Three for McDowell in nine try win Share
BANBRIDGE U13s 49 City of Derry 29January 7, 2012
Enjoying much better weather than during their last match, and with some very welcome side-line support, Banbridge took on City of Derry, playing into the wind in the first half. The opening exchanges were high energy and of good quality with long passages of play without knock-ons or other infringements. City of Derry had a high quality out half and strong centres and were confident moving ball in hand. Bann's forwards were initially stronger in the loose and at the break-down. A clear early Bann strength was supporting ball carriers, enabling re-cycling of ball during attack, and this led to four unconverted tries, which maybe caused the team to relax too much. Derry pulled themselves together later in the half and began a concerted effort in attack and had a number of close efforts before succeeding in a converted try to end the half with a score line of 20 - 7. Bann started the second half with solid pressure, quickly converted into points as Alistair McDowell crashed over for one of his three tries on the day. City of Derry however would not accept second best and kept stringing together good passages of play to stay in contention. Further Bann tries were matched by three Derry tries; thanks to their effective set scrum and weak first phase tackling by the home side. Bann tended to advance the ball through taking contact but popping quickly to supporting players. Bann cleared their bench to get all the subs on and finished strongly, having the final say with a converted try on full-time. As well as McDowell's aforementioned hat trick, tries were also scored by Troy Pinion, Jack Myles, Jamie Mullan, John Buller, Peter Sleith and Daniel McBurney, with Buller succeeding with two conversions.