Toon get first win under their belt

The 1st XV won their first home fixture against Bangor in the league and the club itself celebrated it's success in becoming Ulster Club of the Year for 2010 by having a BBQ.

Both events were well supported and thanks to anybody that attended.

The rugby on the day started slowly, both teams were nervy and testing eachother out over the first few exchanges.

It was a damp day too and the ball was greasy so neither team were keen on making the first mistake.

It was Ballymoney who were to make the most of the early exchanges when James Cleland stepped up to slot over a penalty to get the scoreboard rolling. Ballymoney started to switch on after this.

A number of early attempts went begging through poor handling or silly mistakes at the ruck but around the park Ballymoney began to show their dominance. At scrum time Ballymoney were on their game and the pack were able to take the Bangor lads off their own ball, what seemed like at will.

The first try came from a move that was straight off the training pitch. Ballymoney secured good lineout ball in the oppositions 22, mauled it for a few yards and then utilised their dangerous backline. Chris Watson broke the line to score his first of the season.

Bangor tried to counteract Ballymoney's pressure and sustained some good spells of possession but were unable to reply before half time.

The second half started and after some strong words from the support staff at half time Ballymoney were keen to improve on their performance. Straight from kick off Ballymoney secured ball, quick hands in the backs released Chester Mbekela who was able to offload to Chris Watson who was then able to draw his man and offload to Ryan Braice for a try from kick off.

Ballymoney's back were really starting to get going and moments later Chester Mbekela was able to show how dangerous he can be in space, sidestepping his man and the encroaching full back to score one himself.

The bonus point try came from a forward pack who wanted to show that they too could do the business.

A well worked line out move and maul put Ballymoney over the line and emerging from the bottom of the ruck was Jonny Hanna.

Scrum Captain Alex Hueston commented after the game: "It was a particularly impressive performance by our counterparts in the backline today, however it was the combined efforts of both units that enabled us to achieve victory."