Carrick youth sides off to winning start

IN their second game of the season, Carrick Rugby Club's U15s beat local rivals Ballyclare by 24 points to seven but for long periods were far from convincing.

A win is a win, they say, but this was a case of a very good side winning while playing poorly. The U15s are a very young, but potentially very talented, team in all areas of the pitch, but Saturday found them struggle to gain possession and fail to finish the bucket load of chances their backline created.

The first half saw a very game Ballyclare monopolise the ball even though Carrick pushed them deep in their own territory for the first 20 minutes. When Carrick finally put a few phases together, Sam Wallace scored a great try wide out from a fine pass by Connor Cambridge.

Rory Magill broke clear with a great run but failed to release free men outside. Eventually, after some great bursts by David Stewart, his centre partner Callum Wilson outpaced the Ballyclare defence and scored at the posts, for Wallace to convert.

The half-time score was 12-0.

Frustration continued into the second period when, after a great passage of play which took Carrick the full length of the field, Stefan Pollin failed to ground the ball under the Ballyclare posts. Danger then lurked when the strong-running Ballyclare right wing scored at the posts and with the conversion almost left the home team clinging on for victory.

However, after some fairly hairy moments and courageous defence Carrick pulled out two great late tries from Sam Wallace and a very impressive David Stewart.

The look on the Carrick player faces said it all when they had the appearance of losers rather than fairly comfortable winners.

James Carson, the Carrick loose head and pack leader, summed it up a few hours later while relaxing at the Portrush air show when he said sternly "Plenty of work to do next Wednesday night."

At U17 level, a new look Carrick side travelled to Ballyclare to play in a mini round robin blitz tournament against the host club and neighbours Larne. In the first game Carrick took immediate control against Larne and scored several impressive tries in 24-0 victory. Against the host club Ballyclare, the Carrick side were made to work much more to record a 24-7 victory.

Training for the youth rugby teams at Carrick continues on Wednesday night starting at 7pm. All new players are very welcome.