Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

The home side played against the wind in the first half but still had the early pressure which they turned into points following a lineout in the Carrick "22". The ball was taken into a maul which drove at the line before Peter Cromie dived over.

Bann were in control of the game at this stage and the next score came from centre Adam Doherty who had just returned from Ulster U18 duty. Doherty, starting in his own half, went past his opposite number before out-pacing the chasing defence to touch down.

With the score at 12 - 0 the Carrick team came to life and forced Bann to concede several penalties before eventually crossing the line from a quick tapped ball.

Bann again started to go through the phases and tie in the Carrick defence which resulted in Doherty's second try after some fine back play. When play restarted Bann immediately gave away a penalty, the first of many, leading to the visitors' next try, again from a quick tapped ball. From a comfortable lead Bann now turned round at half time with just a 17-10 advantage.

The home team now had the wind advantage but Carrick struck first to bring the score to 17-15, penalties again the culprit. This was the wake-up call Bann needed. Out-half Macauley Little and Doherty started to kick deep into the visitors' half before moving the ball in some great interplay between backs and forwards. Carrick were stretched and Kasper Kruzycki went over to score Bann's fourth.

The flood gates were about to open as Doherty kicked a penalty cross field for Ben Cross to catch well and dive over. The sixth try came from Ryan Graham who used his pace to step inside the covering defence after some excellent back play.

With the score at 38-15 the home team played with increasing confidence and soon added another try from Kruzycki, who supported some good back play and went over from 10 metres out.

Forward domination kept Bann encamped in Carrick's "22" and Jonny McCreery was unlucky to have a score disallowed. This however was only a temporary setback as he scored after a forward drive following a scrum.

The score was now 50-15 and Bann continued to pin Carrick back in their "22" with clever use of the boot. The final score of the match came when the visitors gamely tried to run the ball out of defence but Doherty moved swiftly to intercept and take the final score to 57-15.

This was an improved performance from Bann but hard work is still needed if they are to reach their full potential. Doherty returned with a man-of-the-match performance, scoring three tries and kicking six conversions.

The squad now has such strength in depth that two of the second half replacements, Matthew Lindsay and Neal Cochrane, were a huge influence on the game.