Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

The home side had the early possession and spent the first five minutes in the Bann "22". A series of four conceded penalties forced Bann back on their line and Malone took a quick tap driving over to score an unconverted try.

Bann didn't panic and steadily worked their way into the Malone half with the forwards, led by captain Jonny McCreery, getting the better of the physical encounters.

The pressure told when Malone gave away a penalty which Macauley Little took quickly and charged for the line. He showed great strength in making it with two defenders trying hard to stop him. Adam Doherty slotted home a fine conversion to leave the score 5-7 in Bann's favour.

The forwards continued to battle hard against the wind and slope of the pitch with Thomas Carlisle, Chris Knox and Robert Poots showing good controlled aggression in the rucks and counter-rucks, keeping Bann encamped in Malone territory. This paid dividends when Peter Cromie charged down a Malone kick on the "22" and scored, to add to his ever increasing try count. Doherty landed another fine kick to increase Bann's lead.

Banbridge defended well for the rest of the half as Malone pushed hard to get back into the game, Doherty put in two try-saving tackles and Kasper Kruzyki, Adam Kelly and Kyle McConnell repelled back waves of home team forward charges.

The second half gave Bann the advantage of the slope and Little and Doherty managed the game well, putting the ball deep into the Malone half before launching the backline. Unfortunately a number of penalties saw the visitors again in their own "22" with the possibility of a Malone score, but the U17s have toughened up over the season and do not give away scores easily. They hung on and eventually good lineout work from Poots and Cromie won back the ball which Little despatched deep into the Malone half.

From there the Bann backs moved the ball sharply to give full-back Ryan Graham a chance to show his pace which he did superbly, leaving two defenders in his wake as he ran the ball in from 40 metres range.

This score really put the match beyond Malone's reach and with the Bann scrum and lineout now firing on all cylinders it was only a matter of time before they added another. From a Bann scrum 10 metres out, Little dummied his opposite number and crossed the line to complete a great personal performance.

The final score reflected a true team performance from all twenty players used. The pack was immense and never stopped running and working for each other. The backs did not get as much chance to run the ball this week but showed they can play a tight controlled game when necessary. Doherty used his experience to good effect and Little showed his great potential. There are two men-of-the-match this week, Carlisle who goes from strength every week and whose physicality is vital to the pack and Little who managed the game intelligently.