BHSFP  RFC    V    CARRICKFERGUS  RFC

High School played hosts at Greenisland to local club Carrick for this qualifying league fixture. With Coach Davy Scott unavailable Peter Taylor came back into the front row for this match.The only other change in the team line up from the previous match was the inclusion of Darren Brown at prop following the late withdrawal of John Balmer.  

In reasonable conditions the game got underway with High School facing the blustery wind.  

The early exchanges saw Carrick pressurise the High School half and for the most part had the upper hand in the set piece. With 5 minutes on the clock Carrick were awarded the first of a number of penalties. The points were secured and were followed by further penalties on seventeen minutes and thirty minutes.  

In between the penalties Carrick had territorial advantage but were unable to breakthrough the resolute High School defence. Equally High School found it difficult to get any decent possession or field position and were under pressure in both scrum and lineout. The lineout in particular was not functioning as well as it normally does and was instrumental in a lack of possession in the first half of the game. 

The continued pressure from Carrick further told with thirty five minutes on the clock when following a period of sustained pressure the visiting scrumhalf was able to snipe in for the try. The try was converted putting Carrick in a very strong position as the half time whistle approached. 

HALF TIME      BHSFP 0    -    16   CARRICK  

After some tough talking at half time the home side turned around and with the wind at their backs began to play much better rugby. With the half four minutes old the ball was fielded well by full back Matthew McNutt who moved play down field The ball made its way to David Mayne following a good back movement and David finished the move with ease. The try was well converted by Tim Murphy.

Within two minutes High School got a penalty opportunity which was converted by Tim Murphy and suddenly when Carrick seemed to be cruising the position changed and the home team were now back in the hunt.

Continued pressure by High School saw Carrick struggle to regain the position they held previously in the match but with the game now moving into the final quarter the visitors struck back with a pushover try. The conversion was missed but the gap between the teams had now widened again.

Once again though High School retaliated after moving down field and pinning the Carrick side in their 22 for virtually the rest of the match. They were rewarded with a penalty by Tim Murphy and soon after Pete Taylor charged over for a well taken try, again converted by Tim Murphy. Further attempts were stopped short by Carrick and once again David Mayne was unlucky not to get over for a score following a blistering run. Fortunately for Carrick their defence was just good enough on this occasion.

High School were now within a score of matching Carrick but although they had field position and were forcing Carrick to concede ground the visitors managed to break out of defence against the run of play and secure a further try. This was unconverted but there was still time on the clock for High School to come back. Once again the home team took play to the Carrick line and after numerous attempts to cross eventually the Carrick defence broke down and Tim Murphy went over for the points. The try was converted and with that the referee brought the match to a close .

FINAL SCORE        BHSFP  24   -    29  CARICK

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