Civil Service 1st XV kicked off their home league campaign with a hard fought victory over Strabane in wet and windy conditions at Stormont.

The opening quarter of the match was primarily a game of aerial ping pong with neither side wanting to risk running the ball in difficult conditions. Service were awarded a penalty part way through the first half which was converted by Moore Holmes jr. Following this, the Service pack started to gain ascendency in the set pieces and Service gained the confidence to try to play with the ball in hand a bit more, exerting a sustained period of attack on the Strabane line, which finally culminated in Moore jr again adding to the scoreline by crossing the tryline, after the home team missed a number of opportunities to score.
Click Here for 77 pictures from the game, scroll down and you will see the thumbnails, click slideshow or click on individual photos. Intouch Rugby would like to pay a special thanks to talented local photographer James Kay who once again has provided us with a fantastic set of match pictures.If you would be interested in using James for any photography work he can be contacted at jaygoesglobal@hotmail.com – CLICK HERE –

Strabane then gained control of the ball and continued to make ground through a combination of forward driving and tactical kicking, which resulted in a successful penalty.

Half-Time: Civil Service 8-3 Strabane

The second half started in a similar vein, with Service attempting to play a more expansive game and Strabane continuing to play the more forward dominated game. Shortly into the second half, man of the moment, Moore Holmes jr had to leave the pitch after losing ‘a number of teeth’ in a tackle which left Service down to 14. Shortly after this, new Service full back Johnny Wilson was tackled heavily and went down with a suspected neck injury. The match was temporarily halted as an ambulance was called and Johnny was taken off to hospital – fortunately, he suffered only a concussion.

Service were now down to 13 men against a full strength Strabane with 20 minutes still to play, having watched two of their teammates leave the pitch with potentially serious injuries. What followed was a textbook demonstration of how to hold onto a lead in such circumstances. The Service pack controlled the ball for the next twenty minutes ensuring that despite their efforts Strabane were limited to a limited number of backline attacks, which the depleted Service backline was able to repel with a combination of disciplined drift defence and desperate last ditch tackling.

Final Score: Civil Service 8-3 Strabane

TCpgsmmY-Nw

Man of the match: Entire Service pack, which worked as one unit in the last quarter to keep Strabane out.

Intouch Rugby would like to pay a special thanks to talented local photographer James Kay who once again has provided us with a fantastic set of match pictures.

If you would be interested in using James for any photography work he can be contacted at jaygoesglobal@hotmail.com