Ards 4ths 12 v Antrim 29
The Black Knights continued their dismal start to their league campaign with a disappointing 29-12 defeat by a strong Antrim 1st xv.
The omens were not good from the start when captain Rab Irwin , enjoying an early morning fishing trip to the River Roe, failed to turn up for the match ,engrossed as he was in some frantic trout tickling!!!. Its not the first time Captain Irwin has been led astray by an old trout !!!!
Some urgent shuffling of the pack took place as Paul “Willie John “ White made his first start of the season .
Ards started brightly but were soon under the kosh from a fit and determined antrim side and following a turnover ,some slick handling by the Antrim backs put them in at the corner for an unconverted try.
Ards misery was compounded when the normally immaculate andy matchett made a break from ther base of the next ards scrum. Showing all the class of a European Cup Winner, he beautifully fed the antrim winger with an inch perfect pass, putting him in under the posts for a converted try. 0 12 to antrim.
This seemed to galvanise Ards and from kick off they pressed into the Antrim half to score the try of the match. From a ruck following a number of forward carries the ball was fed out to rotund winger jack flynn. Moving with the grace of a water buffalo rising out of the Serengeti he beat antrim man after man (at least 20 according to jack afterwards). They simply had no answer to his movement and couldny lay a hand on him. What they didn’t realise was that jack was simply running in a straight line – it was his stomach and moobs that were doing all the movement.In any case it was definitely a candidate for try of the season. Sadly it went unconverted to leave the score 12-5.
It also unfortunately spurred antrim back into action and they quickly restored their 12 point lead with a well worked try from another ards mistake.
By now however the ards forwards realised they had the beating of antrim in the set pieces and from a lineout in the antrim 22 ards mauled the ball over the line for andrew crozier to score under the posts leaving the halftime score 19 – 12 to Antrim
The second half started very much like the end of the first with Ards dominating the set piece but being strangely lethargic in the tackle areas.by this stage the ref (who really fancied himself as a comedian ) was coming into his own with some truly bizarre interpretations of the laws of the game.As a result there was no flow to the game until andy crozier had to leave the pitch with a back injury. Antrim quickly realised that his replacement at flanker , neil workman , was slightly lacking in pace and in the last 10 mins through the ball wide at every opportunity scoring 2 quick tries to leave the final score 29 – 12. Stopping only to pick up one of neil workmans lungs the ards team trudged off knowing they could have played so much better and looking forward to next weeks first home game of the season.
At least rab irwin was happy as he arrived home smelling of fish ,and with a whopper (extra cheese no bacon!!)
Ards 3rds 27 v Newry 10
Ards 3rd XV 27 – Newry 2nd XV 0
Ards 3rds hosted Newry last Saturday for a match that was played in almost perfect weather conditions on a pitch that was heavy underfoot. The home team kicked off and soon began to exert pressure on the visitors, retaining ball well and probing the Newry defence. It was midway through the first half when the effort was rewarded when a quick penalty was passed to Ben Smith who barged over from close range, the conversion was added by Robinson. The visitors responded with a well taken penalty to narrow the gap for a short time. Ards used their dominance of line outs to work deep into the Newry half before Stephen Robinson slotted over a penalty to restore Ards seven point lead at half time.
The second half started badly for the Ards men when Newry had a period of sustained pressure on the Ards line and eventually created a gap, scoring just to the right of the posts. The resulting conversion brought the scores level. Rather than shaking the home team this appeared to strengthen their resolve and the intensity improved considerably. A combination of a good platform from the pack and some neat interplay in the backs saw David Chivers pop the ball to Robinson to score in the corner, Robinson also added the conversion. Some good carries, notably from Ryan Patterson and Smith kept Ards going forward and Luke McCartney continued to run the game well at out half. The team performance was very encouraging and it was good to see the return of Chris Braniff, Matt Busby and Chris Dean to the squad. Hill had some storming runs on the wing and Conor McCullough put in a great 80 minute performance as he gets back to playing after a break from the game. Robinson added another penalty to his tally before Smith rumbled over for an almost identical second try.
Ards Squad: R.Hamilton, D.Chivers, M.Busby, I.Presho, R.Patterson, C.McCullough, C.Dean, B.Smith, S.Campbell, L.McCartney, C.Branif, S.Robinson, E.Adair, A.Hill, G.Martin.
