Sullivan Upper Medallion A’s vs Bangor Grammar Medallion A’s: 19-15
On Wednesday 17 September 2013 the Sullivan Upper Medallion A and B team travelled to Bangor Grammar School to play Bangor Grammar. We had high hopes of a victory because we had beaten them last year, but we were well aware they would have improved and thought they could beat us.
We arrived at the school, got changed into our kit and each team went out to do their warm up. This report focuses on the A team game. After that we got in a huddle and talked to each other to get us psyched up and to focus on the game. We ended with our “squeeze” and we were ready for the game.
The game started off well for us. Bangor were applying early pressure but our defence was good and held strong. With the forwards putting in some good work we managed to regain the ball. The ball was then spread out by the backs to the wing and then some good running and continuity managed to get us into their 22 for the first time. We took full advantage of this. Good, quick rucking from the forwards allowed the ball to be spread out quickly to the backs by our scrum-half, Ruari Meharg, to Jonny McCrossan. He then passed to Stephen Brush, our number 8, who ran through a weak Bangor defensive line to score under the posts. Ruari scored the conversion to make it 7-0 to Sullivan.
Straight from the Bangor kick off we kept the pressure on, but the Bangor defence was strong. The game became quite open but we were still on top. Close to half time the ball was given to Stephen on the right wing. He was able to evade the Bangor players’ tackles to race down the wing and score under the posts again. Ruari, again, converted the kick. 14-0 to Sullivan at half-time.
Mr Armstrong gave us the half-time team talk and then we went out for the second half, fully aware of what was needed to win the game. However Bangor were up for this and started the second half, the same way they started the first. They were piling on the pressure and we gave away some silly penalties. Our defence was excellent at first and we held up a few of what would have been tries. This pressure, though, finally paid off for Bangor. From a ruck on our 5 metre line, their scrum half passed the ball out to their prop who managed to barge over. The conversion was scored- 14-7.
Straight from the kick off Bangor were right back at us. They kicked into touch into our 22 after yet another penalty was given away at a ruck. Their forwards kept hammering away at our defence which was weakening. Our ill-discipline was costing us and penalty after penalty was being awarded to Bangor, and they were getting closer and closer to scoring. They finally did score – a penalty was given, yet again, and the Bangor forwards barged through some weak defending by our forwards. The conversion was missed so it was 14-12 to us. From the kick off, after a few phases Bangor managed to get to the edge of our 22 where they were awarded a penalty. Our ill-discipline in the ruck had cost us dearly. Their kicker converted the kick and Bangor were in the lead- 15-14. There was under five minutes left. Jonny kicked it in to Bangor’s half and it nearly went out on the full but thankfully for us it did not. The forwards did some good work to regain possession after the Bangor lineout went astray. Good rucking from the forwards and good running from the backs allowed us to go forward. We were in the Bangor 22 and the ball went wide to the backs. It went all the way to Connor Scollan on the left wing. He used his blistering speed to run past the evading tackles of the Bangor players to score! Jonny missed the conversion so it was 19-15 with one minute left! After they kicked it back in to us, the forwards took the ball on, to run down the clock. They did so successfully. The ball was put into touch. We had won!
The whole team was very pleased with the win. We had performed well but we knew we could step it up a gear for our next match.
To make the afternoon even better, the B team had also won 27-12. So both teams were delighted with their results and we went back to Sullivan very happy!