Bangor battle back for Bruff bonus

Given the dreadful weather conditions the day before, it’s a credit to the facilities team that the pitch was in such good condition. In fact, the match day conditions were almost perfect, with little wind and only a light shower in the first quarter of the game. Bangor were able to field another strong side, hoping to rediscover the spark that had given them such a good start in the league. Bruff, sitting one place above Bangor before the game, had only lost once so far, and were intent on keeping in close contact with the league leaders just above them.

Before the match, there was a brief act of remembrance at the WW1 plaque in the clubhouse lobby. Club President Davy Morrow, assisted by former Presidents Jim Lacey and Tony Heffernan, laid a wreath to commemorate all those who fell in the two world wars, but especially those from Bangor RFC who lost their lives during the Great War. Thanks to all who attended and took part.

With the focus now returned to rugby, Bruff got proceedings underway, kicking off towards the cricket end. Determined work by the visitors saw them regain possession quickly, and immediately push Bangor back into their own twenty two. It didn’t take long before they were able to convert this pressure into points, when winger Cian Clifford ran through to score the opening try in the right hand corner. A good kick by Kevin McManus added the conversion, making the score 0-7 after 4 minutes of play. Bangor had a good opportunity to claw back some points when they were awarded a penalty. However, Nathan Graham’s kick drifted wide of the posts and the chance was gone.

Bruff’s kicking to touch was good throughout the game, with penalties in particular gaining them valuable territory and attacking platforms. With their lineout also performing well, this was causing Bangor severe problems. After a rolling maul was pulled down by Lewis Stevenson, earning him a yellow card, Bruff had another penalty and the subsequent lineout saw a repeat drive. This time, however, they used the ball quickly, passing it across the backs before their other winger, Liam Treacy, touched down in the left hand corner. Although the kick was missed, Bruff had moved ahead to 0-12, making life even more difficult for Bangor.

As play continued, Bangor started to improve, but were still guilty of some poor handling at key moments. With their scrum now dominant, they maybe should have had better attacking opportunities, but a lack of tidiness resulted in lost opportunities. In the closing minutes of the first half, Bruff once again were camped on Bangor’s line but Bangor held their defence and composure, eventually forcing the visitors to make the error that brought the half to a close.

At 0-12 down, and with a slight breeze now at their backs, Bangor would have felt that all was not lost and everything was still to play for. An unusual, if not effective, drop-out by Liam Preston skidded through the Bruff players to find a useful touch inside the visitors’ twenty two. This piece of good fortune appeared to spur on the Bangor players. Although Bruff gathered the resulting lineout, their short kick to touch now gave Bangor the chance to attack, close to their opponents’ twenty two. This time it was Bangor’s lineout that was cleanly won, with the ball then being quickly taken forward by Mark Widdowson before being taken on by Desi Fusco and then Phil Broderick. Unfortunately, with the goal line beckoning, the referee stopped play to allow attention for a Bruff head injury. However, Bangor turned what might have been frustration into renewed determination and, a few minutes later, another attack was mounted down the left hand side, started by Liam Preston, then Fusco and Broderick combined well, before Adam Alexander picked up Broderick’s final pass and drove over to finally put Bangor on the scoreboard. The touchline conversion attempt was wide, but the gap between the sides had narrowed to 5-12, with over 30 minutes left to play.

Unfortunately, Bangor’s error count continued and a few minutes later this gave the Bruff kicker an easy penalty from in front of the Bangor posts, increasing their lead to 5-15, meaning Bangor would have to score twice at least to take the lead. As time went on, this was starting to look unlikely. However, a barn-storming run by second row forward Dave Caughey, which included a side step, saw him break through the Bruff defence with just the full back to beat. It looked like Caughey would win the contest if tackled by the Bruff player but, wisely, he looked to his left and saw Broderick just outside him. An unselfish and well-timed pass allowed Broderick a relatively simple run through to score in the left hand corner. Graham’s conversion attempt from the touchline was unsuccessful, but Bangor were now just behind at 10-15, and were looking the more likely to score again. Unfortunately, time was against them and, in true Munster fashion, the Bruff forwards ran down the remaining minutes with repeated pick and drives, cleverly keeping possession even though making little or no headway themselves until the final whistle came and they could celebrate their win.

This was another disappointing result for Bangor, although there were elements that saw an improvement over the previous weekend’s performance. Another positive outcome was the fact that they secured a losing bonus point, whereas other losing teams over the weekend failed to do so. Although now having slipped another league position, Bangor are still well placed in the central, chasing group. With a couple of weeks off before AIL action resumes at Seapoint on 1st December, the coaching staff will undoubtedly be hoping use this break to iron out some of the problems that have spoiled recent performances. With no major injury problems to worry about, there is still confidence that the squad can return to winning ways and reach the halfway point in the league in a strong position.