Donaghadee 34 – 3 Bangor
Fixture: Rodney Gray Cup
Date: Saturday 27th August 2011 KO: 12:30
Bangor lose out in Rodney Gray Cup
Despite the encouraging performance last week against CIYMS, Bangor were soundly beaten by local adversaries Donaghadee for the Rodney Gray Cup. Donaghadee’s dominant forward play combined with a variety of errors by Bangor resulted in their 34-3 win.
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With heavy rain in Bangor and warm sunshine in Donaghadee, the omens were not good from the outset. Although Bangor had a number of preferred players still recovering from injury, there were high hopes of a strong performance in what has become one of the most keenly contested friendlies of the calendar. Bangor started strongly and, within the first five minutes, found themselves a few metres from the Dee line, but were then penalised for not releasing in the tackle, allowing Dee to find touch inside Bangor’s half. From the following lineout, Dee pushed forward, forcing the Bangor defence to stray offside. From just left of the posts, the kick was successful and Dee were 3-0 ahead. Just five minutes later, and in both similar circumstances and position, the Dee availed of another Bangor infringement to extend the lead to 6-0.
Although under relentless Donaghadee pressure, Bangor were always ready to pounce on the half chances that came their way. At the mid-point of the first half and with the Dee once more on the attack, Michael Keenan snapped up a loose ball and set the backs off on a charge. This attack was halted by the Dee, but illegally. The ensuing kick didn’t find touch, allowing the Dee to come straight back. Finding themselves now back in the Bangor 22, a quick ball from the base of a ruck was fed back for a well taken drop goal.
Bangor’s frustration with both their own standard of play, and the high penalty count against them, contributed to the sin-binning of Richard Corbett for illegal use of the boot in a ruck. The loss of any player in situations like this always has an impact on the game, and from the ensuing penalty and lineout, the ball came out to the Dee scrum half who found the gap in Bangor’s defence to crash over for the first try. With the conversion missed, the score now stood at 14-0.
To Bangor’s credit, they continued to come back, now starting to move the ball with some confidence. With ten minutes left in the first half, and Bangor still a man down, it was the Dee who were now being repeatedly penalised. Despite some close calls, Bangor were unable to complete their moves. However, in the third minute of first half added time, Bangor won another penalty after Dee not releasing again. Keith Rossan was successful with his kick to bring the half time score to 14-3.
The Dee’s ability to secure clean ball from lineouts and rucks, continued to draw the Bangor defence into offside positions. Just two minutes into the second half, such an instance led to another successful penalty kick – score now 17-3. The importance of kicking to touch and winning the subsequent lineout was illustrated ten minutes later when the Dee pack drove over for another try, this time far out on the right hand side. With the conversion missed, the score was now 22-3.
Undeterred, Bangor were still determined to narrow the scoreline, and continued to press forward. However, while in possession and only ten metres from the Dee line, Jake Harrison was deemed to be using his boot illegally in trying to move a Dee player who was killing the ball. The resulting red card was both a surprise and shock, and effectively killed off any remaining hopes Bangor had. With Bangor now down to fourteen men for the remaining twenty five minutes, Donaghadee made the most of the reduced cover and uncontested scrums to add a further twelve points by way of two tries and a conversion to run out eventual winners by a comfortable 34-3 margin.
Undoubtedly, the better side on the day won, but equally Bangor will feel that they didn’t put in the kind of performance that beat CIYMS last week. It was also a painful lesson in the interpretation and subsequent penalisation of the offside rule, either by illegally encroaching on the opponent’s side or attempting to clear opposing players from offside and ball-killing positions themselves.
These pre-season friendlies have fulfilled their purpose. Now the focus will be on the start of the competitive season, with the first league game next Saturday away to Enniskillen.
Bangor Scores: K Rossan (1P)
Bangor fightback not enough
Donaghadee 14 – 12 Bangor
Fixture: Friendly
Date: Saturday 27th August 2011 KO: 12:30
A relatively untested Bangor 2nd XV side lost narrowly to Donaghadee 2nds in a closer than expected match, eventually finishing 14-12.
Donaghadee came out of the blocks with determination, and quickly were 14-0 ahead. Bangor, though somewhat shell shocked, steadied themslves and fought back to come within two points at the end.
This pre-season friendly will give Bangor 2nds encouragement as they embark on their league campaign, and they will no doubt look forward to a return meeting when there will be more to play for.
