Ballynahinch RFC Mini Rugby Section v Ballymena RFC Minis ahead of Ulster Bank All-Ireland League Clash – Saturday 17 November 2012
P5 and P6 Mini Rugby players from Ballynahinch RFC travelled on Saturday to play against their Ballymena RFC counterparts prior to the Ulster Bank All-Ireland league clash between their respective Senior Clubs.
In an exciting and fast flowing fixture, the Ballynahinch P5 squad played two games against separate Ballymena P5 teams, running in a total of 17 tries against a single try from the junior Braidmen. Of particular note was Brian Mitchell with five tries, Benjamin Hart with a hat trick and a brace of tries for JoJo Naga, Ross Graham and Kai Shields. Daragh Hanlon, William Kirk, Cameron Patterson, Jedd Campbell, James Hughes and Joseph Dooley all had very commendable performances.
The P6 contest was a much harder fought battle with the Ballymena P6 squad being notably larger than their Hinch opposite numbers. This did not stop the Hinch P6s taking the game to the home side and taking an early lead. Ballymena came back hard to equalise and the game then became a hard fought rucking battle.
Hinch were next to score through an excellently worked forwards’ drive and it was in the last seconds of the game Ballymena P6s squeezed in a try in the corner to draw the match.
Results: Hinch P5’s 17 (Tries) v Ballymena P5’s 1 (Try). Hinch P6’s 2 (Tries) v Ballymena P6’s 2 (Tries)
The squad consisted of: James Douglas, Jason Glenn, Peter Heasley, Jay Kinnear, Arthur Johnson, Caleb Maguire, Ben Wilson, Stephen Campbell, Euan McCormick, Thomas Disney, Ewan Ferguson, Philip Crichton and Niall Cockfield.
Both the Ballynahinch P5 and P6 Squads performed exceptionally well and set the example that the Senior team was to subsequently follow later in the afternoon.
