| Conditions for this
match were poor overhead with a strong gusting wind and heavy showers.
High School faced the elements in the first half and knew this would be a
tough encounter against a strong Lurgan side.
|
| For the first period High School
were pinned in their own half and struggled to develop any decent
attacking moves. The scrum which was the strongest part of set piece play
in previous weeks was not functioning as well as it could and consequently
the ball was scrappy .Play was very much on the back foot during this half
but this however should not detract from a good defensive display which
saw High School restrict Lurgan to a single successful penalty in the
half. Fortunately for High School the Lurgan kicker was unsuccessful with four other attempts
all of which were within range.
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| For
their part Lurgan threw everything they had at the High School defence
which stood firm. Good work by the back row and centres ensured that a
number of attacking moves were thwarted . Going into the half time break
High School were relatively content that with the elements in their favour
they should come out on top. |
|
HALF
TIME
BHSFP 0
- 3 LURGAN
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|
| The
second half started much better for High School who took play deep into
Lurgan territory and for the first time in the game were awarded a penalty
within kicking distance . Unfortunately the opportunity was missed.
|
| The
problems in the scrum continued in this half but High School started to
move the ball better and threaten the Lurgan line on a number of
occasions. The first success came on 12 minutes of the second half when
good clean ball was secured from a ruck and quickly moved left by Jonny
Mayne to Chris Kitchen. Chris sent out a wide pass to the wing and with
some nice interplay the ball finished up in the hands of Jordan Frampton
who went over for a neat and well worked try. Peter Taylor converted.
|
 |
| At
this point it seemed that High School were starting to play as they had
done in recent weeks . However the strong Lurgan pack which by this time
was a man down due to injury continued to present a challenge to the High
School eight. This was quite a struggle up front and with little clean
ball being delivered to the backline the play remained scrappy for most of
this half. Matters did not improve when after 21minutes into the half
Jonny Territ was yellow carded for what appeared to be a relatively minor
misdemeanour |
|
Some
four minutes later Lurgan had managed to move play to within 5 metres of
the High School line but again the School defence stood firm. Strong
tackling by Taylor and Balmer managed to secure the put in to the scrum on
the 5 metre line giving High School the advantage . At this point a
critical decision was made by the referee who penalised High School for a
crooked feed to the scrum. The resultant short tap by Lurgan enabled their
pack to drive over for the touch down. The try was not converted but
Lurgan were now in the lead by one point with 15 minutes left on the
clock.
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|
High school restarted and
took play into the Lurgan half and soon secured a penalty out wide. The
kick at goal was missed but the High School eight, now fully restored
were at this stage starting to dominate the play,
particularly
in the loose. Continued pressure saw Lurgan struggle to make any further
headway.
|
 |
| The
game seemed to be secured by High School when with about 10 minutes to go
Gareth Adams charged down a drop out by Lurgan . The ball fell to hand and
Gareth took his opportunity well evading the defence and going in for the
try. The High School support were somewhat annoyed when the Referee
disallowed the effort on the basis that it was an attempted catch and not
a charge down. |
| With
two minutes left on the clock the referee awarded High School a penalty in
a difficult kicking position. With a clean strike Peter Taylor converted the
penalty putting High School back into the lead. |
| High
School saw the game out and were content to snatch a win having felt that
they had not played to their potential or as well as in previous weeks .
The scrummage machine will get some use in the coming week !!. |
FINAL
SCORE BHSFP
10 -
8 LURGAN
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Next Week its UUC
away.
Labor
Ipse Voluptas
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