First Trust Ulster Senior Cup: Ballymena 21 Belfast Harlequins 24

Saturday 27^th February. Report by Derrick Crothers.

Belfast Harlequins defeated AIB 1B side Ballymena for the second time this season.

Quins elected to face the light breeze,east to west, and Ballymena  kicked off. There was no bouncy castle this time, only menacing snow on the Antrim  hills.

At half-time, Quins had a comfortable 0 – 13 lead, following a Pyper penalty at 10 and two unconverted tries at 26 and 41 from Lutton and McCarey respectively.

In the 2nd half, following a Ballymena yellow card in the 1st half, Quins received a  yellow card for a late tackle and the Ballymena pack began to exercise its weight in the rucks and mauls. At 43, 69 and 73 Ballymena scored three converted tries while Pyper kicked a good penalty from the Ballymena 10m line at 53.

Going  into the last 9 minutes it was 21 points each. The winning penalty came at 79, by Pyper,  after Ballymena having infringed straight in front of their posts, inside the 22.

So Quins progressed to the quarter finals  21 – 24.

In the 2nd half Mark McGrath and Alister Heatlie replaced Tim Morton and Chris Carey, respectively.

The penalty count was 8-4 in Quins’ favour, reflecting their better discipline.

Man-of-the-match was Gareth Rourke who’s mobility and physicality for a lock was more like that of a flanker as he rampaged round the pitch!

McCarey’s lineouts were outstanding, he was badly missed in Thomond and Pyper scored an important and commendable 14 points, crucial to Harlequins victory. The three-quarters all tackled well .

Quins : 1 Tim Morton 2 Robert Logan(C) 3 Richard Lutton 4 Gareth Rourke 5 Danny Annett  6 Stephen Neill 7 Colin Atkinson 8 Chris McCarey 9 David Creighton 10 Mark Kettyle 11 Roger Kirkwood 12 William Stewart 13 Robert Creighton 14 Rory BlakeKnox 15 Keith Pyper.

This was a magnificent team/squad performance. Unused replacements were Alan Rankin, Tim Shaw and John Crossey.

Quins next match is at Philips Arena, Deramore Park,for the Round 12 AIL II match against Malone on Saturday 6th March. KO 2:30pm KO.