Banbridge Rugby Club - Northern Ireland

The match started with both sides using possession well to attack the opposition line, and for 15 minutes it was nip and tuck. Sam Boyd and Barney McKevitt put in some great tackles, while Ben Martin took some great lineout ball. Unfortunately, having made a very promising start on his comeback, Anthony Molloy fractured his rib in a tackle and had to go off. This meant extra work for the remaining backs and Stephen "Jacko" Jackson certainly stepped up to the mark. His tackling was ferocious and he constantly made ground in attack.

On the half hour mark, Bann opened the scoring with a penalty, superbly converted by Jake Fisher. This seemed to lift Bann and, taking advantage of a series of penalties that took play into the Cooke "22", Sam Boyd broke from the base of an ensuing scrum and scored a try in the corner. Fisher narrowly missed the conversion to leave the halftime score 0-8.

Within five minutes of the restart Bann gave Cooke a penalty kick opportunity which they took to narrow the margin to five points. Cooke pushed on from this, and despite some great tackling from Matthew Bird and Kallan Martin, the home side soon won another penalty which they converted to narrow the gap further.

From the kick-off, Barney McKevitt and John Woods put the Cooke receiver under pressure with a great chase. He gave a penalty away for holding onto the ball on the ground. Bann opted to kick, and Fisher pulled his kick past the front of the posts. However fortune shone on Bann as the Cooke winger knocked the ball on giving Bann a scrum on the Cooke line. Andy Wilson was dominating his opposite number in the scrums and Bann won the ball comfortably. Cooke briefly stopped the attack, but McKevitt was able to roll off the ruck and use his strength to force his way over the line for a try. The touchline conversion was missed but Bann now had a nine point cushion, with the score at 6-15.

Cooke immediately struck back from the kick-off and following a series of silly errors on Bann's part, they scored in the corner. The touchline conversion left just two points between the sides.

Bann then decided they wanted to win this match and the whole team lifted their game up another gear. With Tom Morrow providing great service from scrum half, and Willie Taylor and Chris Craig a potent strike force in the centre, Bann went on the attack. Ryan Ringland at hooker and Johnny Sleator in the second row worked hard to keep possession and hold onto their narrow lead.

Just before full time, Cooke were awarded a penalty just inside the Bann half. The kick was narrowly missed, Craig fielded the ball behind the posts and cleared the line.

The game was blown up shortly afterwards and Bann had started their new season in Junior League Division 1 with a great victory. Next up are Clogher Valley Seconds, who travel to Rifle Park on Saturday.

The man-of-the-match award went to out-half Jake Fisher for a tremendous all-round performance, both in attack and defence.