Bangor’s poor showing against Grosvenor earlier in the season was repeated on Saturday at Belmont. The afternoon got off to a bad start when centre Chris Morris pulled a hamstring during the warm-up, forcing a complete back line re-shuffle. Bangor enjoyed the majority of possession in the first half but, although closely poised at half time, Grosvenor racked up 4 further tries in the second half without a Bangor reply, eventually winning by 43-10.

The loss of Chris Morris was a double blow. Not only did Bangor miss his ability to break the opponent’s line, but the cohesion of the entire back line was disrupted. Despite this, Bangor started brightly, enjoying most of the possession and pushing deep into Grosvenor’s territory. With just 7 minutes gone, Bangor were awarded a penalty for a dangerous tackle, but Keith Rossan’s kick went wide. Just a few minutes later Bangor were back in the Grosvenor twenty two. However, from a missed Bangor pass, the ball was picked up by the Grosvenor centre who set off on a counter attack. Despite the desperate, back-pedalling Bangor defence Grosvenor scored under the posts. The simple conversion was added giving the home side a 7-0 lead – totally against the run of play.

Bangor regrouped and once more made inroads into Grosvenor territory. Just 4 minutes had been added when a clever and well-executed interplay between Jason Morgan and Davy Charles gave Morgan the opportunity to score in the left hand corner. A great kick by Rossan added the extras, and the scores were now level.

Both sides now realised that there was a game on. Grosvenor were next to score through a penalty, but this was then cancelled out by Bangor shortly afterwards. The best move of the half came on the half hour mark. Grosvenor’s out-half showed great determination and movement to avoid several poor Bangor tackles to eventually touch down under the posts. The conversion made the score 17-10 and, although both sides had further chances, this is how the first half ended.

The second half saw Bangor come out the blocks quickly, and once more endeavoured to keep play within the Grosvenor twenty two. In the first few minutes of the half, just like in the first half, Bangor were awarded a penalty, but the kick hit the upright and bounced back into Grosvenor’s hands. The Bangor pack had been under pressure during the first half, and Grosvenor now sought to exploit their advantage. From several pick and drives, the ball was eventually passed out to the Grosvenor winger who ran up the right hand touchline to score in the corner. Although the conversion was missed, the Grosvenor lead had increased to 22-10 – again, at this point, slightly against the run of play. This was a real blow to Bangor who had worked hard to get into attacking positions. To compound their difficulties, Scott Irvine had to leave the pitch for treatment to an injured hand. Within minutes of this, Grosvenor got their bonus point try, extending their lead to 29-10. Although Irvine was able to rejoin the game, the Bangor heads were beginning to drop. Another injury, this time to James McMullan, and a further two Grosvenor tries brought the game to a close, with the final score 43-10.

Although there were periods of good build-up and attack, Bangor appeared to have regressed to their mid-season form where poor ball-handling and questionable tactics were common. For Grosvenor’s part, they are to be commended for turning their poor start to the season into a strong finishing surge. It doesn’t help to be reminded that their turning point towards winning success was in their earlier game against Bangor at Upritchard Park.

With well-spaced gaps between Bangor’s final league games at home to Lisburn and away to Letterkenny, and with hopefully a fully fit squad of players from which to choose from, the coaches and spectators will be expecting better performances with which to finish their season.

Bangor team: P Nicol, A Jackson, S Irvine, F Black, R Corbett, M Coey, R McCausland, D McNally, M Baillie, J Morgan, D Charles, M Aspley, C Morgan, J McMullan, K Rossan

Bangor scores: J Morgan (1T), K Rossan (1C, 1P)