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High School travelled to the “Seat Of Government”
for the first away fixture of the season against a newly promoted Civil
Service team. With Andy Morrison back from injury and a good win under the
belt from the previous week hopes of a second success were high.
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A strong band of travelling supporters turned up to
provide the visiting team with appropriate words of encouragement and
occasional good humoured advice for the referee !.
The game kicked off on the main pitch at Service
which was dry and sound underfoot. The initial attacks in the match came
from a fired up Service pack who took the game to High School. Strong
rucking and mauling by Service saw them gain the upper hand for the first
ten minutes with their good work being rewarded with a penalty after 8
minutes of play.
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With their noses in front Service continued to play a tight game but as
time moved on the High School pack gradually came to the fore matching
Service in all departments. Good work by the High School back row snuffled
out a number of Service attacks and as the game came to the end of the
first quarter High School had started to show signs of what was to come. A
number of good runs by the skilled backline came to nothing only because
of minor mistakes such as mishandling or overrunning the ball. The warning
signs were there for Service when Neil Hastings dropped the ball with the
line at his mercy. Neil would more than make up for this lapse later in
the match. |
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After nineteen minutes of play the High School pack
had camped inside the Service 22 and it seemed inevitable that points
would result. From a lineout on the 5 metre line the ball was cleanly
taken and the resultant catch and drive saw a focussed Stephen Morton
emerge with the ball and 5 points
to the good. The conversion was secured by Tim Murphy.
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click
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| Service at this stage were still very much in the
game and were securing good quality ball from the set pieces. In the ruck
situation they were strong also but often took advantage of the offside
laws without punishment. The High School eight were also getting good ball
but the backline were unable to open the gaps at this stage. However on 32
minutes Phil McKeown made a break from a defensive position and managed to
free the ball to David Mayne who cleared the opposing defence and ran in
for the try from his own 10 metre line. A typical David Mayne try
converted by Tim Murphy. |
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Having now taken a reasonable lead ( 3
- 14 ) High School
fell foul of a resurgent Service pack who drove towards the visitors line
to secure a converted try on 35 minutes of play.
Almost on the half time whistle and following good
work by the High School pack a penalty was awarded to the visitors. This
was converted by Tim Murphy bringing the score to 10 – 17 as the referee
called for the break.
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HALF TIME
CIVIL SERVICE 10
- 17
BHSFP
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The second half restart was taken by Civil Service and from then on the
flood gates not so much opened but were totally swept away. The High
School pack took complete control of the game winning superb lineout ball
through Paul Shaw and Greg Elliott. Anything on the deck was secured by
the back row and the front row of Taylor, McManus and Balmer took no
prisoners in the set piece winning at least two scrums against the head. |
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All of this allowed good quality ball to be
distributed to the High School backs who cut loose and in the 35 minutes
played in the second half ( game stopped 5 minutes early ) a further 10
tries were scored.
All of the scores came from excellent securing of the
ball by the pack , particularly from kick offs with superb handling ,
running and interchanging by the backline. This was an exhibition of
running rugby right out of the top drawer . A total of 4 tries were scored
by David Mayne (centre ) in this half , Neil Hastings (wing ) secured 2
tries and individual tries were scored by Chris Kitchen (full back ) ,
Phil McKeown (centre) , Jonny Mayne (scrum half ) and Stephen Morton (
flanker ). Tim Murphy (outhalf ) secured 8 conversions. In total 66 points
were scored in this half. |
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Having set a marker for the season last week this
display further reinforced the ability of this team and although there
will be much tougher games ahead confidence remains high for the rest of
the season.
As the final whistle blew those spectators watching
applauded loudly in recognition of the quality of play by BHSFP.
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FINAL SCORE
CIVIL SERVICE 10 -
83 BHSFPRFC
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