Although suffering from injuries to Curtis Stewart and Desi Fusco, and sickness for Rob Gamble and Andrew Jackson, Bangor were still able to field a strong side against Lisburn in this opening round of the Powerade Towns Cup. It had been some years since these sides had played each other, and it quickly became apparent how much Bangor had improved during that time.

On a soft pitch but in good playing conditions, Bangor kicked off and immediately went on the attack. With almost the first set of moves, Davy Charles got the ball in space and sprinted over in the right hand corner for the first try of the day. A few minutes later, and within minutes of each other, both Jason Morgan and Ross McCloskey cut through the centre to score close to the posts. Having kicked two out of three conversions, Mark Widdowson then got in on the try-scoring act when he benefitted from a possession turn-over in the centre of the pitch which set him free to sprint down the left hand wing and score in the corner, putting the home side ahead by 24-0 after just 13 minutes.

The forwards had, so far, been the supporting act to some clinical finishing by the backs. However, it was just another 4 minutes later before they got on the score-sheet by way of a Jamie Clegg break which split the Lisburn defence, allowing him a clear run before touching down under the posts.

Lisburn, though no doubt wondering what had hit them, were starting to play themselves back into the game through some good positional kicking. However, although finding touch close to Bangor’s twenty two and players moving up in preparation for an attack, a quickly taken line-out by Bangor saw the ball come to Jason Guthrie who produced another of his trademark jinking runs through the advancing Lisburn line to score an excellent individual try.

As the first half was drawing to a close, Lisburn once again attempted to clear their lines by kicking long to touch. However, the ball was kept in play by Widdowson who, having brought play back into Lisburn’s half, then passed to David Bradford who produced a strong run to drive through the last ditch tackles and score in the left hand corner. With the difficult conversion attempt going wide, the score had now moved on to 41-0.

With 40 minutes gone, Bangor were found guilty of clock-watching as they expected the referee to blow for half time, but instead found themselves having to hurriedly prepare for the Lisburn restart. A fumbled ball was turned over by Lisburn and the resulting maul was driven forward through the disorganised Bangor defence and over the line to break their duck and get 7 points on the board, just as the referee brought the first half to a close.

One can only imagine what coach Jason Morgan said to his players in the half time huddle but, whatever it was, it had the desired effect as Bangor simply put Lisburn’s score behind them and continued their run of tries.

Given the wet and muddy conditions, Bangor’s ball handling was excellent. This, combined with a growing sense of confidence, saw Lisburn chasing shadows in the centre before a pass to Charles provided another opportunity to stretch his legs and score under the posts. Charles was also instrumental in the next try, just 3 minutes later, when a clever kick ahead was chased down by McCloskey who just managed to get the ball down ahead of the Lisburn defender.

With just 10 minutes of the second half gone, and having extended their lead to 55-7, Bangor appeared to ease back somewhat, allowing Lisburn to get more into the game. However, it just needed a small mistake in a Lisburn scrum inside their own twenty two that gave Bangor their next scoring opportunity. Although heeled by the Lisburn front row, the ball squirted out before being controlled by the second row, giving the quick thinking Craig Burton just enough of an opportunity to pick up and drive over despite being tackled just short of the goal line.

This provided the ‘gee-up’ that Bangor needed and Lisburn’s problems kept coming after a stolen line-out ball came to Morgan who made the initial break before passing to Widdowson who ran in at the left hand corner for his second try of the day.
From the Lisburn restart, the ball came to Guthrie who slipped between the advancing Lisburn players before passing to Charles who completed his hat-trick of tries with a long run in to score. The favour was returned just 2 minutes later when Charles released Guthrie who ran through a demoralised Lisburn defence to score his second try. With about 6 minutes remaining, and the score now 77-7 in Bangor’s favour, the referee brought proceedings to a close.

From a Bangor perspective, it was good to see the backs producing the kind of free-flowing and clinical finishing that had been seen earlier in the season. This, combined with the solid work put in by the pack, will provide encouragement and confidence as the team look to prepare for a return to league action against Omagh at Upritchard Park next weekend.

Unfortunately, Bangor 2nds had a less successful afternoon at Ballynahinch in the second round of the Crawford Cup, finishing up on the losing end of a 25-6 scoreline. Bangor 3rds game against PSNI 2nds in the second round of the McCambley Cup was postponed due to the pitch being unplayable. Details of the rescheduled fixture will be posted on the club’s website, www.bangorrfc.co.uk, as soon as they are available.

Bangor team: O McIlmurry, P Whyte, J Leary, D Kelly, C Burton, J Clegg (c), D Bradford, D Caughey, J Guthrie, J Morgan, M Widdowson, R McCloskey, M Weir, D Charles, A McCusker

Subs: J Harrison, G Millar

Bangor scorers: D Charles (3T), J Morgan (1T), R McCloskey (2T), M Widdowson (2T, 5C), J Clegg (1T), J Guthrie (2T), D Bradford (1T), C Burton (1T), G Millar (1C)