BHSFP     V     LARNE

Larne were the visitors to Greenisland for this League match against Belfast High School FP .

The High School team showed some changes from the previous game with David Mayne and Phil Wright coming into the backline. In the forwards Andy Morrison moved into the second row with Alex Noble returning to the openside berth and Stuart Thompson slotting in at hooker.

The game got underway with High School taking the initiative against the stiff breeze. Initial forays into Larne territory soon put points on the board through the boot of Tim Murphy who converted a penalty award with five minutes gone. This was very quickly followed up with a good try from winger David Mayne. The ball was collected by David following a good clearance kick out of defence and with no one at home on the Larne side he had a clear run to the line. The conversion was missed.

At this stage High School looked to be cruising but Larne increased the pressure and were soon on the scoreboard through a penalty with the game 12 minutes old.

For the next fifteen minutes neither side was able to add to the score. In the tight situations High School held sway particularly in the scrums where the Larne front row were coming under considerable pressure.

With twenty eight minutes on the clock Larne conceded another penalty and were promptly marched back twice by the referee after disputing the decision. This put the kick well within the range of Tim Murphy who added the points with ease. Unfortunately as the half drew to a close High School lost the services of John Balmer who was yellow carded. This resulted in the introduction of uncontested scrums. 

HALF TIME      BHSFP  11      -     6  LARNE  

The second half got underway with High School having the benefit of the elements and once again started the half well adding three points from a penalty which was quickly followed up by another some two minutes later. Tim Murphy added the points and at this stage High School seemed to be well in control sitting with an eleven point advantage.

Larne then suffered the loss of a prop who fell foul to the referees yellow card as uncontested scrums continued for a further ten minutes.

With the second half only twelve minutes old High School were reduced to fourteen men when the influential Michael Lavery was forced from the field with a shoulder injury. Without the No 8 and uncontested scrums still in force High School lost their shape and allowed Larne to regroup and come back into the match.

As the game progressed into the last quarter High School were unfortunate not to add to the score when a great break by centre Chris Kitchen almost resulted in a try and a number of drop goal attempts by Tim Murphy only narrowly missed. Following that the game then swung in favour of Larne who ran in a good converted try with eight minutes left on the clock.

With High School in the lead by only four points it was crucial that they increased the gap between the sides. This was achieved again through a penalty neatly converted by Tim Murphy and it looked as though High School would close the game down until the final whistle. Larne however were now playing better than they had been throughout the match and with forty minutes of the half gone the visiting backline struck back scoring a well taken try. The added points from the conversion squared the match and with only a couple of minutes left High School were unable to snatch the victory before the final whistle. 

FINAL SCORE      BHSFP  20    -    20  LARNE  

Although it was a point in the bag High School will consider this as a game that got away but with plenty of positives coming from the match we look forward to the next game in two weeks time when its Carrick at home. 

Congratulations to Pete Taylor having successfully served his apprenticeship as touch judge for the day. 

Next week the Seconds are at home to Dromore and the Thirds travel across town to Malone.

Your support will be most welcome as always.

Labor Ipse Voluptas