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Sat 14 Sep 2019
1st XV
14:30
Lisburn RFC
Impressive home performance sees off Lisburn in Junior Cup
Chris McIlmoyle15 Sep 2019 - 23:39
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C McIlmoyle
On Saturday the JKC BMW/Causeway Geotech sponsored Ballymoney 1st XV played their first home game of the season in a convincing 26-9 win against league 2 rivals in the Junior Cup .
Jack Dowey replaced the unavailable McFetridge at tight head with John Laughlin returning at centre and Rory Strang making his comeback from long term injury at fullback .
Ballymoney started very well putting Lisburn on the back foot straight away and opened the scoring within 5 minutes- Lisburn conceded a penalty just outside the 22 , Strang kicked to the corner and from the resulting lineout , Jordan Munnis opened the scoring with the catch & drive lineout. Strang converted from the touchline giving the home team a 7-0 lead .
On 15 minutes the Toon scored again, this time a strong scrum on the 22 gave the backs the platform to flash the ball wide allowing Nathaniel Steele to open his scoring account for the season, again converted by the lethal boot of Rory Strang.
Despite such a bright start , the home team didn’t keep up the electric start and gave the visitors the chance in the last 10 minutes to score 2 penalties leaving the half time score 14-6
Lisburn scored again first in the second half with a penalty as the Toon again conceding needless penalties, letting Lisburn back into a game they should have been long out of however midway through Jordan Munnis doubled his try account for the day with another drive over the line .
Try of the day came right at the death , with Lisburn pushing for a score , Ballymoney turned over a ruck deep inside the 22 , the ball came to Garvin Bellingham how split the defence with a show & go , popped to Irwin who in turn fed Dunlop who headed for the corner , despite being tackled deep in tbe 22 , he popped to Irwin on the support run who crossed the line to the applause of the home support. Strang knocked over the conversion and the ref blew the whistle , 26-9 victory and in the hat for the next round!
After the game , coach Jonny Hanna was delighted with the win .”We talked during the week about the intensity we had in the Randalstown game and for the first twenty minutes we really took the game to Lisburn. We took our foot off the gas a bit and let Lisburn creep back in with a few needless penalties in the last 10 of the first half although they never looked like breaking our defence down . The last fifteen minutes we upped the level again and to score 4 tries for a second week in a row without conceding is a plus point . Ashley Tweed really impressed today , a superb performance in only his third game at senior level , John Laughlin put in a big shift at centre , putting in several big tackles at centre . Delighted to see Rory Strang back in action too after such a long time out with injury problems too .
To have played 3 games without conceding a try too is fantastic, our defensive game has been good to date , we’ll continue to work hard on this at training. The next two games are Conference games and we look to build on our performances of our last two games . “
Jack Dowey replaced the unavailable McFetridge at tight head with John Laughlin returning at centre and Rory Strang making his comeback from long term injury at fullback .
Ballymoney started very well putting Lisburn on the back foot straight away and opened the scoring within 5 minutes- Lisburn conceded a penalty just outside the 22 , Strang kicked to the corner and from the resulting lineout , Jordan Munnis opened the scoring with the catch & drive lineout. Strang converted from the touchline giving the home team a 7-0 lead .
On 15 minutes the Toon scored again, this time a strong scrum on the 22 gave the backs the platform to flash the ball wide allowing Nathaniel Steele to open his scoring account for the season, again converted by the lethal boot of Rory Strang.
Despite such a bright start , the home team didn’t keep up the electric start and gave the visitors the chance in the last 10 minutes to score 2 penalties leaving the half time score 14-6
Lisburn scored again first in the second half with a penalty as the Toon again conceding needless penalties, letting Lisburn back into a game they should have been long out of however midway through Jordan Munnis doubled his try account for the day with another drive over the line .
Try of the day came right at the death , with Lisburn pushing for a score , Ballymoney turned over a ruck deep inside the 22 , the ball came to Garvin Bellingham how split the defence with a show & go , popped to Irwin who in turn fed Dunlop who headed for the corner , despite being tackled deep in tbe 22 , he popped to Irwin on the support run who crossed the line to the applause of the home support. Strang knocked over the conversion and the ref blew the whistle , 26-9 victory and in the hat for the next round!
After the game , coach Jonny Hanna was delighted with the win .”We talked during the week about the intensity we had in the Randalstown game and for the first twenty minutes we really took the game to Lisburn. We took our foot off the gas a bit and let Lisburn creep back in with a few needless penalties in the last 10 of the first half although they never looked like breaking our defence down . The last fifteen minutes we upped the level again and to score 4 tries for a second week in a row without conceding is a plus point . Ashley Tweed really impressed today , a superb performance in only his third game at senior level , John Laughlin put in a big shift at centre , putting in several big tackles at centre . Delighted to see Rory Strang back in action too after such a long time out with injury problems too .
To have played 3 games without conceding a try too is fantastic, our defensive game has been good to date , we’ll continue to work hard on this at training. The next two games are Conference games and we look to build on our performances of our last two games . “
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