DOUBLE DEFEATS FOR BALLYCLARE
Both Ballyclare Rugby Club`s 1st and 2nd XVs had made a promising start to their respective seasons but on Saturday when faced by teams from what must rate as the leading club in Ulster were found wanting. The 1st XV forced to make four changes were well beaten away by Ballynahinch 2nds who on the day had four players all usually on their All Ireland 1st XV returning from injury and the extra pace and fitness showed -this was a Qual.2 Conference game which was nowhere as vital as the usual league games. The new leaders of Qual.2 are Enniskillen who beat Bangor who along with the Clare are now in second place. Also on Saturday at the Cloughan the Clare 2nds after a good recent run were forced to make no fewer than ten changes and eventually went down 38-9 to Ballynahinch 3rds in Junior 1.
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BALLYNAHINCH 2nds 47 BALLYCLARE 12 -For this Conference game at Ballymacarm Park the Clare were missing prop Finlay,number eight Rainey,centre Clotworthy and wing Baird -all key players and on the day made far too many errors in handling at vital times to surrender possession to Hinch players who in the second half finished clinically. It did not help either the Clare 1st XV or 2nd XV by taking two strong players to Ballynahinch as subs only to discover that they wewre not permitted in Conference matches. In the first half Ballyclare had a stiff wind on their backs but seldom used it to the best advantage. Early exchanges were fairly even and Ballyclare did make ground into the home 22 but failed to finish promising moves. There was always a threat from the home side often orchestrated by the experienced Cullen and he made the opening to put his left wing in for the opening try to go 5-0 up. Ballyclare responded as Lawther kicked deep and good work by Weatherup led to a penalty .There was a chance of atry but a Clare forward just failed to get the touch down and further pressure saw Weatherup held up close to the home line. In the next surge by the visitors Jackson dropped the ball with a score beckoning but eventually a break by Lawther endedwith Cusack driving over for try well converted by Byers to lead 7-5.
Next a break from Coburn made ground only for a Hinch player to intercept and poor covering allowed the home team in for atry which was converted. But a good take at the next lineout by Rob Boyd saw Coburn making ground and from a strong surge by the Clare pack Coburn got in for a try that Byers just failed to convert so it was 12-12 at the interval. Early in the second half Coburn seemed to be concussed and had to go off leaving the pack a man down.A break by home centre Cullen brought a try converted to go 19-12 ahead. Great tackling from Weatherup prevented more damage but he was later injured only to play on. Despite a clearance from Lawther the Hinch pack made ground and forced another converted try. Then Loughlin was injured in a tackle but recovered as the home team continued to make ground. Despite a period of resolute Clare defending another score made it 33-12. They dominated the last fifteen minutes and added another two tries for a very comprehensive 47-12 win. Bob Young will have the team working hard at training this week to have the side ready for a big test in the league at home on saturday to a strong Grosvenor F.P. side. The players who did well on saturday at Ballynahinch were Al and Rob Boyd plus Gary Weatherup but too many errors in defence were committed.
BALLYCLARE 2nds 9 BALLYNAHINCH 3rds 38
This Junior 1 league game was almost a carbon copy of the match at Ballymacarm -Unfortunately Gareth Johnston had to make do with ten changes plus positional changes . His team did cope well with the wind in the first half though the County Down men got the opening try.The Seconds pack worked hard and forced a penalty which Smith kicked and a later penalty put the Clare side 6-5 ahead. The game at this stage seemed quite evenly contested and Smith slotted over another kick to go 9-5 up at the break.
But in the second half the Hinch forwards upped the pace and began to dominate in set and loose play. They managed to get over the home line on four occasions and added three conversions as well as a couple of penlties to end up clear winners at 38-9 -the biggest defeat of the season for the Seconds. But there were strong performances from McCartney and Crothers in the pack and Crawford and McGookin in the backs.
MONAGHAN 2nds 13 BALLYCLARE 4ths 43
The Fourths managed to travel to Monaghan with a reasonably strong and experienced team with several of last years very successful side involved.They always proved too strong for Monaghan and in the process managed to score seven tries . Man of the match was Chris Gawn with two tries while the others came from Trevor Clarke,Darren Montgomery,Bob Wasson ,Jordan Brownlee and Gareth Smyth with five conversions from John Wasson.
YOUTH RESULTS 0-The three junior teams played their counterparts from Coleraine and did quite well as follows -Under 13 XV won 31-7; Under 15 XV won 24-17 and Under 17XV lost 49-10 in this game Ryan Curley was injured and hospitalised and the wishes of all club members for a speedy recovery are extended to him.
Under 19 XV lost 45-25 away to Ards.
Saturday Fixtures -1st XV v Grosvenor (home) -There will be a pre match lunch -anyone wishin g to attend should contact Willie Shaw; 2nd XV v Clougher Valley 2nds (away) 3rd XV v Grosvenor 2nds (away); 4th Xv vC.I.Y. M.S.4ths (home);
