The close scoreline belies the fact that UUC enjoyed the majority of possession and territory, and all three tries coming as the result of defensive mistakes. Despite the loss of a number of key players either through injury or unavailability, Bangor put up a good defence, but the failure of the normally dependable set-pieces and the large number of handling errors spoiled any attacking opportunities. In the end, the better playing decisions by UUC resulted in their 15 points to 7 victory, depriving Bangor of a valuable losing bonus point.

With the wind blowing strongly across the pitch, but also favouring the cricket end, UUC kicked off with this advantage. Within a few minutes, Bangor were penalised for a scrum infringement. UUC elected to kick for goal, but were unsuccessful. From the drop-out, UUC regained possession and resumed their attack, but this time Bangor were awarded a penalty which allowed them to clear their lines back towards the middle of the pitch. The Bangor lineout was safely collected, but the ball could not be fed cleanly to the back line. In the ensuing tackles, UUC won the ball back and used their rolling maul to drive forward. The ball came back to the UUC out half who kicked over the Bangor defence to give their winger a chance to show his speed. The difference in pace was obvious as they were able to gather the ball, avoid the desperate Bangor tackles and score in the left hand corner. With the difficult kick successfully converted, UUC were now 0-7 ahead with just 9 minutes on the clock.

To Bangor’s credit, they came right back at UUC and within minutes were within a few metres of the UUC line. This attack, however, was repulsed and the danger was cleared. UUC now moved back into Bangor’s half, but conceded another penalty. With no opportunity to kick for goal, Keith Rossan went for a long kick to touch. As the ball was about to go into touch, the UUC winger leapt up and palmed it back into play. Unfortunately for UUC, the nearest approaching player was Bangor’s David Miller who scooped up the ball and set off for the UUC line. Although caught by the chasing defence, he managed to slip the tackle and go over for a try just to the left of the posts. Rossan’s conversion was good, bringing the scores level at 7 a-piece.

The remaining 25 minutes of the first half were played mostly in the Bangor half, with UUC now enjoying most of the possession and setting up several attacking opportunities. Bangor stuck to their task, and were no doubt looking forward to turning around at half time on level terms, but now with the wind advantage. However, on the last play of the first half a speculative kick from UUC up the right hand touch-line, bounced favourably towards the Bangor line. Despite the efforts of two Bangor backs to get to the ball and touch it down for a 22 metre drop-out, they both missed and allowed the chasing UUC player to gratefully accept the try. With the conversion missed , the referee blew for half time with UUC now leading by 12 points to Bangor’s 7.

The Bangor supporters now eagerly anticipated their team doing what UUC had done in the first half – using the wind to keep their opponents pinned down in their own twenty two. However, they seemed determined to play their rugby in the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately the repeated ball handling errors simply gave possession back to UUC, who then pushed Bangor back each time. This continued for over half an hour, with neither side being able to add to their score. UUC must have sensed that although dominating the game play, Bangor were only one try away from levelling or even winning the game. It was therefore shortly afterwards, when they were next within sight of the Bangor line, that they snatched a drop goal, hence stretching their lead to 8 points.

Bangor continued to try and run the ball at UUC, as in the rest of the game, this was proving unfruitful. However, their pressure on UUC at last produced a penalty in a kickable position – while this would not win the game, it would at least provide Bangor with a valuable losing bonus point, and something to show for their labours. The usually reliable Rossan overcompensated for the wind, and the kick was missed. With just 2 minutes remaining, UUC kept it simple – keeping possession and running down the clock. The referee’s whistle prompted jubilation for UUC as their 7-15 win kept their unbeaten record intact, and inflicted a second consecutive defeat for Bangor.

Bangor must now lick their wounds, return to the training ground and try to work out how to correct the various mistakes that were apparent against UUC. The normally secure scrums and lineouts were missing, and ball handling and retention was way below par. The next scheduled game in two week’s time against Grosvenor, and it is hoped that during this time the players can rediscover the style and quality that saw them record impressive victories against other strong sides earlier in the season.

Bangor team : S Irvine, A Jackson, J Harrison, T Brown , R Corbett, I McBurney, M Coey, R McCausland (C), R Armstrong, K Crossan, D Miller, M Aspley, J Morgan, J Foulkes, C Morgan

Bangor Scores: D Miller (1T) K Rossan (1C)

Reeds Rains Man of the Match: Chris Morgan