Ophir seconds taught a lesson by Queen's

QUEEN'S arrived for this match with no recognised prop forwards and the game was therefore played with uncontested scrums.

The visitors kicked off and, using their mobile forwards, gained good ground from retained loose possession. As early as the fifth minute, they bulldozed their way over the Ophir line to open their account with a fine try.

For the next 10 minutes, Ophir found themselves pinned into their own half as the visitors took advantage of the home team's failure to keep possession for any sustained period of play.

Ophir's defence was holding up reasonably well but then a clever jinking run from the Queen's outhalf, avoiding at least three tackles, took him triumphantly under the posts. The conversion was good and Queen's led by 12 points to nil.

The university side's outhalf again pounced on the ball and raced in for his side's third try, comfortably converted to put the visitors in the lead by 19 points to nil at half-time.

For the early part of the second half, Ophir fared little better in possession or territory. But then came a turnaround. The Ophir pack began to support the runners much better and the ball was retained at the breakdown. They gained ground to the edge of the Queen's line but a dropped ball led to a 22 drop-out.

Ophir recovered and four minutes later, when from a lineout and then a short penalty, centre Willie Cully crashed through the Queen's defence to score an excellent try. Ivan Smith narrowly missed the conversion.

This score signalled a spirited improvement in the home side's play and, with inspired and determined running from Sean Lewis, Bobby Press and Adam Smith, Ophir began to click.

Despite Queen's increasing their lead from a successful penalty kick, Ophir's flying winger, Curtis Gilmore could not be stopped from crossing the line in the corner for an excellent try with just 10 minutes left on the clock.

n The Mallusk side's next game is against the Titans at Valley Park. The First XV entertain Donegal at the Cottonmount.