A Timely Full Bonus Point Win

Ballynahinch’s famous hospitality off the pitch, for once extended to the on-field reception where we were treated to a feast of rugby, and a full bonus point win away from home. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, keeping our play-off hopes alive in the process. Genial Ballynahinch president, Trevor Patterson, wondered, “How did you put 46 points on Clontarf in Castle Avenue and still not get the win?” But in poking that still raw wound, he also tapped into the raging hunger of this Lansdowne team and their faithful supporters not to go home empty handed this time.  And we didn't.

As well as the delicious, welcoming beef, the normally hurricane swept Ballymacarn hillside was hospitably calm and dry, allowing us to announce our intentions with a blistering opening period of high tempo passing play. We stunned the hosts with phase after phase of powerful running tight and then wide, probing and testing their defences. They repelled our advances manfully and even managed an exit or two from their own line, but our supremacy in the loose also extended to our set pieces, so from a scrum in the centre of the pitch on their 22, prop Jerry Cahir did Trojan work to win a penalty scrum. Outhalf Stephen Madigan, backing our lineout as well as our scrum, kicked into the corner for a 10 metre throw. And he was right, Jack Treanor’s sweet dart found Ruari Clarke and in the perfect maul that followed, openside flanker Liam Molony went over in the corner. 0- 5 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.

Our edge continued for the next period but, it has to be said, it’s a pity we didn’t manage to convert our dominance into points at this stage. Loose kicks, dropped balls and a lowering of the tempo, allowed ‘Hinch to gather their wits and get back into the game. First, they shifted to the aerial game and worked their way back into our half with well chased high balls. Then our old demon, discipline, started to nip at our heels. First the backs are offside, a soft 10 metres, then we collapse a maul, and we’re on our own 10 metre line again defending a lineout. We concede yet another penalty and Hinch play the advantage, chipping a ball into the corner where their excellent full back, Conor Rankin, goes over for a try. The good news is that the try probably saved us a yellow card, the bad news is that Rankin converted his own try from the touchline putting them in the lead. 7 – 5 against the run of play, perhaps.

We recover some of our mojo in the period that followed, but Hinch are now also wide awake and the next ten minutes are a great tussle. Each of us is playing with ambition and enterprise, but each makes errors at the last ditch.Their determination prevails though as we make a terrible clearance from inside our 22 and seem paralysed for a moment as their full back Rankin meets little resistance to his counter attack, offloading to scrum half Chris Gibson for a soft try. 14 - 5, now sadly with the run of play.

Our woes seem to be deepening as they start to get the measure of our lineouts, disrupting our mauls with abandon, and we continue to fumble balls in the loose. But cometh the hour, cometh the man, when we recover our open running attack, breaks start to come from our 9, Jack Matthews with strong angles from Cillian Redmond and Peter Sullivan, but it’s barnstorming second row Juan Beukes that makes the most telling break, crashing through their defence for an excellent try.  

Diverse reaction on the sidelines soon turned to shared concern for their winger Ronan Patterson, son of 'Hinch President Trevor, who sustained a serious looking injury in the last move. We all wish him the very best for a full and speedy recovery.
Stephen's long delayed conversion attempt shaves the upright, but we’re back in the game at 14 - 10. Ballynahinch get a yellow on the stroke of half time and whatever wind is there will soon be at our backs, so things are looking up for the second half.

The rest did everyone good, it seems, as the second half was a doozie. We attack their line from all angles and for a while it seems our errors are a thing of the past. We win a penalty and the lineout maul that follows is also more secure than before. The ball comes out with mobile hooker Treanor, interchanging well with centre Andy Marks, but it’s the hardest working second row in Ireland (at that moment anyway) Juan Beukes who takes the last pass from Andy and crashes over the line. As Mrs. Doyle would have said to celebrate his second try, “Go Juan, Go Juan” (see what I did there?). 14 - 17

But the hosts were far from finished. Their pack showed no signs of flagging and their own midfields, Mark Best and George Pringle, were robust in defence and mischievous in attack. Before long they were back in our half and testing our normally excellent defence, up to and eventually beyond its limit, when they attacked from a 10 metre lineout maul and their captain and number 8, Bradley Luney scored under the posts. 21 - 17 as we enter the last quarter.

We’re back in their half now and rolling through the moves, but our passing has slowed a little and there’s not much penetration. It seems we have run out of attacking ideas, when from a maul in the middle of the pitch, Jack Matthews dummies left to Stephen Madigan but takes it himself to the right. Andy Marks is on his outside but there are no obvious gaps. Still, Jack trusts Andy with a pass and right enough, he takes the ball, drops his shoulder and steps in off his right foot leaving his marker dead, then another step inside to bamboozle the covering defence and he scorches over the line for a match-winning, bonus-point-getting and probably his best-of-the-season try. And, though I may be biased, that's saying something. Mads slots another over and it’s 21- 24.

There was still another 20 minutes played (nearly 10 of that injury time) and both teams left absolutely nothing on the pitch. For most of it, we managed to pin ‘Hinch inside their half, but these proud Ulster men countered over and over again. Thankfully for us, their last heroic push ended in a penalty right on our line and when the whistle finally blew players from both sides collapsed to their knees exhausted.

What a game. A richly deserved five points, and as one seasoned observer charitably put it, “great that there's so much room for improvement!”

BALLYNAHINCH 21 LANSDOWNE 24, Ballymacarn Park
Scorers: Ballynahinch: Tries: Conor Rankin, Bradley Luney, Kyle Gill; Cons: Conor Rankin 3
Lansdowne: Tries: Liam Molony, Juan Beukes 2, Andy Marks; Cons: Stephen Madigan 2
HT: Ballynahinch 14 Lansdowne 10

BALLYNAHINCH: Conor Rankin; Ronan Patterson, George Pringle, Mark Best, Ethan Graham; Paul Kerr, Chris Gibson; Matthew Burke, Kelvin Hamilton, John Dickson, Will Hopes, Ronan McCusker, Declan Horrox, Zack McCall, Bradley Luney (capt).
Replacements: Will Alexander, Harry McCormick, Kyle Gill, Peter Heasley, Ruairi Meharg, Matthew Booth.
LANSDOWNE: Cillian Redmond; Peter Sullivan, Andy Marks, Rory Parata, Hugo McLaughlin; Stephen Madigan, Jack Matthews; Jerry Cahir, Jack Treanor, Greg McGrath, Ruairi Clarke, Juan Beukes, Jack Cooke (capt), Liam Molony, Hardus van Eeden.
Replacements: Temi Lasisi, Chris Poole, Louis McGauran, Barry Fitzpatrick, Oisin Devitt, Sean Galvin.

Referee: Robbie Jenkinson

Match Report - Brian Whelan