Toon too strong for Coleraine under-19s

Ballymoney kicked the game off and after a number of phases managed to win a penalty in front of the posts and rightly converted, giving them a three point lead.

Soon after the kick off Coleraine found themselves with a penalty within the range of Fergus’s left boot and he took the three points to draw the visitors level.

Coleraine where unable to get any good field positioning in their opposition’s half and after about 15 minutes Ballymoney forced themselves over the line with their heavier forward pack. The try was not converted and Ballymoney led 8-3.

Coleraine reduced the arrears with another penalty but another try saw Ballymoney lead 13-6 at half-time.

Despite Coleraine applying pressure at the start of the second half a Ballymoney centre broke through Coleraine’s defence in their 22 for an unconverted try and an 18-6 advantage.

Before the end Ballymoney ran in another try which was converted to seal a 25-6 success.

A special mention to back James Wilkinson for repeated outstanding work with a number of strong breaks and solid defence and forwards Andrew Brady and Jamie Linken for relentless hard work and commendable support play.

Man of the match: James Wilkinson.

Depleted under-17s pay the price

COLERAINE under-17s began their clash with Ballyclare without injured centres Jack McGonigle and Bill Black and three other absentees.

Ballyclare started with 14 men compared to Coleraine’s 13 and a lack of numbers cost Coleraine dearly with a number of tries scored in quick succession.

Coleraine’s defence was partly at fault but the one man overlap ran Coleraine’s defence ragged.

Excellent cover defence by the pacy Lewis Bell allowed him to repeatedly retreat quickly to claim the ball but despite Coleraine’s best efforts Coleraine fell further behind.

Ballyclare’s bigger pack gave them the edge but the lineouts were fiercely contested with neither side gaining any clean ball.

Early in the second half Coleraine’s misfortune increased with second row Callum being injured and forced to limp from the pitch.

It was a credit to the Coleraine boys that despite their significant numerical disadvantage and a mounting score gap, that they continued to play positively and with commitment.

Man of the match: William McCarron.

Under 13s friendly

The under 13's played a friendly match against Ballyclare where the two squads combined to play an even handed match.

The game provided the first opportunity for the small Coleraine squad to get some match experience.

Coleraine’s Andrew Greer, Leon Inch and Shea Millar all put in good performances with solid scrumaging and mauling from Leon and Shea, and excellent work in open play from Leon and Andrew.

Big win for Coleraine under-15's

Coleraine under-15's produced their best performance of the season on Saturday to see off a dangerous Ballyclare team by a massive margin of 60-22.

In damp conditions Coleraine got off to a flying start when captain and outhalf Ryan Harper out-paced the covering defence to score near the corner flag in the first minute.

This was quickly added to by centre Ryan Purdy who was able to bulldoze his way over the line a few minutes later. Ballyclare responded and scored themselves when thier strong pack wheeled the Coleraine scrum and intercepted a pass to touch down and reduce the deficit. Shortly after they added another try when poor Coleraine tackling let their number 8 charge over the line.

This made the score 12-10 in Ballyclare's favour 15 minutes into the half.

However, this turned out to be Ballyclare's last throw of the dice and Coleraine upped the ante and dominated the rest of the game. Three more tries were added before half time through Ryan Purdy, his centre partner Alister Irwin who side stepped his way over from his own ten metre line, and the in form full back Shea Eastwood.

The second half was more of the same and it was pleasing to see the team at last got its defence in order and only conceded one more try despite being under pressure for long periods.

Ryan Harper who is growing in stature with each game added a further two tries, to bring his tally to three, the same as centre Ryan Purdy, who scored another quality try. Alister Irwin and Shea Eastwood added a score each to finish at two tries apeice.