Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

The Co Tyrone side had seen off the challenge of Portadown in the previous round and arrived in confident mood, albeit without the services of injured former Bann prop Steven Rutledge.

Bann started brightly with their efforts able to produce good scrum ball, lineouts taken from Omagh, and positive movement and inter-play. On 12 minutes the pressure told when a lineout was again won, and this time a clever kick was sent deep under the visitors' posts. The chase was good to prevent the defender clearing. The resultant scrum saw Bann power over the line, even counter-acting the deliberate attempt to wheel by Omagh. Andy Brown got the touchdown with Clarke McAllister adding the conversion to move Bann into a 7-0 lead.

Slackness from the re-start allowed Omagh to gain momentum from a knock on ,and when Bann infringed, a succesful penalty reduced the score to 7-3. When another penalty was missed on 28 minutes, this should have alerted Bann, but two minutes later they were caught out when the solid home scrum was unable to channel the ball and it shot out into open play.  With Bann wrong-footed, Omagh reacted quickly to re-gain possession and they maintained the pressure to eventually score in the corner. The conversion put them 10-7 ahead. 

With 10 minutes of the half remaining, and Nelson Shanks replacing the injured David Little, Bann were able, unlike Omagh, to move up another gear.  Good first-time tackling and players staying on their feet in the tackle, most notably by Calum Boland and McAllister, forced Omagh to infringe.  This gave Bann the opportunity to move forward, and good interplay between Jordan Weir and Adam Waugh meant the forwards were being complemented by their backline. 

From one such penalty, out-half Andrew Kirkwood sent the ball deep into the visitors "22" for a line-out. The ball was won with ease, and the controlled drive to the line yielded a second try for Brown. McAllister missed the tricky conversion but Bann were able to end the half 12-10 ahead.

The half-time team talk encouraged Bann to pick up their game, and the opening exchanges produced a higher tempo effort. The aggressive pack, led by the impressive Andrew Davidson and Jonny Martin, saw their efforts rewarded by good support from Neville Farr who mixed his supply to the backline with good darting runs and box kicks. He was also unlucky not to get a Bann player on the end of a clever grubber kick from 10 metres out after the pack had gained good ground.

Although more good positional kicks from Kirkwood, Waugh and Albert Finney meant Omagh remained in their own half for long periods, it was the visitors who scored next.  With Bann being patient in their build up, and awaiting an opening, when it arrived they made a complete mess of it. When a five to two overlap was created, it seemed to surprise Bann, and the pass went to ground between players for the amazed Omagh defender to collect and score a seven pointer under the posts. The score was now 17-12 to the Tyrone men.

Another extra gear was now found and Bann put all sorts of pressure on Omagh from the kick-off. Good running and linking passes by Davidson, Jonny Weir and Jonny Martin kept the Omagh defence on the back foot.  When Bann powered their way to the line near the posts, Omagh killed the ball deliberately, but Bann were only awarded the scrum when a try beckoned. However they then turned the screw in the scrum and went for the pushover. With Bann marching towards the line, Omagh again deliberately wheeled the scrum and broke, with the referee David Coey awarding the penalty try. The extras by McAllister pushed Bann back into the lead 19-17.

This time Bann had learnt their lessons, and they set about killing off a game they should have had wrapped up a lot earlier. The high tempo ball carrying and sensible kicks saw all the play in the Omagh half. Three further penalties from McAllister ended Omagh's chances of a comeback.

This was a solid victory for Bann who were in complete control of the set pieces, and also very impressive when moving forward. 

On a day when the players showed a great team spirit, pick of the team was Davidson for his all round display throughout. Mention must also go to Jordan Weir who was impressive in the backs, and then accounted well for himself when called in to wing forward.