With the game between Clonmel (Munster) and Enniscorthy (Leinster) postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, all eyes turned to Upritchard Park for the first of the round robin series of play-offs to determine who would gain promotion to the All Ireland League next season. Having lost in the Junior Cup Final against Ballina the weekend before, Westport were no doubt hoping for a better result against Bangor. Bangor, on the other hand, were still on a high from having won the Towns Cup on Easter Monday and with it the domestic treble. This was Westport’s first visit to Upritchard Park, and understandably there was the element of the unknown about what kind of opposition they would put up. However, with a strong team selection and relatively good playing conditions (especially after the bad weather the day before), Bangor’s confidence would be high.

Bangor kicked off with what little breeze there was behind them, and soon started to take control. Within 8 minutes they were awarded a penalty, but Mark Widdowson’s kick was wide of the mark and Westport had been let off. However, from the twenty two drop-out, Bangor picked up where they had left off and kept play inside Westport’s half. With each attack, Bangor grew more confident while the visitors looked to be still shaking off the effects of their travels. Eventually, from a Bangor scrum in the centre of the pitch, Jason Guthrie set off on a break. He was ably supported by Mike Ferguson and Phil Whyte who took play deep inside Westport’s twenty two. Although stopped just short of the goal line, Bangor kept the ball close before Ferguson got the ball back and crashed over from close distance to get the scoreboard started. Widdowson added the conversion to make the score 7-0 after 14 minutes of play.

Guthrie was the architect of Bangor’s next try when he took a quick tap penalty and set off once again through the centre. Seeing space behind the Westport back line, he put a grubber kick through towards the goal area. Although it looked like the Westport full back would get back in time, Davy Charles came through at speed and made the decisive dive, grabbing the ball as he went through to score. Widdowson’s conversion attempt was missed, but with 17 minutes gone Bangor had now moved on to 12-0.

Bangor continued to enjoy the better passages of play, but found that Westport were now starting to ask questions of the home defence. With the referee playing advantage to Westport for a penalty infringement, they played a cross field kick to pick out their left hand winger. The weight and direction were good, but the danger had been picked up by Rob Gamble, whose covering tackle prevented what looked like a certain try. Bangor followed up on this with some good counter-rucking which saw them regain possession and clear their lines. By contrast, when Bangor were awarded a penalty shortly afterwards, it was that man Guthrie who caught an unprepared Westport defence off guard, and sprinted clear before diving over in the right hand corner for an opportunist try. The difficult conversion was missed, making the score now 17-0.

As the end of the first half approached, there were a number of Westport attacks that would have reminded Bangor that the danger was far from over. However, despite a strong scrum, Westport suffered from some poor lineouts and handling mistakes and, although showing more promise were unable to get on the scoreboard by half time.

As the sides turned around for the second half, the rain was becoming more persistent causing the already soft surface to cut up in some areas, making running rugby more difficult. Wisely, therefore, Bangor opted to use good positional kicking from Gareth Millar at out-half and Jason Morgan at centre to make good territorial gains. This was well demonstrated within 10 minutes of the restart, when a Millar penalty gave Bangor a lineout on Westport’s 5 metre line. With the ball safely taken by Darren Kelly, the Bangor pack started to drive towards the Westport line. However, although to many it looked like the ball had been touched down, the referee’s view was that it had been held up and a 5 metre scrum was the result. This simply served to delay the inevitable when Bangor got the ball back to Mike Weir who forced his way over to score the all-important bonus point try close to Westport’s posts. The straightforward kick was successful and now Bangor were 24-0 ahead and, with 30 minutes remaining, it looked like there would be more scores to come.

Unfortunately, from this point the game became a start-stop affair with the referee playing the lead role. Some niggles in loose play came to a head after 20 minutes when an incident in the heart of a ruck led to a player from each side having 10 minutes in the sin bin to cool off. Westport seemed to handle the loss of their player better than Bangor and were now on the front foot, but the solid Bangor defence held firm and repelled each attack. However, Bangor’s job became even more difficult when Mike Aspley was yellow-cared for another ruck infringement. For the next 10 minutes Bangor concentrated solely on defence, keeping the now determined Westport attack at bay. As Aspley returned, with just a couple of minutes of play remaining, it was beginning to look like Bangor would have to be content with their 24 points while closing out their opponents. However, Westport were to have the last word when sustained pressure close to Bangor’s line forced a rare mistake in the home defence, allowing them to go over for a consolation try and bring the final score to 24-7.

Given the positive and measured performance of the first half, the second half was something of a disappointment. However, given the deterioration in playing conditions, the important matter of securing the bonus point win was achieved and Bangor can now prepare for the next hurdle which is an away fixture against Leinster and All Ireland Junior Cup champions, Enniscorthy. Our last encounter in the semi-final of the All Ireland Junior Cup was an unhappy one which the players will now want to turn around. Certainly, the conditions look more promising this time. Bangor will have a full week to prepare – a luxury when viewed against the recent hectic run of fixtures – while their opposition face the prospect of having to play their postponed game during the coming week. Player availability will also be much improved – several key players were not involved in the last game at Enniscorthy. A win next Saturday would move Bangor another step closer to automatic promotion. The ‘blue and gold army’ of supporters need to mobilise and be there for the players.

Bangor team: P Whyte, P Dornan, J Leary, M Ferguson, D Kelly, C Burton, D Bradford, J Clegg (c), J Guthrie, G Millar, D Charles, M Weir, J Morgan, D Fusco, M Widdowson

Subs: O McIlmurray, D Caughey, R Gamble, M Aspley

Bangor scorers: M Ferguson (1T), D Charles (1T), J Guthrie (1T), M Weir (1T), M Widdowson (2C)