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Sat 08 Oct 2016
Lurgan
1st XV
11
21
Tries: A Young, J Linton, I MoxenConversions: A Young (3)
Toon win away in Lurgan
Chris McIlmoyle10 Oct 2016 - 08:46
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Report by Jonny Hanna
The JKC BMW Ballymoney First XV travelled to Lurgan and in a hard fought game successfully claimed the four points with an 11-21 win.
Both Ballymoney and Lurgan went into the fixture with an unbeaten record and so it was a battle between the teams in 1st and 2nd position in the league. Ballymoney had a few changes with McKeaman and McAneaney coming back into the pack. Chris Watson came back into the back line at centre with the experienced Jonny Linton moving to Scrum Half to cover for Matthew Steele who was unavailable.
The game started with both sides measuring each other up and trying to find weaknesses. Lurgan played to a game plan where they tried to gain procession through their large pack, using them to take the ball into contact and create space for their young, fast exciting back line. Ballymoney were up to the early exchanges and stopped Lurgan from making any metres with most of the early play staying around the half way line.
A penalty from Ballymoney on the 10m line gave Lurgan a chance at early points and their kicker Nolan lived up to his reputation by slotting it over. With the score 3-0 Ballymoney took the game to Lurgan and with 10 minutes played they got the first try off the game. Some good running from the forwards took play into the opponents 22. The ball was moved from the right to the left wing. Strong carries back infield from McFetridge, Mullholland and Irvine drew in the home team defence. Quick, effective rucking allowed Linton to get clean ball which created space on narrow side and with the overlap, Young through a dummy and his pace beat the drift defence for him to go over and put the ball down below the posts. Young converted his own try to give Ballymoney the lead 3-7 after 15 minutes. McKeaman had to leave the field with a blood injury and McCollum took his place moving Allen into the second row.
McCollum made his impact straight away with some strong carries from 8 and linking well with McFetridge who moved to the blindside wing forward position. The backs were not to be outdone as Watson, Nathanial Steele and Knight all made good yards in attack. Lurgan defence was holding firm but the experience Linton broke the strong Lurgan defence when the scrum half spotted a gap at the side of a ruck. An explosive burst of pace combined with an elusive step and physical hand off seen him beat 4 defenders to run in below the posts from 30 meters out. Young again added the extra points to take the score to 3-14.
Blair came on for Moxen and McKeaman returned for Mullholland, however the changes maybe caused Ballymoney to switch off as they didn’t take the kick off cleanly. A loose kick allowed Lurgan to attack the blind side and Pattison was on hand to make a cover tackle on the 22m line, but the referee adjusted him to have been in front of the kicker. Lurgan again showed they were dangerous with the boot as Nolan covered the penalty from the touch line to leave the score 6-14 after 30mintes. The remaining half saw Ballymoney on the front foot but poor handling and excellent defence from Lurgan prevented any further scores.
Ballymoney knew the next score would be very important as Lurgan seemed to increase their aggression and tempo as they continued to show their desire to get the win. Ballymoney saw a poor 10mintues of discipline reduce the team to 13men. First off all a late tackle on the Lurgan fullback by McKeaman saw the Toon 7 head to the bin for 10minutes. Then Ballymoney conceded two more penalties for high tackles until captain McFetrdge was also shown the yellow card for a 3rd illegal tackle from the team.
Down to only 6 in the forwards it again saw the coaches having to make changes from their bench to add weight to the scrum. However the fact Ballymoney were down to 13 men seem to raise the intensity of the visitors and unsettle the home team. Some strong tackling from Watson and Steele in the centres caused Lurgan to spill the ball. Mullholland and Pattison were first on the ball to kick it through and lead a foot race 50meteres up the pitch, only for Lurgan to give away a penalty on the edge of the 22. Ballymoney now buoyant went for the corner and Young’s kick set up a line out 5meteres out. From the short line out Moxen was on hand to pivot around tail of the lineout and barge in to score the 3rd try. Young again added the conversion to give Ballymoney a 6-21 lead.
