Wamsley inspires Seconds to fine win

Lurgan Seconds travelled to Newry for their third fixture of the season and came away with a fine win.

Lurgan games with Newry tend to be close fought affairs and that’s how this game started with Lurgan not just as polished as they had been in recent games.

The opening quarter saw Newry loose a front row to injury and unfortunately with no front row cover the scrums had to be uncontested.

The other set piece option, the line out, was however closely contested with Lurgan winning their own ball and disrupting Newry’s at will.

It was this pressure at the line out which allowed Lurgan to turn the ball over and launch an attack in Newry’s 22, with a ruck only five meters from the line Jason Kane took a pop pass from Jason Wallace to storm over for the first score.

Newry responded quickly with a score of their own after a missed tackle in the mid field allowed them a clean line break, frantic Lurgan defending could not hold them out and Newry equalised.

Newry galvanized by their score kept up the pressure and after losing back row Andy Gray to a shoulder injury Lurgan again conceded another try.

A period of pressure and two missed kicks from Newry in front of Lurgan’s posts followed but somehow Lurgan escaped the pressure without any further points conceded.

Coach Jason Wallace demanded a response and Lurgan delivered with a try before half time by Chris Wamsley and a third by Dawid Stanczak to settle Lurgan’s nerves.

The second half started as the first ended with Lurgan’s forwards claiming the restart and setting up the ball for the back line to use, Jonny Goode and Jason Kane in particular making yards with the ball in hand.

Quick hands and several off loads later and Lurgan had their fourth try with Jordan McLwaine scoring and converting his own try.

Lurgan managed to dominate the rest of the exchanges with plenty of running rugby and aggressive defence, Chris Wamsley and Jason Kane both got a second score each and in the closing minutes Lurgan out half Richard Dawson ran in 80 yards from first phase possession to score and finish the game on a high.

Man of the match was Chris Wamsley closely followed by Jason Wallace.

Lurgan Seconds host Ballyclare this Saturday at Pollock Park with a 2.30pm start.