Culbertson in seventh heaven as Toon U14 beat Instonians

INSTONIANS U14 5

Ballymoney U14s welcomed Instonians to Kilraughts Road on Saturday.

Having been disappointed from not getting the result they deserved last week they were determined to show their peers in the youth setup they have what it takes to put big city clubs to the sword.

There were a couple of new faces to the starting XV with Lee Culbertson and Jack Brennan starting their first game for the 14s this season. This was supposed to be a training session but instead the Ulster Branch insisted this friendly match be played and the lads from the “TOON” were in no mood for a friendly encounter.

Ballymoney kicked off and from the chasing pack they turned over the Instonians forwards and quick ball allowed scrum half Lee Culbertson to look up see the gap and dazzle the opposition with a great turn of pace to score under the posts.

From the restart good interlinking play between C.Wright and J.McIntyre saw the B’money pack drive into Instonians half and again there was the number 9 to hand off would be tacklers and touch down for his second try.

Instonians had no answer as the U14s turned the screw even tighter with confidence high the back line started to run a few plays and quick hands saw Jordan Lyons cross the whitewash only to be tripped by his opposite number and spilling the ball, the referee had no option to award the penalty try. Tweed converted.

A mistake by the Instonians out half allowed Tweed to tackle his opposite number and the pack did the rest, they drove over like a steam train and yes you guessed it lee Culbertson was on hand to run unopposed nearly 20 meters and score his hattrick.

A few handling errors were welcomed by the away side or the first half could have saw no fewer than 3 more tries for the U14’s and just before the half time whistle a B’money knock on and advantage being played saw Instonians score under the posts.

The second half saw Culbertson brought his tally of tries to four when a quick tapped penalty allowed the No 9 to touch down out wide.

Instonians started to come at their opponents with good tackling from B’money cutting out any danger and again a good understanding between 9 and 10 allowed fast ball to see William Wilson score his first ever B’money try.

Changes were made by both teams and this didn’t affect B’money in the slightest as they replaced like for like with the same calibre of players coming on.Instonians however upped their game and their big centre was starting to use his size to his advantage but a tactical substitution at centre soon put a stop to that.(thanks Stevie).Flowing rugby soon returned and there was no stopping the U14’s scrum half as he bagged himself another try under the posts and again he converted..

Instonians were tiring quickly but the U14’s were still hungry for more and great surging runs from the second row of Christopher Wright and the relentless tackling of open side flanker David Tweed kept the pressure on Instonians and this pressure saw yet another penalty awarded to B’money.

A quick tap allowed the pack to drive over the line and there was that man again L.Culbertson at the bottom of it all to score yet another try.

The U14’s saved the best til last, the forwards gathered the ball from a deep restart good of the shoulder running and they kept the ball alive by popping it up to the support runners. When they were eventually stopped the backs did their thing slick hands and a long pass left a 2 v 1 out wide and L. Culbertson sold their winger a dummy to score a fantastic team try.

Man of the match went to Lee Culbertson not just for his personal tally of 45 points but his support play and vision around the pitch was top drawer. The U14’s would like to thank their parents and friends for their support it is much appreciated.

This Saturday sees Cavan make the journey to Kilraughts Road and the U14’s will have no doubt the same welcome Instonians got.