CHAMPIONSHIP 1
BANGOR 25
COOKE 25
By Roger Corbett
BANGOR salvaged a late 25-25 draw with Cooke, but were left to rue some defensive errors that arguably cost them the victory.
The atmosphere at Upritchard Park on Saturday was one of shared friendships and remembrance. At midday, a short act of remembrance was held at the clubhouse lobby to remember those members and players of Bangor RFC who lost their lives during the World Wars, and this was followed by another, less formal, reminder of former player Steve ‘Steeky’ Harris who played for both Cooke and Bangor during his playing career and passed away earlier this year.
An inscribed bench and donation were presented to Bangor’s chairman, Mark Thallon, by Glen Thomas and Chris Morris on behalf of the family and friends of Steve. Club president Jim Lacey also paid tribute to another club stalwart, Stevie McKay, who passed away very recently.
Having had a two-week break since the round of league fixtures, Bangor were hoping to extend their winning run and keep in touch with the leading teams at the top of the table. Cooke, on the other hand, were trying to return to winning ways after an erratic run of results.
Bangor kicked off into a slight headwind, but were immediately on the front foot, keeping Cooke pinned down inside their own 22. When Cooke eventually got into Bangor’s half, a penalty from Rhys Larmour put Bangor right back on the attack with a long kick to touch. From the lineout, Marty Withers peeled away and forced his way to within inches of the Cooke line.
Solid defending held off this attack, but Bangor then whipped the ball across the
backs to Ryan Young who found space along the left hand touchline before touching down in the corner for the opening score of the game. Larmour successfully added the tricky conversion to put his side ahead by 7-0 after 12 minutes.
Given the amount of possession and attacking opportunities, Bangor should possible have been further ahead during this opening quarter. Cooke, meanwhile, were content to pick up any chances Bangor gave them and soon clawed back three points with a well taken penalty. This was quickly followed by a converted try after Bangor unnecessarily kicked the ball away resulting in another penalty for Cooke.
This set up the attacking lineout and subsequent drives which not only led to their score, but also resulted in a yellow card for Bangor after entering the ruck from the side. Now 7-10 behind and a man down, Bangor needed to inject more urgency into their attack. A
nicely combined break from Mike Weir and Rob Gamble brought play back into the Cooke 22 and, when the ball was kicked across field by Gareth Millar, Danny Young was on hand on the right hand touchline to gather and run through for the try. Although unconverted, Bangor had their noses back in front by 12-10 as the sides turned around at half-time.
As Cooke got the second half underway, they looked to make their manpower advantage count. Within the opening minute, a surprise break through the centre caught Bangor off-guard and brought play deep into Bangor’s red zone. As Bangor’s defence struggled, both in their positioning and tackling, Cooke simply drifted through a gaping hole in the Bangor line to touch down under the posts for another converted try, and move into a 12-17 lead.
Bangor’s response was immediate, forcing a penalty which Larmour successfully kicked to cut the deficit to 15-17. This seemed to motivate Bangor, who resumed their earlier dominance. Once again Withers came close with another strong run off the back of an attacking lineout. This was then carried on by Conor Lusty, but he also was held up.
Undeterred, Bangor recycled the ball and moved it to Mike Weir who finally managed to force his way over for a try close to the Cooke posts. With Larmour’s successful conversion, Bangor had regained the lead by 22-17 and, with three tries now under their belt, the push was on to add the all-important four-try bonus point.
As the game entered its final quarter, Larmour had an opportunity to put Bangor further ahead with a penalty from the left hand side of the posts. Unfortunately his effort bounced back off the upright and into play. Good following up by the Bangor players kept the pressure on, but they were unable to prevent Cooke from clearing their lines and preventing a further score.
As the game became more ragged, so the penalty count against Bangor started to rise.
One of these was kicked to narrow the gap between the teams to 22-20, with 15 minutes left to play.
With such a dangerously small lead, Bangor knew that any mistake could cost them the game. As the game entered its final five minutes, Cooke gathered a Bangor kick just outside their own twenty two. Whether it was a lack of concentration, or simply fatigue, Bangor allowed the Cooke winger to run at them. That might not have been a problem if they had then presented a defensive wall to block Cooke’s progress, but this was not the
case, and the winger used his pace and footwork to slip through the ineffective tackling before running round Bangor’s last defender and scoring in the corner for a great solo try. The kick was missed, but Cooke had snatched the lead by 22-25.
However, there was yet further drama to come. Within a minute of the restart, Bangor rediscovered some of their urgency and were rewarded with a penalty after Cooke found themselves under pressure and didn’t release the ball in the ruck. Larmour showed good composure as he slotted home the kick to level the scores at 25-25 and, with that being the last score of the game, both sides had to content themselves with the draw.
Bangor have shown that they can play expansive rugby and score plenty of points, but defensively there is certainly plenty to be improved upon. Hopefully the trip to Lurgan next weekend will provide an opportunity to correct some of these shortcomings ahead of some more challenging fixtures as the season reaches its midpoint.
