In their first league game of the new season, Bangor welcomed newly promoted Randalstown to Upritchard Park. In sunny but blustery conditions, Bangor continued their confident style of play to comprehensively defeat the visitors by 44-10, having secured the bonus point by half time. What was more impressive, however, is that they achieved this with just 14 men, having lost Dougie Gordon to injury after just 3 minutes of play.

With a strong breeze blowing across the pitch, and offering little advantage to either team, Randalstown kicked off, no doubt determined to continue the excellent run of form last season that led to their promotion. From the outset, they decided to run at Bangor, but were stopped each time by a strong and effective defence. By contrast, Bangor decided to move the ball quickly through the backs – a plan that paid swift dividends when, after just 3 minutes, the ball came to Jason Morgan at outside centre and, although tackled on the way through, he managed to make it to the line. The difficult touchline kick was missed, but Bangor were on their way leading by 5-0. It was in support of this try that Dougie Gordon pulled a hamstring and could play no further part in the game.

Having re-organised their backline, Bangor took a few minutes to adapt to the forced change. The visitors obviously sensed an opportunity and when they slipped a tackle in the middle of the pitch, the ball came to the winger who set off for the line. It looked like a certain score, but Bangor’s new winger, Josh Devitt, quickly covered across and made the try-saving tackle. Randalstown continued to push forward, forcing Bangor to concede penalties or make hurried clearance kicks. However, while the visitors appeared to lack the finishing moves, Bangor were now coming to terms with their revised line-up. With 22 minutes gone, a quick ball off the top of a Bangor lineout eventually got to Devitt who cut through the Randalstown line to score just to the right of the posts – his first try for the club. This time the conversion was successful, bringing the score to 12-0.

Just 3 minutes later, Bangor had another lineout on Randalstown twenty two. This time they kept the ball in the forwards and started a drive for the line. The powerful Randalstown pack dug in well and managed to stop the drive just a few metres short. However, from the resulting ruck, the ball came to Morgan who shook off two tacklers to run in for his second try, this time under the posts. The simple conversion went over, and Bangor’s lead was extended to 19-0.

The only concern in Bangor’s game was the high penalty count against them, and they were fortunate that Randalstown's John O'Kane only managed to convert one over the next 10 minutes to get them off the mark by 19-3.

As the first half was drawing to a close, Bangor produced another well-worked try, again originating from a cleanly taken lineout. This time the ball came to scrum half Ricky Armstrong who cleverly chipped over the Randalstown defence. Once more the speedy Devitt nipped through to collect the ball and score in the corner. Although the conversion was missed, the score had moved on to 24-3, with a bonus point now secured for the fourth try.

The second half picked up where the first half had finished off. With just 3 minutes gone, some crisp interchanges in the backs gave Morgan just enough space to break through before passing to Devitt who ran around the last defender to claim his hat trick of tries. Bangor’s lead was now 29-3.

As if to return the compliment, and with just another 3 minutes gone, a similar move resulted in Devitt making the final pass to Morgan who ran in his third try. Again the tricky conversion in strong cross winds was missed but by now, with the score 34-3, it was looking like the game was beyond Randalstown. However, to the visitors’ credit, they still looked sharp and within a few minutes of Bangor’s scores, Rab Fleck took advantage of a missed tackle to run unhindered under the posts for their first try of the game. The straightforward conversion from O'Kane was successful, making the score 34-10.

This seemed to give the visitors a boost, and for the next 15 minutes they kept up the pressure on Bangor. It should be said that during this spell of play Bangor’s clearing kicks were excellent, making good use of the wind to be certain of making touch. By contrast, Randalstown did not enjoy the same success, and from a kick through towards the Bangor twenty two, the ball was easily collected by Devitt, who then saw a gap and sprinted three quarters of the pitch to score just to the left of the posts. This time Morgan’s conversion attempt rebounded off the upright, making the score now 39-10.

Much has been done in pre-season training to improve the players’ fitness, and this was evident as the game moved towards its close, and Bangor got their final score. This time it was full back Chris Morgan who produced a strong individual run against the now tiring Randalstown defence, to touch down for the home side’s eighth try of the afternoon and bring the final score to 44-10.

The sizeable crowd had been well entertained, and will no doubt be pleased and encouraged with the improvements made by the coaching staff and players over the summer months. Having produced a dazzling performance on his first appearance for the club, Josh Devitt was named the Reeds Rains Man of the Match. However, this was certainly a team performance with each player unselfishly supporting their team mates. To record such a convincing win, and with only 14 men, should instill much needed confidence as the league campaign continues next weekend away to Lisburn.

Bangor Scores: J Morgan (3T, 2C), J Devitt (4T), C Morgan (1T)