Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

Omagh got the game underway with the kick-off but Bann quickly got some territory and played from there. A good driving maul from the pack let the Omagh forwards know what they were in for. After 10 minutes, Omagh made their way into the Banbridge half and won a penalty after an offside offence from Banbridge. The Omagh kicker made no mistake in sending the ball between the sticks.

Play was restarted and Banbridge got a good hold of the game. Bann out-half and captain, Alistair Lewis, put a fine kick into the Omagh half for a line-out. Bann had been putting good pressure on the Omagh throw and there was no change when Ben Martin leapt to steal the ball. It was then put through a few phases and some good hands from the backs got the ball out to winger, Stephen Jackson, who powered his way home from 30 metres out to give Banbridge five points. Lewis slotted the extras to make the score 7-3 in the home side's favour.

The next ten minutes would result in some tactical kicking. Soon enough, Omagh again won themselves a penalty and their kicker was on target for the second time to reduce the deficit. This spurred the Tyrone men on and they launched an onslaught on the Bann line. Through phase after phase they attempted to breach the Bann line but to no avail. The home side's defence was a match for anyone with a combination of good communication and strong tackling seeing the game out to half-time, the one point lead still intact.

The second half got underway and immediately Bann put Omagh under pressure with a charged-down kick. A line-out was awarded after some consultation with the touch-judge. Bann kept the play in the Omagh half for a time until a kick up field gained the visitors some territory. Jackson put in a clearance kick but a poor chase from the team resulted in a swift counter-attack from Omagh ending with their flanker going over the try line, only for the referee to correctly pull the play back for a forward pass.

Lewis cleared the lines from a solid scrum and this resulted in some dominance of field position from Banbridge. They came close on several occasions, another stolen line-out on the Omagh five metre line saw the pack go over only for the ball to be held up. Some strong running from Andy Jordan and Andy Brown gained good yards and eventually the ball came to prop, Barney McKevitt, who used his strength to touch the ball down on the line. The try was not awarded and it can only be assumed that the referee wasn't in a position to see the grounding.

Banbridge didn't let the decision get to them and it wasn't too long before they got what they deserved. A powerful run from Brown after some good possession saw him squeeze over the line to give his team a six point lead. Lewis was off target with the conversion.

Omagh had most of the territory for the remainder of the game with a lack of discipline from Bann giving away a series of silly penalties. Some superb fielding and kicking from Jackson, Lewis and John Porter gave the home side a measure of relief but it took some heroic defending once again to make sure Omagh didn't cross the line late on. The final whistle was followed by some liberal, richly-deserved celebrations for a memorable win over a seemingly unbeatable side.