Ophir Firsts were in action at Lansdowne Road last Saturday – no, not the brand new home of Irish Rugby, the Aviva Stadium, but the home of Ards Rugby at Hamilton Park at the top of Strangford Lough. The Mallusk team met Ards Seconds in the Ulster Bran
With a strong wind behind them, Ophir took the game to the home team but in the first 15 minutes, failed to take advantage of their territorial superiority. The Ophir pack competed well, retaining possession and providing a feast of clean ball for their backs, but knock ons and fumbles broke down a great number of promising attacks. Having lost out half James Milligan in the 20th minute with a groin strain it looked as if the 14 men would struggle against some sharp Ards play but the defence was superb and stood up to the task with a stirring display of tackling and covering for each other. Then on the half hour, scrum half Karl Davis kicked ahead and the ball was shadowed by the Ards full back. He allowed the ball to cross the try line and appeared to pick it up and touch down for a 22 drop out. But the referee allowed play to continue and the Ophir players following up forced a 5 metre scrum. 
The ball was out of the scrum so quickly the Ards defence was caught napping and Karl Davis flashed a pass to full back David Walker for him to dive in at the corner. Walker missed converting his try when the ball blew off the kicking tee. 5 minutes later Ophir lost centre Johnny Murphy, dazed after a brave tackle. Down to 13 men Ophir worked even harder to maintain their defence but to their relief, Murphy was able to rejoin the action on the stroke of half time.
5 minutes into the second half, Ophir stretched their lead to 10 points, when the magical Karl Davis again broke free from two tackles and swept the ball to winger Stevie Hastings to crash over. David Walker was again unfortunate with the conversion attempt. Uncontested scrums were introduced when Ophir hooker John Curley had to leave the field for treatment but thankfully for the visitors, it was not serious and he was back into the fray after 5 minutes. Apart from one storming run from Ophir’s left wing, David O’Reilly, the next 20 minutes saw a dour struggle for territorial advantage in the middle of the park, with neither side achieving any sort of breakthrough. That is until once again, Karl Davis broke clear and ably supported by Philip Adgey and Neil Gray, set the ball up for second row, Stewart Henry to add his name to the scoresheet. Again the conversion was missed but Ophir finished winning comfortably 15 points to nil.
This Saturday, Ophir Firsts hope to maintain their tremendous league winning form when they meet Holywood in a Qualifying League match, switched from Magowan Park to Kerr Park, Holywood.
