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Belfast Harlequins 5XV 46

Since rotational selection policies seem to be the trendy thing at the moment the 5th XV made 8 changes to the team from last week. In order to do this it was necessary to make at least 400 telephone calls and ask our manager to play. When rotating their team I wonder if Cois Beukes and Andre Bester need to do this?

The Larne side that we faced was somewhat under strength and looked a shadow of the team that narrowly beat us last year. I just love it when your opponents have their 1st and 2nd XVs playing on the same day.

The game started well and after some good backs and forwards play Cooper opened the scoring with a well-taken try. Totally dominating up front, the ball was provided on a plate for the backs throughout the first half and some excellent running in the backline ensued. Breaks from Ally, Marcus and newcomer Andrew Leitch led to a series of tries, with team manager Barry Dowling (playing on the wing) scoring from deep inside his own half, and playing to the gallery finished off with a theatrical dive. I'd like to see certain other team managers in the club do that.

In the second half we took the foot off the pedal a bit and lacked concentration that let in three very poorly conceded tries. The first caused by Larne taking a quick penalty with Roger and Clokey defending the blindside where they had absolutely no players, much to the disgust of our other backs who had to try and defend their big over lap on the open side. The second came from another of Larne's quick penalties when Cooper halted all traffic and waved their player through to ensure that he could score under the posts for an easy conversion. Their third try came from what can only be described as a moment of Marcus madness when Larne kicked long to our goal line, and he cleared by only tapping it over the touchline so as to facilitate the two chasing Larne players to take a quick throw in. As they proceeded with the quick throw Marcus then decided to defend the dead ball line and was about to put in a trade mark bone crunching tackle when much to his amazement they scored in front of him. It's always a good idea to know where you are on the pitch, and which line is which.

However, the 5's collectively got right back into the game and Marcus redeemed himself with a superbly taken try as he burst through their defence to score under the posts. Clokey also put Marcus through from deep inside our own half to set up Andrew Leitch who out paces and indeed outclassed their defence with a well-taken try. Whilst the majority of our tries were scored by the backs it can't be stressed enough that the pack completely dominated, gaining good ground before releasing perfect ball. Every forward played well and it's hard to single anyone out for special mention. However, I would like to name Stephen Weatherup who was really disappointed he didn't get a mention last week, as his mate in England reads this web site.

We also had two new club members playing for us for the first time. Andrew Leitch has arrived from Civil Service and Dean Collins from England. Both played extremely well and are great additions to Junior rugby at BHRFC. In fact Andrew Leitch only just pipped Dean to the man of the match award as his passing, angles of running, and tackling were faultless. He also got a couple of tries to boot.

All in all a very good performance by all players and a very entertaining game, which had 11 tries (8 for us) and was well worth watching. A big sarcastic thanks to all those who turned out in support as not a single spectator or touch judge was provided by either club.

Team: 1. Mark McCartney, 2. Stephen Uprichard, 3. Darren McCartney, 4. Ralph Magee, 5. Richard Cooper, 6. Greg Kidd, 7. Stephen Weatherup, 8. Dean Collins, 9. Chris Magowan, 10. Roger Gilpin, 11. Barry Dowling, 12. Graham Cloke, 13. Andrew Leitch, 14. Ally McCulloch, 15. Marcus Cummings.

Man of the Match: Andrew Leitch

Dick of the Day: Marcus Cummings

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