CHAMPIONSHIP 3
DONAGHADEE 31
BHSFP 12
BY GEOFF INGHAM
DONAGHADEE welcomed Belfast High School Former Pupils to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a crucial league encounter.
It was a clash of third versus fourth and the visitors probably started as favourites after their fine win the previous week against Virginia. The ’Dee’s team sheet only showed a couple of changes; Owen Roberts swapping places with Sam Moore, Ali Lockhart making a welcome return from injury for his first start of the season and Chris Scott who took a seat on the bench.
The pitch was slightly moist after the previous day’s rain but the spring-like, calm day was ideal for running rugby and also had encouraged a large crowd to gather to watch the contest.
The visitors started brightly and the ’Dee were forced to defend for the first quarter of the match. Some good chop tackling by the home backrow and a couple of crucial turnovers helped to keep their try line intact.
Gradually, the ’Dee got themselves on the front foot and on the 20-minute mark registered their first score of the day when young Rudi Ioasa broke through the BHSFP line and glided past the last defender to score in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed but the momentum was now with the hosts.
Eight minutes later scrum half Matthew Pentland kicked deep into the oppositions 22 and Robbie Ingham followed up to tackle the full-back, forcing the visitors to kick to touch. The line-out throw found captain Sam Ingham who set up the maul and it was Davy Skipp who touched down to score. This time Pentland was successful with the kick from the touchline to give the ’Dee a 12-0 lead.
A couple of minutes later they increased the lead when Pentland sent Harry McCracken down the blindside. He drew the last man before offloading to winger Johnny Moore who sprinted into the corner to score try number three and push the score to 17-0.
The ’Dee were reduced to 14 men as the half drew to a close due to an infringement at a ruck and BHSFP almost took advantage of the numerical difference, but a try-saving tackle by Robbie Ingham kept them out.
In the last play of the half Donaghadee secured their try bonus point when Ioasa burst through a ruck and popped the ball to Pentland who ran over to score near the posts. He converted his own try to make the half-time score 24-0 to the home team.
As was the case last week, the ’Dee went slightly off the boil for the third quarter and found themselves defending for most of that time. Both sides went down to 14 men after a slight kerfuffle off the ball and soon after the visitors scored in the corner and successfully converted to reduce the deficit.
The ’Dee’s ill-discipline continued, giving away far too many penalties and BHSFP eventually worked themselves up the pitch and scored in the opposite corner. This time the conversion was missed to leave the score 24-12.
At this stage of the match the next score was going to be critical and thankfully for Donaghadee it was they who managed to pull further ahead when Ray Dobson crashed over to score after the team showed good patience in the build-up, going through several phases of play. Pentland converted to make it 31-12.
Although another ’Dee player went to the bin for a high tackle, the home side held out for the final few minutes for the five- point win that sees them sitting joint second in the league after five games.
This week’s man of the match award went to player-coach Ray Dobson who showed he is back to his rampaging best and topped it off by scoring the final try. The team now have a week off before travelling to Virginia on November 2 for another vital game.
