Ballyclare RFC Notes: III XV return to winning ways, Report + IV XV Close To A Century, Report & Pictures

Tony Turner`s 3rd XV are doing well this season in Junior 3 but last week went down away to Omagh 2nd XV in the Crawford Cup after a gutsy performance. On saturday the team was away to Belfast Harlequins 3rd XV and did well to get back to winning in the league. The first half was quite uneventful and also fairly evenly contested but there was no score at the interval. The home side went 5-0 up from an early score and the Thirds had Nigel Moore yellow carded and then S.Reid red carded to leave them with 13 men. However things were levelled up when a Quins player was sin binned and then lost another to injury. The Clare side came back when Alexander slotted over a penalty to make it 5-3. They followed this with a try from Nathan Loughlin converted by Alexander and a late try by Aaron Weir making a comeback gave the team a welcome 15-5 win.There were strong performances from Crawford,Loughlin and Alexander in the backs plus Moore in the pack.
Fourths go close to a century
CLICK HERE FOR 30+ Action Shots courtesy of David Irvine Gleno Photo – good to see Mathew returning.
The Clare Fourths are unbeaten in both league and cup rugby all year and on Saturday on a wet Cloughan pitch they took on a P.S.N.I.2nd XV who were always under pressure. The game was blown up 15 minutes early with the Fourths having scored 86 points-their highest so far this season ! For the record there were 6 tries from Neil Reynolds,3 for Stephen Reid, 2 for Harry Gaston, 2 for John wasson who also kicked four conversions and one each from Trevor Clarke,Bruce Logan and Cavan Watson. It is very likely that this team will create a club record for points scored in one season.
SATURDAY FIXTURES–1st XV have no game scheduled this Saturday. 2nd XV v Ballymoney 2nd XV (away); 3rd XV v Lisburn 3rd XV (home)