Seconds Rain supreme by recording seventh win

Banbridge Seconds 45

Rainey Seconds 0

BANBRIDGE Seconds maintained their push for a top four finish in the Ulster Second XV League by recording their seventh straight win last Saturday.

Seven tries in total gave the locals a comfortable 45-0 home victory over a Rainey side struggling at the foot of the table.

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Jamie Johnston grabbed a brace with further tries coming from James Andrews, Jurgen Schoeman, Andrew Davidson, Philip Morrison and Geoff Thompson. Shandon Scott slotted over five of his seven conversion attempts with a sixth rebounding off an upright.

Andrews started the scoring in the seventh minute after the businesslike home side had immediately forced Rainey onto the back foot. From a quickly-taken free kick, the ball was fed to Andrews and the big inside centre powered over the line close to the posts.

dominate

Two minutes later the Rainey out-half was off target with a penalty, a rare scoring opportunity for the visitors as Bann continued to dominate.

Bann extended their lead after 15 minutes. Morrison fielded a kick on the halfway line and passed inside to Scott, who made ground before linking with Adam Waugh. The out-half found Andrews up in support and the final floated pass to Schoeman left the winger a 10 metre run to the try line.

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Captain Andy Davidson then registered a try after 20 minutes. A series of drives had set up a good attacking position and from a lineout five metres out hooker Lee Allen found jumper David Little with a fine throw. Davidson broke from the rear of the maul to burst through the defence and score.

loose

A loose pass was picked up by Little inside the Bann half and the ball went through the hands of Jonny Martin and Stephen Cowan before Davidson burst through two attempted tackles to put Johnston off on a clear run to the posts.

The second half was only five minutes old when Johnston registered his second try. Bann had worked their way into the visitors’ half and, although conceding a scrum, they used their power to get the initial nudge which allowed a strike against the head for Allen. The ball came quickly to No 8 Johnston and he raced the 30 metres to the try line through a ragged Rainey defence.

Rainey were enjoying a rare period of pressure on the Bann line when turnover ball led to them conceding a sixth try. Little kicked behind the opposition ranks and Morrison gathered to sprint the 70 metres to the opposite end.

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The following 25 minutes saw Bann rather uncharacteristically lose their cohesion as they sought to control a Rainey team which had found some enthusiasm for the contest. The visitors worked hard for that elusive score but found the Bann defence unrelenting.

gap

With three minutes remaining Andrews gathered a loose pass from a scrum on the Rainey 10 metre line. He found a gap in the first-line defence and made 30 metres before feeding the supporting Thompson with an inside pass. A tap tackle left the centre to stumble and fall before stretching out to effect the touchdown.

This was the comprehensive win for the home side that the score suggests, with Johnston, Andrews and Allen in particularly impressive form.

Bann now look forward to the visit of Ballymena Seconds this Saturday. The Eaton Park side inflicted a trouncing on Bann early in the season. It will be a measure of the improvement made by the young local side if they can, as was the case with Queen’s, reverse that result.

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