For their first fixture of the season, Virginia hosted Ballynahinch on Saturday last. Under perfect condition the Ramor team managed a promising win by out-scoring their opposition 4 tries to 1. However the win took a long time to materialise, due to up and downs in concentration .
From the off the hosts put Ballynahinch under huge pressure and could have taken the lead after only 5 minutes but the well worked out try was disallowed by the referee. Virginia kept on pushing and managed the first score of the day after 15 minutes by first centre Lee Burdis; the conversion was missed and the score remained at 5-0.
5 minutes before the break Virginia increase their lead to 12-0 with a converted try. Good effort from the forwards were rewarded with a close range try from second row Niall Yore. At that point Virginia players dropped their guards and allow Ballynahinch back in the game. The visitors strong runners took maters in their own hands and started to threaten Virginia’s defense, helped by some missed tackles and poor defensive work from the hosts. The half time break couldn’t come early enough for Virginia.
Ballynahinch came back full of confidence and after Virginia couldn’t deal with the long kick-off the ball was turned over by the visitors. Few phases later, Ballynahinch forward crashed under the posts for a well deserved try. With the successful conversion added the score was reduced to 12-7.
Virginia were dangerous with ball in hands but too often it was lost in contact, turned over in rucks or in scrums where Ballynahinch front row stole several balls against the head. However even with the lion share of possession the visitors couldn’t convert their domination into points. On several occasions Virginia poor defending allowed the Down team to threaten their try line but each time they had their back to the wall Virginia managed to hold on and to release the pressure.
Then with 5 minutes left Virginia managed to find their way up the pitch and were now threatening Ballynahinch’s try line. Second centre Redmond Egan took on the ball and after a strong run he bulled his way over the line for Virginia third try. The score was 17-7 after the missed conversion.
Then with 1 minutes left on the clock full back Conor Farrelly score the last try of the day. Virginia managed to put few phases together, the ball travelled through the back line to find Farrelly, who despite a last chance tackle, extended his arm to ground the ball over the line. Conversion was missed and the score remained at 22-7 until the final whistle.
Good effort from Virginia but too many errors could have cost them dearly. A lot of work to be done to prepare for the reception of Ballymena on Saturday.
Virginia: 1 Shane Doughty, 2 Liam Maguire, 3 Michael Gordon, 4 Niall Yore, 5 Tristan Lotsche, 6 Dylan Farrelly, 7 Robert McCabe, 8 Rory Smith, 9 Nathan McQuade, 10 Dale Smith, 11 Sean ward, 12 Lee Burdis, 13 Redmond Egan, 14 Keith Cunningham, 15 Conor Farrelly, 16 Niall McWeeney, 17 Nathan McCabe, 18 Peter Nulty, 19 Karl Golden.
