On a heavy pitch, and with just a slight breeze against them, Hinch got the game underway. If Bangor were expecting a difficult game against a strong Hinch 2nds, they added to their task just 2 minutes in. A speculative kick by Hinch into Bangor’s twenty two was safely collected by full-back Chris Morgan. Taking just a second longer to make his clearance kick than perhaps he should have, the ball was charged down, and the chasing Hinch men easily gathered and scored in the right hand corner.

Minutes later, another mistake as the ball was being moved by the Bangor backs, led to a kick through by Hinch. Fortunately this chase was won by Chris Morris who saved what looked like a good try-scoring opportunity for Hinch. With the ball safely cleared back to the Hinch half, Bangor drew breath and started to re-group.

For much of the next 20 minutes, it was Bangor who were playing most of the rugby, moving the ball well and patiently working the phases to gain territory and mount attacks. Despite a missed penalty, Bangor stuck to the task and were soon within 10 metres of the Hinch line. With plenty of men forward, Jason Morgan attempted one of his usually effective chips over the Hinch defence. However, the ball went straight to the hands of one of the Hinch centres who ran the length of the pitch to score close to the posts. With the successful conversion, the score was now 12-0. Although Hinch had produced some good play of their own in this period, it would be fair to say that while they took good advantage of their two unexpected opportunities, this scoreline was not an accurate reflection of the play so far.

The Bangor players must have been understandably dejected by these two Hinch scores. Hinch, on the other hand, now started to play with confidence. Just 4 minutes later, having won the ball from a ruck, they switched their backs quickly from the right to pack the left hand side. The Bangor players weren’t quick enough to react to the change, and found themselves outnumbered, allowing the Hinch winger time and space to score a well taken try under the posts. With the conversion, Hinch now led by 19-0.

Bangor continued to play steadily, once again moving forwards, albeit slowly, towards the Hinch twenty two. With just a few minutes of the first half remaining, Bangor were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts. Spurning the possible 3 points from the kick, Matt Baillie took a quick tap and passed the ball to Jason Morgan who in turn passed to Keith Rossan. With the Hinch defence still trying to get organised, Rossan cut through to score to the right of the posts. Although the conversion was missed, Bangor were now off the mark, and would have renewed confidence for the second half, trailing by 19-5.

Throughout the first half, the forwards had performed well – particularly in the scrums, where they consistently won their own ball and managed to disrupt a few of their opponents. This was again the case when, just 5 minutes into the second half, Bangor took another scrum against the head. The ball was quickly fed to Jason Morgan who slipped the Hinch tacklers to score just to the left of the posts. The conversion was missed, but Bangor were certainly back in the game at 19-10.

It was a case of ‘nip and tuck’ by both sides over the next 10 minutes. Hinch had moved up into Bangor twenty two once more, but in doing so had knocked the ball on. With the referee playing advantage, Chris Morris kicked the ball through to give Bangor something to chase. However, it bobbled up into the hands of the Hinch winger who then started to run it back towards Bangor. With most people looking to the referee to bring play back, with Bangor having gained no advantage from the original infringement, the Hinch backs saw their opportunity and produced a slick back line move to score in the left hand corner. The kick was missed, but their 14 point lead was restored.

However, the game see-sawed back towards Bangor just 3 minutes later when, from a Bangor line-out on the Hinch twenty two, the ball came to Keith Rossan who once again cut through the defence to score under the posts. With the successful conversion, the score was now 24-17.

Unfortunately, Bangor were now starting to rack up the penalties, one of which was kicked by Hinch to extend their lead to 27-17. Although Bangor had other opportunities to mount an attack, in many cases they suffered knock-ons, either through mishandling or losing the ball in a tackle. Hinch, on the other hand, remained composed through their backs and, with just a few minutes left on the clock , they ran in another try which was also converted to bring the final score to 34-17.

With yet more changes to the starting fifteen, Bangor still managed to produce an improved performance from that seen in recent weeks. Training ground moves were executed well, forwards rucked with more conviction, and players were once more offering themselves in support. However, there is still some work to be done to reduce the unforced error count. Although no doubt disappointed by today’s result, the players should be encouraged by their determination and resilience, and can now look forward with confidence to next week’s league encounter with Larne at Upritchard Park.

Bangor team : H Flanagan, A Jackson, S Irvine, R Meeke (T Brown), F Black, I McBurney (S Magoon), M Coey, P Corbett ,M Baillie, J Morgan (C), J McMullan, K Rossan, C Morris, M Aspley, C Morgan

Bangor Scores: K Rossan (2T, 1C), J Morgan (1T)