With 25 minutes to go Ballymoney were back to full strength and were now looking to push on for the try scoring bonus points. Lurgan had other ideas and started to move the ball about through their back line. Some good kicking took them into the Ballymoney half and from knock on they were awarded a scrum 30m out. An excellent back row move down the blind saw some sloppy tackling from Ballymoney allowing the Lurgan winger to cross the line for a score. The conversion went wide but Lurgan now had their tails up with the score 11-21 and game entering last 15mintues.
The rest of the game saw both teams push for a score but ill-discipline or careless turnovers resulted in neither team getting a platform for attack and the game was played in the middle of the pitch until the referee blew for fulltime with the large travelling support pleased to come away with the win on the road.
Man of the Match: J Linton
Team: P.Irvine, K.McAneaney, I.Moxen, N.Mullholland, J.Bleakly, M.Allen, D.McKeaman, J.McFetridge, J.Linton, A.Young, T.Knight, N.Steele, C.Watson, G.Pattison, S.McCrea, M.Blair, N.McCollum.
Coaches Comments: Coaches James Cleland and Jonny Hanna commented after the game, “First of all it is great to get the win against Lurgan who are tipped as one of the league challengers. We both came into the game unbeaten so it was important for us to get the win. To beat them away from home was great and completed the objectives we set out for the first 5 games of the season”. For the first time this year our discipline wasn’t good enough today and that combined with errors at the breakdown cost us the bonus point. Our defence was good enough but the players knew after the game we didn’t play to our best. With 2 players in the bin at one time it resulted in a number of changes being made to the forwards which maybe lead to the team being disjoined. However if you can win and not play to your best it is a great characteristic to have!
We will review the game and plan to work on the issues at training this week, which I am sure will be a very physical session as we keep aiming to lift the intensity!
We are at home to Newry next week and with the second XV getting another good victory in the league we may look to giving a few more players a chance to see how they can perform for the 1st XV. We are looking to keep trying combinations and getting all the players used to playing in the 1st XV so we can build an experienced squad as we have a heavy fixture list this season. We know we will need to play better when we return to Lurgan in 3 weeks’ time to play them in the Gordon West cup as they will be desperate to retain the cup they won last season.
Ballymoney play Newry at home this week at Kilraughts Rd and all support is greatly welcome. Anyone wishing to attend the prematch lunch before the game please contact the bar to reserve a place. Kick off is at 2.30pm.
Both Ballymoney and Lurgan went into the fixture with an unbeaten record and so it was a battle between the teams in 1st and 2nd position in the league. Ballymoney had a few changes with McKeaman and McAneaney coming back into the pack. Chris Watson came back into the back line at centre with the experienced Jonny Linton moving to Scrum Half to cover for Matthew Steele who was unavailable.
The game started with both sides measuring each other up and trying to find weaknesses. Lurgan played to a game plan where they tried to gain procession through their large pack, using them to take the ball into contact and create space for their young, fast exciting back line. Ballymoney were up to the early exchanges and stopped Lurgan from making any metres with most of the early play staying around the half way line.
A penalty from Ballymoney on the 10m line gave Lurgan a chance at early points and their kicker Nolan lived up to his reputation by slotting it over. With the score 3-0 Ballymoney took the game to Lurgan and with 10 minutes played they got the first try off the game. Some good running from the forwards took play into the opponents 22. The ball was moved from the right to the left wing. Strong carries back infield from McFetridge, Mullholland and Irvine drew in the home team defence. Quick, effective rucking allowed Linton to get clean ball which created space on narrow side and with the overlap, Young through a dummy and his pace beat the drift defence for him to go over and put the ball down below the posts. Young converted his own try to give Ballymoney the lead 3-7 after 15 minutes. McKeaman had to leave the field with a blood injury and McCollum took his place moving Allen into the second row.
McCollum made his impact straight away with some strong carries from 8 and linking well with McFetridge who moved to the blindside wing forward position. The backs were not to be outdone as Watson, Nathanial Steele and Knight all made good yards in attack. Lurgan defence was holding firm but the experience Linton broke the strong Lurgan defence when the scrum half spotted a gap at the side of a ruck. An explosive burst of pace combined with an elusive step and physical hand off seen him beat 4 defenders to run in below the posts from 30 meters out. Young again added the extra points to take the score to 3-14.
