Bangor travel to another Senior club for a pre season game

It has been a long time since a Bangor 1st XV travelled to Stevenson Park to play their first squad, in fact the last time we travelled up to the County Tyrone side was to play a Dungannon 2nd XV in a cup game. It went in favour of the Stevenson Park side, so it was with some trepidation that the Preston / Morgan coached first XV made the journey to play a Dungannon 1's side, reeling from being relegated from 1B of the AIL last year & looking to build back to where they belong at the top echelons of Irish domestic rugby.

It goes to show how far this side has come in the 3 years since this cup defeat, that this fixture was even being mused over, and credit must go to Rupert and Jason for their coaching, but also to the dozen or so back room staff, 'the sports administrators' of the Upritchard massive, who have worked tirelessly to build a squad, a club and a feeling of cosy warmth back into the architecture of the clubhouse. ;-)

With an early start to get the 2's a first run out of the season before the 2.30pm kick off, this enabled the boys to get the 'coach journey' out of their legs and it was easy to see from the intensity of the warm up that Jamie Cleggs young charges were not here to simply make up the numbers.

With 4 x 20 minutes to contend with it was Bangor who started the brighter with a flurry of excursions into the Dungannon 22, but a few unforced errors relieved the pressure for the 'D men' time and again.

After 15 minutes the senior team began to get their game together and a coupe of decisive breaks by their three quarter line brought some fantastic scramble defense from Bangor, and some great clearing kicks from Harper at 9 and the enigmatic Russon at 10 brought play back into the Dungannon half. A mix up in the 'Gannon line out allowed big Phil Whyte, powered with the fury of a hungry honey badger against his old club, to make a decisive run off the back of the over shot line out, quickly recycled ball was flashed wide from Leary to Harper, who found a stray Rhino in the centre of the park, 40 out Andrew (the self proclaimed rhino) Jackson did what only he can do best, so with blatant disregard for the 5 v 2 overlap outside him, he straightened his running line expertly to glide in untouched beneath the posts. The pre score celebration was unnecessary and should not be seen in a game of rugby football, however the score was nice and the conversion from Russon was good taking the score to 7-0 to Bangor at the end of the first quarter.

The teams turned round for the 2nd 20 minute quarter and it was much of the same, with both teams trying things & a few unforced errors halting progress each time. It must be noted that the counter rucking from both sides and the hunger at the break down was first class. The influential Jimmy Bates at 9 for Dungannon was time and again trying to probe the Bangor defence, with quick taps and snipes around the side, but each time the Bangor defence stood strong, the organisational work in pre season was beginning to pay off.

There was much fancy footwork and great back play from both sides to admire from the lofty view that we spectators had for the game, but it was a couple of forward dominated exchanges that achieved the next 2 scores in the games, both for the young Bangor side. Firstly, continuous pressure up the left hand side of the pitch resulted in the Dungannon team being camped on their line, with a series of Bangor scrums being blown up, the referee deemed that the pressure applied by the young Bangor front row was enough to say a try would have been scored and he duly awarded a penalty try to Bangor, converted by Keith Russon. Much celebration was had as Bangor knew the dangers of the rather formidable Gannon front row coming into the fixture.

Further great play between Mike Aspley, Jamie Ball, Adam McCusker and captain Jamie Clegg brought about some more lengthy pressure in the Dungannon twenty two. After significant phase play it was deemed that the Dungannon pack had strayed offside at ruck time, and while captain Jamie Clegg looked to be signalling for the posts, Ryan Latimer took matters into his own hands, he tapped from 5 yards and bashed his way over. Fantastic score from the young dynamo! The score was converted by Keith Russon again, bringing it to 21-0 to the North Down Side. Dungannon reacted and got their gander up, with 2 quick scores bringing the score to 21-10 as we closed out the third quarter.

The final 20 minutes was played with Bangor playing towards the road once more and the tight exchanges between both forward packs continued, it was tit for tat up front and some great interplay from both sides, while not resulting in scores, entertained the ample crowd watching. It was left to young Mark Widdowson to leave his mark by crashing over for Bangor's fourth try, after again some great work between backs and forwards, ending what was a wonderful match. Final score 26-10 to Bangor.

It is true this was only a pre season friendly, and it is true that changes, in order to see a wider squads ability, can sometime hinder a performance, however it cannot be underestimated what a great win this was. Remember back to 5 years ago when Bangor didn't win a league game at all in a season, or to 4 years ago when we ended mid table in Q2, then fast forward through the years, winners of Q2, position 3rd in the competitive Q1 & qualification for the AIL junior cup, and up to present day where we play 2 established senior teams in pre season and convincingly beat both.

I don't say this to blow smoke up the proverbial, but to draw a line for everyone involved with the club, to show where we are now, and where we want to go, and why there is no reason why we cant achieve it. Lots of hard work ahead for sure, but lets build on this great result for the rest of the season.

The performances of 23 guys on Saturday justified all the hard work put in, by both players and staff alike. Jamie Cleggs total disregard for his own safety, leading his merry men with the gusto that we all now expect, was backed up by his entire squad who rose to the challenge and followed him into battle like the Spartans following Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae. It would be easy to list every player in the entire squad, we were collectively that good; and, while I may be biased to a degree, watching the game you wouldn't know who the senior team was, you could have been watching an enthralling Senior Cup semi final for all anyone knew!

A special mention must go to Bangor's 5 new signings this year - Adam McCusker, Gareth Irvine, Oran McIllmurray, Moss Rogers & Jamie Ball who all played magnificently and have added a depth and class to the first XV squad for the long season to come.

Thanks to Dungannon for the wonderful hospitality & BBQ and good luck this year.

Now comes the hard work this week and Saturday against Ballyclare in the first of the league campaign.