Belfast Harlequins RFC Notes: Unfortunate outcome for Quins II XV in McCrea Cup

Saturday last saw a very depleted Quins 2nd XV take to the pitch against what was arguably Instonians strongest 2nd XV fielded this season.

Quins 1st’s are locked in a battle for top four play off position in Division 1B and like all Division One sides were playing this weekend, Instonians who are in Division Two had a free weekend enabling them to field first XV players in this Cup match

Quins stared well with an excellent passage of play in the first 5 minutes seeing them dominate the home pack resulting in PK McKee continue his scoring capability converted by James Sheills.

However this was to prove to be the only good passage of team play by the visitors, Instonians backline answered straight away scoring one of the best tries this season. This seemed to shock Quins but they reformed themselves and fought back hard creating good scoring opportunities but the Instonians defence held up.

The home side started to take control of the game and after Quins !0 was yellow carded they managed to run in three tries.

There was a chance for a change in fortune for Quins some three minutes later when a dangerous tackle in the line out on their captain, Mike Willis, causing him a neck injury was only penalised by a kick to touch. The referee stated he would have issued a red card but was unable to identify which of two players it was.

On the return of Quins outhalf the game became more controlled but had gone from the visitors and the final result was an unflattering 45 – 7 for Inst.

Quins wish Instonians all the best in the Quarter Final