Carrick RFC youngsters warm up in style

Both the Under-13 and Under-15 teams scored victories against opponents from Ophir.

The U13s, watched by a large following of enthusiastic parents, were soon into their stride. Kyle Bell, Cameron McClean and most notably captain Gareth Hartley were all making significant gains with the ball in hand and dynamic scrum half Adam White was providing a plentiful supply of ball for the back division.

Conor Gascognie, James Heyburn and Nathan Forsthye all impressed in the backs with a number of line breaking runs from each of them.

The first half ended with Carrick having scored five tries without reply.

Carrick continued to rotate the squad of 22 players without diminishing the quality of rugby.

Garth Hartley put in another excellent personal performance at No.8, scoring four tries before being rested.

To their credit, Ophir competed gallantly to the end and on several occasions only desperate defence kept them out. At the final whistle Carrick had added another five tries to win 58-0.

Man of the Match: Gareth Hartley.

Carrick U15s warmed up with a 28-0 victory over Ophir.

The Carrick coaches took the opportunity to give game time to a host of their younger squad members and they in turn matched up to the efforts of their rather larger opposition.

The game was finely poised 10 minutes in when Jake Gardiner, one of the few senior squad members, took a quick tap penalty and surprised Ophir as he dived over the line.

The rest of the first half provided no further scoring.

Carrick carried ball in hand with more determination and the introduction of Aaron Rea and Jamie Craig leant more steel to the attack.

Rea broke free on the left and sprinted through three tackles for a magnificent try which Wallace failed to convert.

However, five minutes later Wallace himself danced past several opponents to score another wonderful try. Again he failed to convert.

Wallace made another searing break but was hauled down short of the line, then instantly popped the ball to the supporting Aaron Rea, who dived over for his second of the morning.

Five minutes later, Rea appeared on the left wing and finished his hat trick in style with another great run.