Winning return for Bann U19s

Rainey U19s 0

BANN’S U19s made a winning return to action on Saturday after a month’s lay-off due to cry-offs and the weather, scoring eight tries without reply to book their place in the second round of the Ulster Cup.

They were still missing Irish U18 players Jonny Murphy and Charles Gallagher and the injured Jonny Harris but they were able to call on the services of First XV players Chris Leathem and Stephen Irvine

Winger Clark McAllister scored in the first minute as he brushed off a would-be tackler and dived over in the corner for his second try of the season. Mark Doherty converted.

And almost immediately another try was added as out-half Andrew Morrison showed his class with a dummy pass which gave him a gap to sprint through to score under the posts.

Ten minutes later came the try of the match as pop passes and great support running from forwards and backs put Captain and No 8 Sam Boyd over in the corner. The fourth try was picked up by Leathem as he burst through the defence and ran in from 30 metres.

Moments later Adam Proctor had to be helped from the pitch with an ankle injury after a powerful run. Subsequent examinations were to prove that Achilles damage would rule him out for 4-6 weeks. This is particularly unfortunate for the big tight-head prop who missed the winning cup run last season with another injury.

Just before half-time Irvine was up in support to take a pass and register the team’s fifth try of the half with Doherty bringing his conversion tally to four from five attempts.

Five minutes into the second half Irvine grabbed a second and not content with his five conversions thus far Doherty got on the try scoring sheet, adding the conversion for good measure.

From the re-start the ball was put through the backs and Leathem registered his second and his side’s eighth try. Doherty’s conversion brought his personal tally to 19 points.

This was a much better performance from a competitive squad which has continued to train hard even when they had no games to look forward to. Many sides would have dropped their heads having sustained back to back defeats, but this team just trained harder and worked on those mistakes which had been so costly. They look forward to the speedy return of Proctor and Harris from injury.

The team and coaches congratulate Jonny Murphy and Charles Gallagher for their heroics in an Ireland U18 team which was beaten by France in the final of the European Tournament.