High School travelled to Randalstown in the first round of
the Gordon West Cup. The day was bright and sunny although rather cold for
the legion of spectators who had travelled specifically for this match.
Some had also came from Coleraine where earlier in the day they had
watched the School 1st XV lose against Coleraine Inst in the Schools Cup.
Hopes were high that the Former Pupils could repeat their success of
earlier in the season when they defeated Randalstown in the league.
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The match kicked off with High School playing into the low
winter sun. As expected Randalstown fielded a formidable pack who started
off in their usual aggressive style. The High School pack although lighter
overall gave as good as they got in the opening quarter of the game. High
School were not able though to get their backline moving well during this
period and it was Randalstown who scored the first try after 16 minutes
play.The try came from a ruck situation which was won by Randalstown. The
ball was moved to the left for the unconverted try in the corner.
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By this stage High School were not being helped by an
injury to Owen Sweeney who had damaged a shoulder earlier in the game but
was carrying on despite being in considerable discomfort. Further injury
occurred after twenty minutes when Greg Elliott damaged his knee and was
forced to leave thefield. It wasn't long before Owen was also forced off.
With Barry Taylor and Alistair Best joining the fray some positional
changes were necessary with Ian Elliott coming into the back row and Colin
James moving to centre allowing Barry to slot in at fullback.
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| High School were now engaged in a major Gladiatorial
contest for supremacy with the Randalstown pack and much like 'Spartacus'
and his famous band of warriors they fought tooth and nail to gain the
upper hand. The backs were defending well with good work by Phil McKeown
and Colin James in the centre, but at this stage they were living off
scraps and were unable to make the breaks seen in recent matches. The
first scoring opportunity came after 40 minutes of play when Pete Taylor
slotted over a penalty bringing the score to 5 v 3 in Randalstowns favour.
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| HALF TIME RANDALSTOWN 5 - BHSFP 3
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The second half started with Randalstown facing the sun and
High School regrouping following the disruption of injuries and positional
changes in the first half.
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Randalstown continued as they left off with their pack ,
clearly hungry for the ball , rucking and mauling aggressively. This was
rewarded after 50 minutes of play when from a line out on the High School
22 Randalstown moved the ball and crashed over for the try which was
converted making the score 12 - 3.
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| Although Randalstown were in the lead High School were
causing major problems and as the game moved towards the last 30 minutes
continued pressure began to tell on the Town team. The game slowly began
to turn High Schools way with the forwards winning cleaner ball from set
piece, particularly the line out, and the backs attacking the Randalstown
defence on a more regular basis than earlier. Missed penalties were
exchanged.
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After 70 minutes the continued High School pressure was
telling and it was clear that Randalstown were getting knocked out of
their rhythm. The try had to come and from a penalty on the Randalstown 22
the ball was moved left to Gareth Adams on the wing who went over in the
corner. Pete Taylor narrowly missed the conversion. This brought the score
to 12 - 8 with everything to play for. As the game moved towards the final
whistle High School were in the ascendancy and were throwing everything at
Randalstown who looked nervous and uneasy. The game at this stage could
have gone either way.
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| High School spurned a couple of penalty opportunities in
favour of going for the try but despite their valiant efforts the game
finished with Randalstown taking the honours. |
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This was a keenly contested game and High School can feel
justified in knowing that Randalstown were mightily relieved to hear the
final whistle.
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FINAL SCORE RANDALSTOWN 12 - 8 BHSFP
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Next week its Cookstown at home.
Labor Ipse Voluptas |
Belfast
High School Former Pupils RFC
