Portadown Rugby Football Club 1st xv Match Report v Malone 10th November 2012
Malone visited undefeated Portadown with a place in the Semi-Final of the Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup up for grabs. With their good early season form faltering as of late, the Cregagh Road men were going to have to be on top of their game to bring Portadowns unbeaten run to an end. In near perfect conditions the visitors kicked off setting a ferocious pace however the home defence was more than a match, turning over ball on the early Malone attacks. The Portadown scrum which has been dominant all season didn’t disappoint and the trio of Mark Henderson, Malcolm Allister and Lee McClure had their opposite numbers in all sorts of trouble from the first put in. Indeed it was a scrum which led to the first points of the day when the referee penalised the Malone loosehead for standing up under pressure. Chris Cousens stepped up and opened Portadowns account from 35 yards to make it 3-0. It didn’t take Malone long to respond. Portadown stole a ball on the Malone throw and moved it quickly however a strong tackle in the midfield saw the ball ricochet 20m down the field, centre Mark Marwood hacked forward, collected and fell under the posts. He added the extra’s himself to make it 7-3 to Malone. The Ports responded by upping the pace of the game. After some great phase play and a fine break by Luke Creaney, Cousens found winger Nicky Jackson with a fine miss pass who crossed in the corner to touch down just before half time. Cousens was off target with the conversion leaving the half time score 8-7 to the home team. FOR PICTURES CLICK HERE
Playing with the slight breeze in the second half Portadown used the wind to their advantage to pin back Malone at every opportunity but the Belfast men kept coming and were unlucky not to score early on. The home defence scrambled well and a timely turnover by second row Willy Graham on his own line allowed Cousens to kick to safety. Portadown raised the pace of the game again and after good carries by Jackson and Hall, the ball was swept back across the field through several sets of hands for winger Thomas Halliday to continue his scoring streak going over in the left corner. Cousens nailed the conversion from the touchline to make it 15-8 to Portadown. The visitors were struggling to secure any set piece ball at this point however continued to look dangerous every time they got their hands on the ball. This time it was Portadowns turn to take advantage of a ricochet. They moved the all quickly through the backline and an attempted grubber kick bounced off a Malone player and straight into the hands of winger Halliday. Without having to break stride Halliday made 20 yards before off-loading to Busby who rounded the fullback to score wide on the left. Cousens added the extras to leave the score at 22-7. The game started to break up with the referee insisting on penalising the dominant home scrum at every opportunity much to the frustration to of the Portadown pack who had put in a fine shift at the coalface. It was a quick tap from a scrum penalty that led to the final score of the game when after a couple of missed tackles Malone flanker Conleth McGillan barged over in the corner. Marwood was just wide with the conversion leaving the final score 22-12 to Portadown.
So the Ports stretch their unbeaten run to 8 games moving into a crucial stage of the season and join Ballynahinch, Enniskillen and Clougher Vally in the draw for the semi finals which is due to take place on Tuesday 13th November. Man of the match on the day went to tighthead prop Lee McClure who was destructive at scrum time and showed well in the loose with some powerful ball carries.
