Improved form continues for seconds

BANN SECONDS 12

QUEEN’S SECONDS 0

BANN Seconds continued their improved league form, by yet again showing they had a point to prove against teams that had turned them over earlier in the season.

Queen’s were visitors on Saturday and they must have travelled full of confidence, having inflicted an 80 point hammering on Bann at Upper Malone. But they rarely looked like crossing the home line this time around and were probably fortunate to concede just the two tries.

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A confident Bann team started brightly, with out-half Jeff Dodds putting the students on the back foot with clever positional line kicking.

The consistently powerful forwards set out to again stamp their authority on the opposition early on, and they provided the platform for the backs to show their potency.

After 10 minutes the ball was released down the blind side where the backs got the ball quickly to Philip Morrison, whose quick chip over the advancing winger was reclaimed, but unfortunately a scrambled defence denied the Bann winger a try.

With their stall now firmly set, it was three minutes later that they scored the first points. From a solid scrum the ball was released quickly to the backline. Debutant full-back Shandon Scott joined the line at speed, splitting open the defence before timing the final pass perfectly to Morrison, who sprinted home before just failing to add the conversion points.

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The next 20 minutes saw the home side continue to test Queen’s both in the forward exchanges and also in the backs.

Any moves that Queen’s initiated were quickly thwarted by a mix of stern tackling in the forwards and a rush backline defence in which centres Stephen Cowan and Geoff Thompson were outstanding. Probing kicks by Scott, Dodds and Thompson kept play largely in the students’ half.

With Craig Mulholland at pivot, the visitors were kept on their toes as he mixed his feed to the backs with the occasional darting run.

Jordan Weir was also heavily involved in making good ground on numerous occasions, setting the ball up nicely for the forwards to retain control.

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The steady Bann scrum offered the opportunity for impressive No 8 Andy Davidson to peel off at the “22” and this saw him burst through some tackles to take the rest of his supporting pack up to 5 metres from the students’ line.

The resulting penalty saw Bann opt for a scrum and they were unlucky to have a knock on decision deny them.

Then, just before half time, from a scrum on the Queen’s 10 metre line, Mulholland broke down the blind side. His quick burst of speed saw him easily evade the attentions of two defenders right on the touch line before being bundled out two metres from the line with support at the ready.

Bann turned around at half time only five points to the good, and the narrow deficit seemed to give the students confidence as from the re-start they sought to put pressure on the home team. Banns inability to clear their lines in the opening minutes saw winger Weir receive 10 minutes in the sin bin for a late tackle as he tried to relieve the pressure on his retreating defence.

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However, unlike earlier in the season, Bann were to show that they had the passion and resolve to regain their control of the game.

This was demonstrated when they secured their own line-out, and then put the visitors in dissarray as they produced a very impressive driving maul which saw them gain 20 metres.

Morrison’s impressive line-kicking and the out-of-hand kicking by Scott saw Bann repeatedly put Queen’s on the back foot. With Bann effectively surviving the period of reduced numbers, they produced another try of quality which surpassed the one in the first half. When the pack set up good ball 35 metres out on the right, Mulholland fired the first pass to the backline who produced a blistering attack that saw the ball moved like lightning through all sets of hands.

The last two passes were brilliantly timed flat passes that caught the students out, and Morrison was again on hand to provide the speed to outgun his opposite number. This time he was successful with the conversion to bring his and the team’s tally to twelve points.

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In the 20 minutes remaining Bann continued to press for more scores, and on one such occasion Mulholland was unlucky to be called back after darting through for a `try` under the posts, only to be denied because he had brushed against the referee en-route.

For the rest of the game Bann continued to control matters, taking numerous strikes against the head and playing out the remainder in the Queen’s half to leave the final score 12-0.

This was another satisfying performance by the Seconds as they continue to prove points to take revenge after some poor early season results.

Although Morrison has to be mentioned for the contribution of his two try haul and general play, special mention goes to Andy Davidson whose return to the back row from the engine room saw him revel and lead by example. Scott also produced an impressive debut on his first game of adult rugby, showing clearly why he won honours with Ulster Schools.

The Banbridge Academy pupil was always eager to get his hands on the ball while showing solid defensive qualities when required.

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