Lurgan College hold out for morale boosting victory

Munster's European Champions Cup clash with Stade Francais, which had been scheduled to take place in Paris on Sunday next, has now been postponed

Lurgan College secured a fine win over Armagh on Saturday.

Lurgan started well and the front row of Michael Boulos, Lewis Lawson and Harry Simpson were carrying lots of ball and they were also strong at scrum for 20 minutes.

Armagh then came into the game and Lurgan had to defend very hard but they held out and full back Robbie Norton intercepted the ball and sprinted 60 metres to score in corner which left the score 5-3 at the break.

In the second half Lurgan College two second rows Philip McRoberts and Jonny Carson were everywhere. They were fantastic and the College scrum started to fire but the line-out struggled and after good possession Lurgan too often failed to win their own ball. As the game went on the Lurgan pack came alive as the backs tackled everything and as the game went on Reuben McCreery at eight came into the action. After a great break prop Harry Simpson crashed over in the corner for the second try.

Armagh came back strongly and their centre nipped in with two tries, one right at the end, but with Robbie Norton kicking a penalty Lurgan held on for the verdict by a point.

This performance and result will hopefully be a confidence builder.

It was a great squad effort as a number of twos Peter Beck and Jack Maxwell came on in second half.

Ryan Emerson also came back from concussion and made a huge impact up front.

“We are now playing better teams and the lads are working hard,” said coach Geoff Caldwell.

“We still have lots to work on but Saturday was a great result.”

Lurgan College have no game this weekend.