Revenge for Coleraine
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Coleraine Firsts rugby action against Donaghadee at Sandel Lodge Park on Saturday.
Coleraine 1st XV...................................22
Donaghadee 1st XV...............................18
COLERAINE 1st XV gained a measure of revenge for their Junior Cup Final defeat against Donaghadee, when they put in a spirited performance at Sandel Lodge, on Saturday, to defeat the same opponents. It was a closely contested match, played in a good spirit with little to chose between the teams and the home side probably just about deserved to take the honours, if only for showing a greater willingness to play an expansive game.
For a Coleraine selection, that was short, in the pack, of regulars Gault, Bogle, Dickey and Douglas there was little point in trying to slug it out with the bigger visiting forwards and so, from the first whistle,the Bannsiders attempted to move the ball at every opportunity.
The early omens were not good however with visiting winger Santos popping over a simple penalty to give his side a 6th minute lead and then Dee centre, Martindale wrong-footing the home defence with a subtle change to the angle of his run, before collecting a short pass and striding clear for a try, converted by Santos. 0-10.
The home players, to their credit, responded positively and although several passages of enterprising play ultimately produced nothing in the way of touchdowns, the Dee defence was forced into conceding penalties and the reliable boot of David Andrews struck twice to leave his side 4 points in arrears after 20 minutes play.
The Coleraine scrum, reinforced by the inclusion of the influential Jarlath Carey was providing a solid platform for half-backs Andrews and Paul Roxborough but the visitors enjoyed a lineout supremacy which proved to be crucial on several occasions in defusing promising home attacks.
Coleraine‚'s Jonathon Henderson and Brian Cochrane both looked dangerous when in possession and in the 30th minute, the former was only denied a try, by an ankle-tap, on the Dee 22, after a set piece play had put him into space. The excitement continued with the visitor's No. 9, Lockhart, feeding Martindale on the narrow side to launch a counter-attack and he was in turn only deprived of 5 points by Andy Neely who pulled off a superb cover tackle deep inside the home 22. Back came the ball on the Coleraine side and off we went again with Andrews' pass inviting Cochrane and Nigel Hall to show their paces and the first half of the action concluded with the visitors happy to see the ball go out of play. H.T. 6-10.
Niall Irwin replaced a bruised Cochrane at the start of the second period and after early pressure had yielded a brace of free kicks both of which Roxborough ran and came tantalisingly close to scoring from, Martindale infringed again, prior to departing for 10 minutes and Andrews added to Dee discomfort with a third successful penalty attempt. 9-10.
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