Pic minis on the bus after a fixture at City of Derry RFC
Weekend Match reports:
Strabane 1st XV took on league high flyers Larne at home on Saturday in dreadful conditions. The Home team started the better of the two sides and were rewarded with an early 3 point lead through the boot of scrum half Kyle Barr. It was also the home team that scored the 1st try of the game with Johnny ‘Bap’ Robinson crashing over from close range after a solid Strabane scrum, the conversion added by Barr meant a 10-0 lead for the home team. Larne then scored a penalty and an unconverted try in quick succession leaving the lead at 10-8 with half time approaching and the away side growing in confidence.
Strabane weren’t for giving up easily however and Barr added another 3 points after Larne were forced to give away multiple penalties to prevent the home side crossing the line again. 13-8 half time.
Larne added the first 6 points in the 2nd half as Strabane were beginning to tire against a Larne team with the wind at their backs. As the half wore on, Larne started to exert more and more pressure on Strabane. Larne were able to add 2 more tries late in the game as conditions worsened leaving the final score 29-13 to the home team who edged closer to league success
Meanwhile, Strabane 2nd XV met a motivated Tir Chonnell in a match both teams had to win to keep their hopes of league success alive. Conditions were awful throughout, creating a tight, tense affair.
Tir Chonnell used the wind in the first half to pile the pressure onto Strabane. Hard work in defense from both forwards and backs was rewarded as Strabane worked their way up the field to earn a penalty. Young Luke Hayes converted to give Strabane the advantage. Tir Chonnell were unable to convert their 2 penalty attempts in the blustery conditions to leave the half time score 3-0 Strabane
With the wind in the 2nd half, scum-half Steven Murdock and out-half Clive Allen kicked well to keep Tir Chonnell camped in their 22. The Strabane forwards dominated, leading to a well worked move resulting in a try to Alistair Gore in the corner.
With an 8-0 lead Strabane looked to close out the game. Tir Chonnell were being constantly beaten back in their attempts to score, their frustrations leading to their captain being yellow carded.
Strabane continued the hard work and were rewarded with a final score of 8-0.