Blair came on for Moxen and McKeaman returned for Mullholland, however the changes maybe caused Ballymoney to switch off as they didn’t take the kick off cleanly. A loose kick allowed Lurgan to attack the blind side and Pattison was on hand to make a cover tackle on the 22m line, but the referee adjusted him to have been in front of the kicker. Lurgan again showed they were dangerous with the boot as Nolan covered the penalty from the touch line to leave the score 6-14 after 30mintes. The remaining half saw Ballymoney on the front foot but poor handling and excellent defence from Lurgan prevented any further scores.
Ballymoney knew the next score would be very important as Lurgan seemed to increase their aggression and tempo as they continued to show their desire to get the win. Ballymoney saw a poor 10mintues of discipline reduce the team to 13men. First off all a late tackle on the Lurgan fullback by McKeaman saw the Toon 7 head to the bin for 10minutes. Then Ballymoney conceded two more penalties for high tackles until captain McFetrdge was also shown the yellow card for a 3rd illegal tackle from the team.
Down to only 6 in the forwards it again saw the coaches having to make changes from their bench to add weight to the scrum. However the fact Ballymoney were down to 13 men seem to raise the intensity of the visitors and unsettle the home team. Some strong tackling from Watson and Steele in the centres caused Lurgan to spill the ball. Mullholland and Pattison were first on the ball to kick it through and lead a foot race 50meteres up the pitch, only for Lurgan to give away a penalty on the edge of the 22. Ballymoney now buoyant went for the corner and Young’s kick set up a line out 5meteres out. From the short line out Moxen was on hand to pivot around tail of the lineout and barge in to score the 3rd try. Young again added the conversion to give Ballymoney a 6-21 lead.
With 25 minutes to go Ballymoney were back to full strength and were now looking to push on for the try scoring bonus points. Lurgan had other ideas and started to move the ball about through their back line. Some good kicking took them into the Ballymoney half and from knock on they were awarded a scrum 30m out. An excellent back row move down the blind saw some sloppy tackling from Ballymoney allowing the Lurgan winger to cross the line for a score. The conversion went wide but Lurgan now had their tails up with the score 11-21 and game entering last 15mintues.
The rest of the game saw both teams push for a score but ill-discipline or careless turnovers resulted in neither team getting a platform for attack and the game was played in the middle of the pitch until the referee blew for fulltime with the large travelling support pleased to come away with the win on the road.
Man of the Match: J Linton
Team: P.Irvine, K.McAneaney, I.Moxen, N.Mullholland, J.Bleakly, M.Allen, D.McKeaman, J.McFetridge, J.Linton, A.Young, T.Knight, N.Steele, C.Watson, G.Pattison, S.McCrea, M.Blair, N.McCollum.
Coaches Comments: Coaches James Cleland and Jonny Hanna commented after the game, “First of all it is great to get the win against Lurgan who are tipped as one of the league challengers. We both came into the game unbeaten so it was important for us to get the win. To beat them away from home was great and completed the objectives we set out for the first 5 games of the season”. For the first time this year our discipline wasn’t good enough today and that combined with errors at the breakdown cost us the bonus point. Our defence was good enough but the players knew after the game we didn’t play to our best. With 2 players in the bin at one time it resulted in a number of changes being made to the forwards which maybe lead to the team being disjoined. However if you can win and not play to your best it is a great characteristic to have!
We will review the game and plan to work on the issues at training this week, which I am sure will be a very physical session as we keep aiming to lift the intensity!
We are at home to Newry next week and with the second XV getting another good victory in the league we may look to giving a few more players a chance to see how they can perform for the 1st XV. We are looking to keep trying combinations and getting all the players used to playing in the 1st XV so we can build an experienced squad as we have a heavy fixture list this season. We know we will need to play better when we return to Lurgan in 3 weeks’ time to play them in the Gordon West cup as they will be desperate to retain the cup they won last season.
Ballymoney play Newry at home this week at Kilraughts Rd and all support is greatly welcome. Anyone wishing to attend the prematch lunch before the game please contact the bar to reserve a place. Kick off is at 2.30pm.
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