Good win in difficult conditions for Ballymoney Under-14 Boys

A damp and overcast morning greeted the players for the arrival of Instonians at Kilraughts Road.

With the dampness underfoot and greasy ball, it was perhaps inevitable that this would be a scrappy match with both sides struggling for fluidity.

Receiving the kick-off Ballymoney started brightly enough and made good ground before conceding possession due to a knock on. Instonians won their first scrum and looked to make ground but were quickly stopped by some thumping first up tackles. An excellent turnover at the breakdown won Money some ball and it was shipped left for Oliver to make ground but unfortunately lost the ball in the tackle.

Fortunately, Instonians had strayed offside so the resulting penalty was chipped forward and regathered by Tyler and some quick recycling saw Jack slice through the defence for the opening try. Tommy got the conversion to bring the score to 7 - 0 with five minutes played.

From the restart another period of scrappy play ensued with both team knocking on, multiple scrums and resets and no one finding any fluidity. The second try came from a mistake by the Instonian’s stand-off who lost the ball in the tackle which was scooped up by Matthew who sprinted in under the posts. Conversion again was good 14 -0 and nine minutes gone.

No further scores were made in the first period although both teams had chances but were again undone by a little inaccuracy in handling or ball retention.

Ballymoney kicked off the start of the second period and whilst there were glimpses of what both teams were capable of in attack mistakes and key times scuppered both sides.

It took a full 10 minutes of the second period for Instonians to break the deadlock with the fast feet of their 13 bamboozling the defence and he showed a clean pair of heels to score. Their conversion was good and suddenly it was a one score game with plenty time left for both sides, 14 - 7.

Both sides had chances in the remaining time with a game of rugby threatening to break out between scrum resets. Ballymoney had perhaps the best chance but a knock on within centimetres of the line put paid to that.

With the clock turning red and Ballymoney winning a penalty they took the pragmatic approach to end the competition and take win number six. Definitely not one of the prettiest performances but the ability to grind out a win is yet another string to this team’s bow.

A big shout-out to the forwards who kept the team in the game, particularly Phil, who never failed to make yards with his carries and Lewis with a number of turnovers at crucial moments.

Hard hitter of the day goes to Dillon who racked up double digits in the tackle stats and led the defence with aplomb.

Player of the match was again Tommy who built on his performance from last week to slot in at hooker, won ball against the head in the scrum, hit his darts in the lineout and made two conversions.