Seahorses U19’s shaded in friendly against Belfast High School 1st XV Belfast High Schools, 28 – Seahorses U91, 25
This friendly was played under floodlights on Friday 30 November at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown. It was a very cold night but conditions were generally good for what proved to be a close and entertaining game.
The lead changed hands on a number of occasions and neither side was ever able to get more than one score ahead. Seahorses enjoyed the best of the early exchanges and were rewarded when Cameron Williams converted a penalty after just 6 minutes. They went on the attack again from the kick-off but following some promising attacking play a dropped ball allowed a turn over which High School took full advantage from and burst clear. At first it looked like some good scrambling defence had stemmed the attack but good support play enabled the attack to continue for a well taken try and conversion put High School in the lead after 10 minutes. The game seesawed for the next 10 minutes or so with both sides enjoying spells of possession. An indiscretion at the breakdown allowed High School to edge 7 points clear after 23 minutes when they kicked a straight forward penalty from 22 metres. This spurred Seahorses into action. They drove into the High School 22 and retained possession through a number of phases. The pressure eventually told and Connor Ferguson was able to charge over for an unconverted try after 28 minutes.
Seahorses were enjoying the bulk of passion by now. Their scrum was strong and they were using a very powerful maul to good effect. Just when it looked like High School would hang on with their slender lead until half-time they had a kick charged down inside their 22 and James Megarity was able to secure possession to score on 33 minutes. Cameron Williams converted to leave Seahorses 15-13 ahead at the interval.
It was High School who scored first in the second period. Seahorses had conceded a series of penalties and eventually gave one within kicking range after 12 minutes. This put them one point ahead again. But this lead did not last long as a very strong maul in the corner led to the Seahorses pack driving over for an excellent try converted by Cameron Williams after 14 minutes. At this stage it looked like the strong Seahorses pack would win the day. But they lost a ball at a lineout and the big High School number 13 broke clear and ran strongly from inside his own half. He was pulled down but was able to offload for a support player to run in for an unconverted try (on 22 minutes).
This still left Seahorses 22-21 ahead going into the final 10 minutes. On 27 minutes they extended this lead when Cameron Williams kicked a penalty from in front of the posts. To their credit High School did not give up and mounted a strong attack for their own. Seahorses looked to have the situation saved but poor decision making inside their own 22 lost them the opportunity to kick the ball out of danger. Eventually it was turned over and High School put the ball through a number of phases to score a converted try at the posts with just 5 minutes left. Seahorses did all that they could to save the game in those last 5 minutes but eventually ran out of time.
Seahorses had lost a fiercely contested game that they could and, some would say, should have won. Nonetheless it was an encouraging performance. The whole pack showed up particularly well. They had a number of strong ball carriers who were well supported. They also had an effective pick and drive game with the pod system showing up to good effect. As mentioned earlier their scrum was dominant and they had a well organised maul. On the deficit side they gave away too many penalties and their decision making and game management was at times poor. It was also a pity that their speedy wingers were not brought into the game more. In previous games they have shown that when the ball is moved wide from the right situations on the field they can score great tries. Seahorses still have a number of their regular starters out with injury and lack of familiarity with established patterns may have disrupted their usually fluent back play.
Overall this was a very worthwhile friendly and provided the side with much needed game time. They will learn from this encounter and should be able to close out games when they are holding the lead coming into the final phases. Belfast High School is to be congratulated for taking the spoils in a close run encounter.
