Seconds dominate against Ports and get the reward

Bann Seconds 20

A GOOD kick-off from Banbridge with the forwards all fired up resulted in a Portadown man taken out and a penalty to Portadown which took play into the Bann half.

A big hit from Jurgen Schoeman set the intensity levels with a turnover from the tackle and quick hands to put Bann into the opposition half.

A penalty against Portadown for holding onto the ball when off the feet resulted in improved field position for Banbridge, pushing the physical Portadown team further backwards. Bann won good lineout ball and after several phases a penalty but Philip Morrison’s kick was off target.

The 22 kick-out gave Bann the ball once again and after several phases a cute kick was put to the corner post leaving Portadown no option but to run the ball out of play. Captain David Little chose to go for a short four-man line out that worked well and set the Bann forwards charging down the middle of the park hungry to score a try.

After a number of phases Geoff Little took a short pass from scrum half Jeff Dodds to crash over the line.

After about 20 minutes, Portadown won a scrum against the head on the Bann 22. The ball was quickly shifted out to the backs and the out-half, spotting a gap between the scrum and the No.10 channel, displayed nimble footwork in beating a couple of players to touch down under the posts. After converting his own try the score was 5-7 to Portadown.

On the half hour mark, good scrummaging by Bann earned a penalty which Morrison converted to give his side a single point lead.

A huge tackle from centre Stephen Cowan should have given Bann an advantage but when a penalty was conceded at the ruck Portadown moved the ball quickly. When the ball was kicked ahead over the Bann line the chasing player was taken out illegally, leaving the referee no choice but to award a penalty try which was converted to leave Bann trailing 14-8.

Banbridge went into half-time dominating the Portadown side but unable to reflect that on the scoreline. The coaching staff requested patience from the Bann side and in the knowledge that continued domination up front would eventually yield results.

The second half was again about the forwards out-muscling the opposition. After only 10 minutes the home side gave away another penalty from a scrum in front of the posts. Morrison was not having one of his better nights and pulled the kick left.

The game opened up a little more in the second half with strong running and wide balls given to energetic backs. From a turnover ball on the Bann 10m, Dodds gave a clever pass to Jeff Thompson, who made good ground before passing to Cowan who also showed a good turn of pace before kicking cleverly into the Portadown 22. Soon afterwards Bann won another penalty but Morrison was again off-target.

After about an hour of rugby again Bann came from their own 10m line to set off the backs with good passing from the midfield trio delivering the ball to Morrison. The winger had some work to do but smartly swerved round the last defender to run the ball right under the posts and convert for the extra points. The score was now 15-14 to Banbridge.

After this, Portadown again showed plenty of fight, got right back into the Bann 22 and were unlucky not to scored after many phases by the forwards. However, the scramble defence by Bann kept the opposition out and soon a turnover was created and the clearing kick set play up once again in the Portadown half.

Schoeman charged down a clearance kick by Portadown and the forwards set about their business of screwing the Portadown scrum time after time. The sending-off of an over-aggressive Portadown lock added to his team’s problems at the set piece.

The pack drove the opposition some 15m before No 8 Andy Brown was unfortunate to knock the ball forward from the back of the scrum with the try line in sight.

Another scrum and Bann pushed Portadown off their own ball with the pack walking the 5m to the try line and scrum half Jeff Dodds having the simplest of touches to score. Morrison could not make the conversion and the score was 20-14 to Banbridge.

The game was untidy after this, however Bann kept field position and parked up in the opposition half for the remainder of the game. Bann kept their discipline and patience to record another win on a frosty evening at Portadown.

A number of players performed well especially the forwards who dominated all evening, Jeff Dodds running things from scrum half and the centre combination of Jeff Thompson and Steve Cowan.