Thirds beat Instonians in Crawford Cup Share
BANBRIDGE 3RDs 22 Instonians 3rds 5January 29, 2011
League-leading Bann Thirds were paired against Instonians Thirds in the second round of this year's Crawford Cup on Saturday past. Rifle Park was buzzing with four home games, and the Thirds were keen to put in a good performance. Instonians looked very sharp in their pre-match warm-up and Bann knew they were going to have to be in top form to earn themselves a place in the third round. Bann started very well and continually pinned Instonians in their own half. Only determined defence by Inst prevented Bann crossing their line. The first points eventually arrived thanks to a penalty kicked by The Bann pack dominated the scrums with the strong front row of Gareth Jelly, Geoff Little and Andrew Craig making life hard for the opposition. Stephen Nelson and Brian Curran were doing an equally good job in the lineout, securing all their own ball and an unfair share of the oppositions. With the Bann back-row of Sam Boyd, Curran and Matthew Bird providing a great link between the forwards and backs, and Ross Semple making some great runs into the opposition line, it wasn't long before Bann got their first try through Matthew Bird. Viljoen was unlucky with the conversion but Bann had an eight point lead. Bann continued to play to the game plan with Andy Cowan providing out-half Viljoen with lots of quality ball which the Bann centres Jonny Clarke and Gary McKibben used to good effect. The back three of Calum Boland, Adam Waugh and Peter Irvine probed the Inst defence at every opportunity and Bann soon got their second try when McKibben broke through to ground the ball under the posts. Viljoen added the extras to stretch the lead to 15-0. Some fantastic tight play from the Bann forwards saw Curran get over the line for a well-deserved try and when Viljoen slotted the conversion between the posts Bann were 22-0 ahead. Apart from a lazy 10 minutes at the start of the second half, when Bann deviated from their game plan and allowed Instonians to get into the game briefly, this was a clinical performance from the side. The visitors did get in for a consolation try towards the end of the match with a very well-worked move. Selecting a man of the match was particularly difficult as so many players played very well. Cowan and Viljoen both caught the eye in the backs, while Bird, Curran and Semple excelled themselves in the pack. However, Sam Boyd was the man of the match this week with a fantastic performance, stripping ball off the opposition at every opportunity and making a number of surging runs to set up great attacking ball for Bann. If this team continues to make the effort to train together then there is every chance of going all the way in this competition.
Francois Viljoen.