for the line. As he crossed the line, the ball was slightly fumbled and the referee adjudged that he had lost control.
As we were now in injury time, Quins supporters thought the worst. However, with the last move of the game, Pypes repeated the move and again John Higgins zoomed through the gap created. This time he ran in unopposed to happily score beneath the posts. Richard Rainy converted to make the score Ballymena 13 – Quins 19.
On the conversion, the referee blew for full time — phew !!
The second half produced an excellent team performance from Quins. Their camaraderie is commendable and good to see.
The arrival at half time of our new prop Ian Mathew appeared to lead to a rejuvination of the scrummage. ( or else Ballymena had at that stage been softened up !). My two touring technical advisors on small-number players – John Kinnear and Gilbert Paton, gave a resounding thumbs up to Ian. So far so good Ian !!
Pypes put in a highly active, commanding and, as usual ,entertaining performance at flyhalf during the last period of the game.
Rourky survived the whole 80 minutes and his new-found athleticism allowed him to still excel in the line outs in the closing period.
John Higgins deserves great credit for his contribution in the closing stages.
However, if there is to be a man- the-match award, it would go to Roger Kirkwood for a cheeky, twinkle-toed, sparkling performance at close quarters on the wing – and two tries of course!
Well done all.
Team: Reaney, Kirkwood, Kettyle, Higgins, McLoughlin, Pyper, Creighton, McGrath, Reilly, Logan, Rourke, Leckey, Greenan, Annett, Gillespie (capt).
Subs: Heatlie, Mathew,
Next Saturday sees us return to AIL action, with Middleton visiting Deramore.
PS congratulations to Niall Annett and Michael Allen on appearing on the winning Ulster Ravens versus Leinster. (with Niall as captain!) The Club should be proud of these two fine players and grateful for their contribution to date for Quins.
PPS the reception given to both our sides and supporters was brilliant. Great lunch and much liquid generosity! As one of my colleagues however said as we were arriving back at Deramore- we need more drink like Custer needed more Indians!
