Seconds make it twelve wins in a row

Instonians Seconds 21

Bann Seconds 29

BANN Seconds’ trip to Shaw’s Bridge last Saturday eventually ended with them extending to 12 their sequence of wins in the Second XV League.

But although the result went their way, the usually confident and controlled Rifle Park men had contrived to gift Instonians scores that saw the home side lead late in the game. Then Adam Waugh came to the rescue, his two late tries ensuring that his team maintained their challenge at the top end of the table.

From the start Bann just could not seem to rid themselves of their tendency to continually commit errors when in good field positions, but they showed lots of character to rally when it mattered to see off a youthful home team.

Bann commenced the game with good patient probing rugby and produced the first score of the game after nine minutes. When they forced a turnover inside their own half, Waugh joined the line to inject pace, and after selling a dummy, provided the necessary space for Alan Gibson to finish off under the posts. John Ferrris added the extras for a 7-0 lead.

Unfortunately this did not see Bann forge on and for the next 15 minutes they kept getting themselves into good positions but time and again the failure to work as a unit cost them.

Instonians were eventually rewarded, or gifted, a try when they took a quick penalty after the Bann front row had been penalised at a scrum. With the Bann eight still bound, the cover was lacking as Inst sliced through a ragged Bann backline.

This appeared to wake Bann up again and they went further ahead five minutes later when second row Ross Semple powered over from close range after being set up from an attacking lineout. The conversion was missed from out wide, keeping the score at 12-5. Almost immediatley, Inst reduced that to 12-8 when awarded a penalty for offside.

The remainder of the half saw Bann continually strike at the home line but a lack of cohesion in the team allowed Instonians to easily relieve their line all too often. Andy Cowan hacked through on one occasion and chased up to force an error by the full back 10 metres out.

This led to a series of scrums but despite their dominance Bann were unable to provide the finishing touch. Even some forging runs and handling interplay between Semple, David little and Cowan were not enough to get the forwards going.

Towards the end of the half two Inst players were yellow carded for their illegal efforts to protect their try line. But Bann’s inablilty to capitalise on their numerical superiority seemed to totally frustrate them, and the interval score remained at 12-8.

The half-time talk seemed to have worked wonders as Bann came out with vigour. After five minutes they again crossed the line. The impressive Waugh broke through the first-line defence and kicked ahead inside the home 22 before forcing the defender into conceding a penalty.

Bann took the penalty quickly with numbers out left, and quick hands through Ferris, Stephen Cowan and Gibson saw the ball reach strong-running left winger Jordan Weir. He was tackled short of the line but set up good ball and the forwards arrived en-masse to put flanker Andrew Baird in for the try.

The next 20 minutes of the game saw Bann produce their worst spell of rugby for some time as Inst took advantage of individualism, poor tackling and ill-discipline to score two tries for a 20-17 lead.

With six minutes remaining Bann eventually brought a degree of urgency to their play and it was the backline that saved the day. A break by Stephen Cowan from inside his own half was supported in numbers.

Good handling and movement between Waugh, Cowan, Gibson and Peter Irvine saw Waugh receiving the final pass to score a try under the posts. Ferris`s conversion moved the score on to 24-20.

For the first time in the game Bann then played the clever rugby by getting straight back into the home 22 and then penning them there. With Inst chasing the victory and having to move the ball by hand, good pressure from the Bann pack provided turnover ball 30 metres out.

The ball was collected by Waugh who drifted inside and then put a deft kick over his opposite number. He continued his run to win the tussle for the catch and then out-muscled the defender to score under the posts. The rushed conversion was missed and the whistle was blown leaving Bann winners by 29-20.

In a game where all players admitted to a below-par performance, it was encouraging that they showed the desire and character to win even when under-performing. Man of the match accolade, however, must go to Adam Waugh, whose contribution throughout, as well as his two tries, carried the team through to victory.