Seconds suffer disappointing Dungannon defeat Share
Dungannon 2nds 18 BANBRIDGE 2NDs 11January 15, 2011
Bann Seconds played their first match since 20 November when they travelled to Dungannon in the 2nd XV League. Even though they had lacked match practice, they were disappointed to come away with a 18-11 defeat. Although Dungannon deserved each of their scores, Bann also had many opportunities for more scores throughout the game, but just could not find the finishing touch to the initial good ground work. The following passage of play then set Bann up with a five metre scrum, and a previously shaky set piece found total control to surge over the line for No 8 Andy Brown to touch down. McCallister missed the conversion but Bann were now 11-10 ahead. McCallister was uncharacteristically off target with an easy penalty, 18 metres out, on the stroke of half-time after full back Jonny Clark had surged forward and opened a gap in the defence.
Both teams started brightly, but it was Bann who got the score board moving after four minutes with an impressive penalty from Clark McCallister from just inside the ‘Gannon half. He then doubled Bann's lead after 10 minutes when they were awarded a penalty 27 metres out. This came about after a period of pressure from ‘Gannon when they took quick taps off a series of penalties, which Bann managed to stem with patient and organised defending before turning over the ball and then forcing the home side to stray off-side as they defended the Bann attack.
The next 10 minutes saw Bann take the game to Dungannon with some good controlled driving and clever use of links between forwards and backs, but all too often the good work was negated with errors at the crucial time. Both teams were by this stage commiting the same errors making fluid rugby difficult. From one of Bann's mistakes 25 metres out, Dungannon reduced the score to 6-3.
After 25 minutes, Geoff Little was unlucky to receive 10 minutes in the sin bin for being `over eager` in the ruck, and it was mid way through this period that the home side made the advantage tell by scoring a try under the posts. The manner in the way the try was conceded was disappointing as Bann had defended their line admirably and when they forced the ball loose in the turnover, the hack through by Andy Kirkwood fell perfectly into the hands of a home player to stroll over.
With the score now at 10-6 and a player down, Bann showed they were not going to lie down and from the kick off, they were able to pin ‘Gannon in their own 22 where they remained until the return of Little. This coincided with a yellow card issued to a Gannon player for slowing play down in infringements.
The second half saw Bann up the tempo in the opening exchanges with a number of periods of ball retention as the forwards sought to provide an opening for the backs. A mixture of good defending by the home side and some basic errors in the wet conditions failed to allow Bann to capitalise.
After 13 minutes Dungannon then moved back into the lead 13-11, when they converted a penalty for a high tackle. The following 15 minutes of play was nearly all played in the Bann "22", Gannon putting their visitors under all sorts of pressure. Each and every time that the home side probed, a mixture of good defending and forced errors allowed Bann to thwart the attacking scrums, line-outs and penalties. However the pressure eventually paid off with Dungannon finding an extra player in support right in the corner to ground the ball.
Now seven points down, Bann set about their task of gaining something from the game. Their impressive ball retention was able to put them in good positions, and indeed for the last five minutes they were encamped on the home line, but were unable to get the final yard for the score the build-up deserved.
Although the commitment of the entire team was evident and the aggressive nature in which they all defended was good to see, it was the pack who deserve mention with the back row of Andy Davidson, Andy Baird and Andy Brown outstanding, along with Davy Little. Overall a performance that was disappointing in the result, but pleasing as a level of commitment was reached even after such a lengthy lay-off.