| This was another important encounter for High
School who wanted to maintain their position in the league table with a
convincing win. The day was bright although there were occasional spits of
rain from the blancmange like cumulus clouds which drifted by in the
biting north westerly wind.
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| High School started the match well against the
larger Cookstown pack. The lineouts were working particularly well with
Ali Best winning ball at the front. Equally the scrums were good with the
smaller High School unit having the edge and securing ball against the
head on a number of occasions.
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Provided the High School forwards secured a plentiful supply
of ball the back line were always going to cause problems for Cookstown
and after 12 minutes of play the first points came from a sweeping move
across the pitch culminating in a try in the corner for Ian Elliott. Pete
Taylor narrowly missed the conversion against the strong wind.
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The game at this point was fairly even with
Cookstown reasserting themselves upfront and managing to put points on the
board from a converted penalty award. Unfortunately a few minutes later
the Cookstown Hooker was forced to leave the field injured resulting in
the introduction of uncontested scrums for the rest of the match. This was
a setback for High School who were dominating this area and as tends to
happen in this situation the game generally suffered as a result.
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High School continued to pressurise Cookstown
who struggled to secure ball with only 14 men on the pitch. After 26
minutes play High School increased their lead with another well taken try
by Phil Mckeown who finished a back move from a quickly taken penalty 20
metres out from the Cookstown line.The try was unconverted and the game
moved to half time without further addition to the scoreline. High School
at this stage were well on top but were disappointed that in a first half
where they manufactured a number of chances the clinical finishing was not
there to secure a greater margin of points.
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HALF TIME BHSFP 10 - 3 COOKSTOWN
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The second half started with a bang , when after some
earlier niggling the two opposing giant second rows clashed giving the
referee no option but to dispatch both players to the touchlines for 10
minutes in the cooler. The game carried on with High School having the
wind advantage and making good use of possession through Jordon Frampton
who pumped balls into the corner at every opportunity.
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The next points ( 50 minutes ) came from such a
ball placed into the corner. The resultant lineout was won by High School
and a superbly executed move saw Davy Hanna charge around the front of the
line to dive over in the corner sweeping all opposition aside in the
process. The try was unconverted.
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By this stage the game had become niggly and
ill tempered with both sets of players complaining to the referee about
his decisions and not getting on with the business of playing rugby. High
School however were showing greater composure and continued to run in
scores with Ian Elliott securing his second try of the day on 55 minutes
following a good backline move. The try was converted bring the score to
22 v 3.
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High School were camped in the Cookstown 22 for the most of
this later period of the game and it was only through some good defending
by Cookstown that prevented further regular scores. The pressure told
again however when on 70 minutes Brian McKernon crashed over the line for
a well deserved try. The try was converted.
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Cookstown were not happy at this stage and as
the game was in danger of descending into further ill tempered exchanges
the referee brought matters to a close some 10 minutes early. This was an
unfortunate end to the match but as both teams left the pitch they
applauded each other and shook hands in the time honoured fashion.
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FINAL SCORE BHSFP 29 - 3 COOKSTOWN
Next week its Donegal at home.
Labor Ipse Voluptas |
Belfast
High School Former Pupils RFC
