BALLYMONEY RFC 3RD XV REACH SEMI-FINAL OF FORSTER PLATE

BALLYMONEY RFC 3RD XV REACH SEMI-FINAL OF FORSTER PLATE
HOLYWOOD RFC 2ND XV 10
BALLYMONEY RFC 3RD XV 36
Report by Uel McDowell

On Saturday Ballymoney RFC 3RD XV travelled to Holywood RFC to take on the home team’s 2ND XV in the quarter final of the Forster Plate and came away with a win and their place in the semi-final.
In excellent playing conditions the Town took the game to Holywood from the start, with the forwards and backs working well together to gain ground in the Holywood half. Some excellent driving by forwards Andrew Millar and Danny McCord and strong and elusive running by winger DD Barley kept Holywood on the defensive. Ten minutes into the first half, with Ballymoney having the monopoly of the ball, an excellently worked forwards’ try was scored, when Captain Neil Campbell was driven over the Holywood line, well assisted by the remainder of the pack. Holywood hit back immediately with some good forward play causing one of the Ballymoney forwards to infringe at a ruck and their outhalf easily converted the penalty kick.
Several good scoring opportunites were missed through poor decision-making and some over-exuberance. However, the Town men did not allow this to affect their play and eventually were rewarded with a score. No 8 Neil Campbell broke from a ruck on the Holywood 10 metre line and fed a lovely pass to winger Peter Elliott who ran in from forty metres out to score an unconverted try.
The Town then lost their focus, allowing Holywood back into the game and with five minutes remaining in the first half the home side scored, when their forwards drove into the Town twenty-two and from the resulting ruck, quick ball was run on the Town blindside and was passed to their winger who evaded three attempted tackles to score a well-worked converted try between the posts, leaving the half-time score at ten all.
A few constructive words of encouragement were delivered at half-time and the Town men came out with a more positive attitude to the second half.
The more robust mauling and driving by the Town forwards, in particular Miller, McCord and Neil Campbell, paid dividends, driving Holywood back into their own twenty-two. This proved successful when centre Dean Talbot broke through the Holywood backline to score between the posts. Peter Elliott converted. A few minutes after the re-start, wing forward, Chris Campbell, who was having a sound game, received an eye injury, which resulted in him being replaced by Peter Morrow. Five minutes later Holywood had a player sin-binned for a high tackle on the Ballymoney centre Aaron Brown. This created space for the Ballymoney backs and when outhalf Andrew Young found the gap in the Holywood defence he ran through and rounded the fullback to score another good try which was again ably converted by Peter Elliott. The Town then replaced No 8 Neil Campbell and prop Gareth Rankin, both of whom had put in a tremendous amount of work, with Ben Graham and William Parkhill, thus introducing fresh legs and upping the tempo of the game.
However, Holywood didn’t give up and worked hard to get back into the game with long clearance kicks which were handled well by fullback Gavin Thompson. With ten minutes to go, the Town scored again when Centre Aaron Brown broke the Holywood line on the blindside and passed to winger Peter Elliott who ran in from twenty metres to score another well-deserved try, which he converted, leaving the final score Holywood 10 Ballymoney 36.
This was a good win for the Town 3RD XV, but more focus and effort at training should give them the impetus they require if they wish to progress to the Final. Overall, a good result which was achieved by the team’s improved second half performance. Man of the Match was Andrew Young for his control and direction of the team from outhalf.
Well done Town and good luck in the Semi-Final and we all wish Chris Campbell a speedy recovery!