Firsts slip to opening day defeat by Cooke

The final score was 27-10 in favour of the visitors and the Bannsiders will be regrouping this week ahead of an equally challenging encounter away to Armagh at the weekend.

Speaking on Monday assistant coach Norman Blair said: “Cooke were a big, physical side and their No 10 dictated midfield play throughout the game. They defended well and made it very hard for Coleraine to penetrate their defence.

“Having said that things were fairly even matched to start with but the Cooke defence was very well organised and effective. At the same time we missed a lot of first up tackles and created problems for ourselves.”

In the game the first three scores came from penalties, two to the visitors and one to Coleraine’s Phil Coulter. As the referee stamped his authority on the match, both sides lost players to the sin bin for ten minutes.

Coleraine’s only try came in the first half when Stuart Simpson gathered the ball just into the Cooke half and ran on to score under the posts. Coulter converted.

Cooke replied with a converted try on either side of the break and in the last ten minutes they sealed the match with another.

Norman said: “Cooke were very strong and a much improved side from last season. They will undoubtedly be one of the main contenders in the league this season.

“We took a blow when we lost Brian Cochrane to injury in the warm up on Saturday but hopefully he will have recovered for this week’s match away to Armagh. We also hope to have Steven Dickey, Johnny Gault, Chris Barber and Greg Jordan fit and available for selection.

“It is going to be a hard match, as ever, but we are confident that we will be able to up our game and get a good result.”

Coleraine play at the Palace Grounds in Armagh at 2.30pm, Saturday, 18 September.

Elsewhere in the club the scores were Coleraine Seconds 11 Cooke Seconds 27 whilst Coleraine Thirds had a very convincing 15-27 win, away to Academy Seconds.

Coleraine First XV: L George, N Montgomery, J Carey, P Bogle, A Hogg, R Gibson, R Glover, W Hunt, P Coulter, M Griffith, N Patterson, S Simpson, N Hall, J Henderson, A Parke. Sub: G Jordan.