Ulster Carpets North U18 3rd December 2016

Scorers: Conway(1*Try), McGlone(2*Try), Kearns(2*Try, 1*Pen, 2*Conv)

After a long break, Rainey OB U18s resumed their league campaign with a win over county rivals City of Derry.  Leading comfortably at half-time, they had effectively wrapped up the game by the final quarter, but were forced to absorb a lot of Derry pressure before eventually running out 32-10 winners.

In great conditions for open rugby, Derry kicked off and Rainey immediately showed how rusty they were by fumbling the catch due to miscommunication.  From the resulting scrum, Derry pressed hard gaining a 5m lineout and spent multiple phases pounding the Rainey line.  Stout Rainey defence kept them out and eventually forced an error, from which they were able to clear their lines.  A great hit from McIntosh led to a turnover and the ball was spun wide to Hall who made great ground down the left wing before being tackled into touch.

A lineout close to the Derry line almost resulted in a try for McCann when he gathered a loose ball and drove over, only to lose the ball forward in the grounding.  All the pressure was coming from Rainey now, but they just couldn’t get scores on the board, with a mixture of handling errors letting them down. 

But just into the second quarter, the dam finally broke.  From a lineout won by Conway, the ball was fed to Smyth who burst through the Derry line, juggling the ball as he went.  The ball was quickly recycled and when out-half O’Neill tied in two defenders, centre Kearns had a straightforward touchdown. 

A second was to follow straight from the restart, when a well-placed kick from Kearns put the Derry full-back under pressure.  He was quickly floored by Conway, the ball spun back over the line and the supporting Kearns had his second simple touchdown of the day.

Derry replied with a penalty, before Full-back Lynch almost added another try when he beat a Derry defender to the touchdown following a kick through.  However, the referee was unsighted and awarded Rainey a 5m scrum, from which No8 Conway stormed over for Rainey’s third try.  Kearns converted and added a penalty soon after.

Another try almost came from a great solo effort from O’Neill when he gathered a kick just outside his 22’.  He set off up the middle, drawing the defenders toward him, before intelligently chipping into space on the left wing.  He beat most of the Derrymen to the ball just shy of the tryline but was tackled as he picked it up and lost it forward.

Rainey started the second half with a further try, when, following drives from Molloy and Conway, Lawrence tidied at the base of a ruck and slipped a pass to O’Neill.  The ball went through the hands of props McIntosh and Smyth, before reaching their front row colleague McGlone who cut inside a defender to score. Kearns converted.  A few minutes later, a break down the right wing from Kearns and Conway took play back into the Derry 22’ and following carries from McGlone, Smyth, Molloy and a forward roll pickup from Lawrence, McGlone crossed the line for his second try.

At this point Rainey relaxed and allowed Derry to come back into the game.  They eventually got a well-deserved try when they carved though the centre of the Rainey defence to score between the posts.  They almost got another a few minutes later, but were denied by a great covering tackle from Lynch.

Rainey eventually closed out the game in their opponents 22’ to finish the first half of the league unbeaten.  This was a competent performance, but the team know they need to improve their handling and ball-retention in the next two matches before Christmas if they are to retain their 100% record.  Next match Sat 10th December at home to Ballymena.