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Following last week’s injury filled fiasco the side took to the “Maurice Field” to play Ballyclare including a number of debutants to the 5s. Typically our warm-up included a tube of Deep Heat, introductions to the new faces and working out who and how to jump in line outs. The conditions were wet and strangely Chris declared “I find it difficult to get a good grip on Gilbert’s balls”. Our esteemed past Club Chairman was unavailable for comment.

Hardly an uplifting psych-up but nevertheless Quins started well and dominated the opening stages. It was clear that we were up against a resilient, heavy Ballyclare pack, who were complimented by very handy half-backs. However we were never really troubled in the first half and it seemed that it was a case of turning possession into points.

Our points tally was commenced with a penalty of all things. Not that easy a kick but strangely the 5s scored their first three pointer in recent memory through the boot of Roger, who was kicking off something that looked more in keeping with a traffic cone than a kicking tee. Shortly after this Ally cut through the Ballyclare defence and, pinning the ears back, easily outpaced their cover to touch down. The subsequent conversion was uncharacteristically also successful.

Shortly before half-time a series of errors led to us defending a five-yard scrum when the Ballyclare, via the south-seas, fly-half managed to round two players with one side-step to drive over on the blind side. This was a bit disappointing as the 10-5 half-time score did not reflect the run of play.

The second half commenced with our additional player providing extra cover to mark their half-backs which virtually cancelled out Ballyclare’s offensive game. Our lead was again extended through a penalty and soon after this Chris Magowan crossed their line following sustained pressure from our pack. The conversion again was successful. Throughout the second half Quins again dominated and rarely did Ballyclare trouble us, so when Barney scored in the corner it appeared that the game was killed off.

However, fair play to Ballyclare who never lay down. Their Out-half had by now moved out to centre as too many people were marking him, and he picked up on a dropped ball in our own half to score beneath the posts unimpeded. Shortly after which he again broke through in the centre at a speed which left our defence in dust and scored beneath the posts untouched. As he added both conversions this meant that the game was far from being killed off. We were not really troubled for the remainder of the game but clearly this player was a potential danger and match winner for Ballyclare. How did the Fijian or Samoan WC selectors overlook him? The last ten minutes were therefore unnecessarily pressurised and it was with some relief that the final whistle came, even though we again came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, with the score a favourable 25-19.

There were a number of good all round performances from a number of players, in particular Chris, Chick, Stevie, Pete and Roger but with an (unheard of in the 5s) 80% kicking record Roger was considered Man of the Match worthy.

There were a few nominations for dick of the day, including: Ally for falling flat on his face when retrieving a ball at full back; new winger David Best for deciding to run around their winger via the hockey pitches before being caught by their biggest prop; and (even though he wasn’t there) Marcus, simple because it wouldn’t be Saturday without nominating Marcus for the DOTD award. However, the dishonour went to captain courageous Chick Chalmers, for his effort at fielding the kick-off. Having tried to inspire the team before the kick-off he followed it up by claiming the kick with a large call, before falling flat on his face, and calling out an expletive even louder than his previous “my ball” utterance. A worthy DOTD award.

As they say, “a wins a win” and the 5s now have gone some way to correcting our challenge to the top of the table. Many thanks for those that turned up to play at short notice, and to those who came along to support - we even had a touch-judge this week!

Team: 1. Spam McGrath 2. Stevie Uprichard 3. Jamesie Graham 4. Pete Stewart 5. Davey Vincent 6. Simon Chicksmate 7. Wally Weatherup 8. Chick Chalmers (capt.) 9. Chris Magowan 10. Roger Gilpin 11. Peter Semple 12. Humesy Hume 13. Barney Leitch 14. David Best 15. Ally McCulloch.

Man of the Match: Roger Gilpin

Dick of the Day: Chick Chalmers

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