Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

But it was a far from vintage performance by the home side with a late interception try giving Navan a sniff of victory in the dying minutes. However Bann held firm to get the win warranted by a steamrolling forward display that had the Navan eight in increasing bother as the game progressed.

Jonny Pollock just failed to touch down Robin Thompson's tidy grubber in the opening minutes, knocking on to allow Navan to clear from the scrum. But for the remainder of the quarter it was the visitors who held sway with play largely confined to home territory.

When Navan's South African out-half Riann Van Der Vyver fielded a ‘Garryowen' just inside his own half he all too easily jinked his way through the Bann defence before kicking neatly for right winger Casey Dunne to get the touchdown. Dave Sheridan's conversion was off-target but the try gave the Leinster side the lead which they would hold until half-time, albeit reduced to two points by a Thompson penalty.

However as the first half progressed Bann began to edge the set scrum battle and the introduction of lock Simon McKinstry from the bench added extra poundage to Bann's efforts. That superiority became even more marked after the interval and Bann won two further penalties as the Navan pack began to crumble under the pressure.

Thompson struck the penalties between the uprights to take his side into a 9-5 lead and Navan juggled with their front row options in a failed bid to halt the juggernaut.

A loose kick deep inside the visitors' "22" was gathered by Bann's replacement flanker Andy Brown and he was hauled down just short of the line. But at the scrum which followed Bann drove the opposition back eight metres and over the try line. Scrum-half Neville Farr picked up and touched down just short of the line but the referee had already seen enough to justify awarding a penalty try, to which Thompson had the simple task of adding the extras.

With Navan running out of front row options, or maybe looking for a way to take Bann's scrummaging power out of the equation, the referee ordered uncontested scrums. The tactic, if that's what it was, came too late as the damage had been done, with all 13 second half points accrued on the back of the home side's forward power.

With just two minutes of normal time left however, an ill-judged pass just inside the home "22" was collected by Navan captain and No 8 Leigh Jackson and he ran unhindered behind the posts, Sheridan adding the conversion to narrow the gap to just four points.

With added injury time the home supporters had to endure a nervous last five minutes before the referee's final blast on the whistle assured their team of the four league points, with that late opportunist Navan effort ensuring they didn't return south empty-handed.

Bann coach Daniel Soper was happy to start with a win, regardless of the patchy performance. "The pack was immense out there," he said in the aftermath. "But the backs didn't really perform to the level of which they are capable.

"The tries we gave away were soft and we had at least three try-scoring opportunities which we threw away through bad decision-making. But it's a win I'm happy to take - we're in a better position than this time last year when we lost the opener at Barnhall. There's plenty of room for improvement and we'll certainly need to improve for the next two games when we face newly-promoted opposition."

Kiwi full-back Brendan Ward had a quiet debut, but showed enough touches to suggest that he will make a real impact as he gets used to playing with his new team-mates.

Blind-side Dale Carson picked up Bann's man-of-the-match award for a sterling performance in the loose.

Bann travel to Cashel this weekend to take on the winners of last season's Munster Qualifying League and, with a 12-23 away win over Suttonians already under their belts, the Tipperary side are sure to be tough opposition as they make their AIL home debut.

Bann team against Navan:- Brendan Ward, Jonny Pollock, Andrew Morrison, James Andrews, Andrew Kirkwood, Robin Thompson, Neville Farr, Michael Cromie, Paul Ross, Brian Hanna, Colin Bickerstaff, Chris Allen, Dale Carson, Jamie McDonald, Stephen Irvine. Replacements:- David Weir, Simon McKinstry, Andy Brown, Adam Ervine, Claude Crawford.