The University of Ulster Coleraine travelled to Omagh RFC to play them for the second time in a week, this time for league points. UUC fought hard for the 80 minutes but Omagh came out on top this week, winning 12:9.
UUC started strongly against a different Omagh team. Lee Murphy made Omagh pay for sloppy mistakes in the first few minutes, with a converted penalty starting the score at 0:3 in favour of UUC. The students continued to attack deep into the Omagh half with Sam Hall sprinting for a try however was tackled just feet short of the line.
Omagh then responded with their own passages of play and worked their way up the field into the UUC half. However the student defence held strong to keep the Omagh attack out. A successful turnover deep into the student half allowed Calum Rowden to clear the lines. Play continued on with UUC attacking the Omagh defence however poor discipline from home side led to another penalty, which was successfully converted by Lee Murphy.
UUC continued to press the Omagh defence looking for the try line, but were continuously held back. Clearance from the Omagh out half left the students having to work their way back up the pitch. Poor discipline at the breakdown gave Omagh a penalty which the score at 3:6 at half time.
Further penalties were added throughout the course of the second half with Lee Murphy adding 3 more point to the UUC score. Omagh responded with three successful penalties which left the final score at 12:9 in favour of the home side.
Both sides could have improved on their performance but the Students gained an important losing bonus point. UUC look towards the next game this Saturday when they welcome Enniskillen RFC to Cromore Road, aiming to get their league campaign back on track.
TEAM: Calum Rowden, Sam Hall, David Orr, James Henley, Matthew Hill, Andrew Winder (Captain), Lee Murphy, Jamie Wilkinson, Martin O’Neill, David McCullough, Michael Dunleavy, John Lutton, Aaron Doherty, John Dillon, Peter Smith.
