Ballymoney 1st Vs BHSFP 1st

On Saturday Ballymoney 1st XV got the new season off to a perfect start with a bonus 12-40 win away to Bhsfp RFC. Ballymoney had a new look squad made up of mainly young club players led by experienced Club Captain John McFetridge.
The game got off to a positive start for Ballymoney. Although there were some nerves about the young squad they set to the game plan which they have practiced during the summer. Some good carries from John McFetridge, Neal Mulholland and Aaron Brown took play into the BHSFP 22. The home team struggled to match the pace of the Ballymoney forwards which resulted in them giving away penalties when a certain try was on the cards. Out half Andrew Young stepped up and converted two of these to give Ballymoney a 0-6 lead after 8 minutes. Another break into the BHSFP half saw the ball moved wide and centre Aaron Brown and fullback Simon McCrea combined to take play to the try line where the cover defence from the home team stopped play on try line. A quick ruck from Toon forwards allowed outside centre Steele to pick and dart over for the first score. The conversion went wide from Young but the score was now 0-11 to Ballymoney after 15 minutes.
The second try followed shortly after, this time again from a penalty Ballymoney kicked to the corner. Although BHSFP disrupted the line out Ballymoney set up the ball with forwards Irvine and Moxen taking play close to the line. A switch in play say backs and forwards link well resulting in Out half Andrew Young spotting a gap and using his strength and pace to go over. The kick from 15metre line again just went wide to leave the score 0-16.
Ballymoney then looked to get over confident and tried to move the ball from the kick off in their own 22. BHSFP backs were aware of this and there quick line speed resulted in an interception and a try below the posts. There scrum half converted to bring the home team back into the game with the score now 7-16 after 25minutes. To cap off a poor few minutes BHSFP move the resulting kick off along their back line and broke from their own half. Again there back line showed excellent strength and pace to quickly recycle the ball and beat the cover defence to score a well worked try in the corner. The kick went wide to make the score 12-16. Ballymoney then suffered injuries to open side Callum McDonald and winger Jonny Linton, which resulted in Matthew Blair and David McKeaman taking the pitch. Ballymoney had a scrum 10 metres out at the end of the first half, but a loose ball at the rear of the scrum was pounced upon by the home sides scrum half and the referee blew for half time.
Stern words from Coaches James Cleland and Jonny Hanna seemed to work as Ballymoney started the second half with new emphasis. The home side could not cope with the increased level of intensity in defence, which forced turnovers and from which allowed Ballymoney the platform to attack. From an excellent move in the back line Andrew Young broke the line and drew the last defender to put centre Steele away to score in the corner. The conversion when wide but Ballymoney now had their tails up and led 12-21. Soon after another converted try came after a break from centre Aaron Brown. He offloaded to the supporting Mulholland who went over the line but the referee adjudged he didn’t ground the ball. It only took a few moments after this however for the bonus point to be awarded. A break from scrum half Steele, resulted in quick rucks and flanker Allen crashed over below the posts for a converted try.
With the bonus point now in the bag and the score 12-27, Nathanial Steele completed his hatrick as he rounded off another good backs move to score out wide to make the score 12-33. The last try came after a 50metre sprint from athletic second row Bleakly, which led to a scrum 5 metres out. Some strong forward play was ended off with hooker McAneaney going over from close range. Young added the conversation to take the final score to 12-40 and all 5 points to Ballymoney. Man of the match goes to Captain John McFetridge who was instrumental in getting his side off to a winning league start. 1st XV TEAM P Irvine, K McAneaney, I Moxen, J Bleakly, N Mulholland, M Allen, C McDonald, J McFetridge (c), M Steele, A Young, J Linton, A Brown, N Steele, T Knight, S McCrea, M Blair, D McKeaman.
Coaches Comments; Speaking after the games coaches James Cleland and Jonny Hanna stated there were delighting with getting all 5 points from the first league game especially with it being away from home. “Our objective was just to get off to a winning start but to get the bonus point away from home is the perfect start. We showed some nerves in the first half but settled into the game and showed the work in defence we had been doing in the second half. We have a lot of new combinations and some guys who had played for lower teams last season making their first league start for the 1st XV. Now we have the first game behind us we can start and build for next week. We expect Callum McDonald will be out with a suspected broken nose and we have to wait and see how Jonny Linton recovers from the knock on his hip, but should have few others who were unavailable last week back in contention for selection.
Saturday Ballymoney 1st XV is at home to Virgina RFC with kick off at 2.30pm. We encourage all supporters to come out and cheer on the team and anyone wishing to attend the pre-match lunch can reserve a space by ringing the club house.