Hinch Minis V Ards RFC Minis
Sunday 22 March 2015 [caption id="attachment_59374" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
James Hughes breaks an Ards tackle supported by Benjamin Hart.[/caption]
A gloriously sunny afternoon saw Ballynahinch RFC Minis travel the relatively short distance to Hamilton Park to take on Ards RFC Minis across all age groups from U6 to U11’s.
As ever, the Ballymacarn faithful travelled in the usual big numbers, both in terms of the supporters and the Mini players.
With the age groups split across the Hamilton Park pitches, the visitors, once warmed up, got down to the task of maintaining a very positive try balance earned over our previous outings!
Of note was the performance of the 28 strong squad from Ballynahinch RFC U11s who took on a mixed Ards RFC U11s/U12s squad of 14 players.
The Ards squad were noticeably bigger in size, mainly through their U12s, but this didn’t seem to phase the Hinch players as they took the game straight to the home side. Hinch were clearly a better organised in their forwards and had a more fluid running backs setup and used this to their advantage as their better rucking and passing saw them dot down several times without reply.
There were some excellent performances during both games and Hinch maintained the upper hand throughout the afternoon’s rugby. Ards defended valiantly, but both Hinch squads can be rightly proud of their scoring record and can take this with them on their forthcoming tour to Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy.
Larne 2’s  14  Ballynahinch  3’s  47
Match Report – 21.03.15  David Steele reports from the Sports Centre, Glynn
Ballynahinch 3s had a great first half to the game against Larne 2s. On a beautiful day with the pitches overlooking the sea Hinch started brightly and got an early score when, from a scrum won against the head, the ball was fed wide to Ryan Smyth who beat his man and the covering defence to open the scoring.
This was the first of his first half hat trick, which were all well taken tries beating his opposition winger on multiple occasions. Ballynahinch built on this early lead with a second try quickly following when Jordan Graham was able to make some space on the Larne 22m line and was able to break through the Larne defence and score.
Ballynahinch, despite having a significant size disadvantage in the pack were more than a match for the Larne pack, and were able to score from a well worked driving maul, with David Steele managing to ground the ball at the back of the maul. Rory Martin also managed to score two in the first half, with the ball being feed wide for both, he then used his pace to beat the opposition defence to score in the corner.
Larne fought back in the game, and started to get their big forwards carrying trying to make inroads in the Hinch defence. These big runners were able to make some ground, and were able to break through the Hinch defence to score. Jonny Murdock also managed to touch down in the first half, after a good run, he broke through the Larne defence. Ballynahinch missing their regular kickers in Robbie Irvine and Jonny Coen, had a few people attempting to kick for posts, however, only one of the kicks were successful, taken by Jonny Murdock.
In the second half Ballynahinch fell foul of the referees whistle and were unable to build on their lead.   With Ballynahinch giving away penalties Larne enjoyed much more of the possession, and continued to run hard at Ballynahinch and were rewarded with a further try and a penalty. Ballynahinch continued to try and play rugby when they were able to put phases together, and Jason Barr was stopped at the line, and appeared to be unlucky as he was penalised for not releasing the ball as he was tackled at the Larne line.
Despite the lack of opportunities for Ballynahinch in the second half they were able to get the final score of the game, when the impressive Ryan Smyth was able to score his fourth try of the game after making yet another incisive break down his wing.
Final Score: Larne 2s 14 v Ballynahinch 3s 47 Scorers: Smyth (4), Graham, Steele, Murdock, Martin (2)
Team: A Glenn, Steele, Gordan, Foreman, Turner, Broome, Tougher, Dickson, M Glenn, Spence, Smyth, Graham, Murdock, Martin, McCormick; Subs: Milligan, Andrews, Barr.]]>
