Gryphons go top of their league

With a strong wind at the ground, Bangor were playing into the elements as the game got underway. A quick start from Queens allowed them to score in Bangor's left corner and an unsuccessful conversion meant it was 5-0 to the home side. Some good kicking allowed Queens to control the game and keep play in Bangor's half. Then around the 20 minute mark a quick bit of thinking from scrumhalf Chris Walton saw him put in a box kick deep into the Queens half and a favourable bounce allowed Ned Stewart to win the chase and beat the two covering players to score under the posts. Ned added the simple conversion and Bangor were now 7-5 up. However, the home side responded with a penalty before half time to go 8-7 ahead as the teams turned around.

Now playing with the wind, and after some words from coach Jason Rainey, Bangor started strongly and were soon rewarded with a penalty outside the 22 which was kicked by Ned Stewart to put Bangor back in front at 10-8. A poor bit of play from Bangor in claiming the restart meant Queens quickly gathered the ball and shifted the ball to their left winger who scored in the corner. The score was now 13-10 to Queens.

Bangor now started to play the conditions and smart territorial kicking kept the pressure on Queens. After good carrying from the Bangor forwards impact sub Josh Nelson was able to overpower the Queens defence and score from a pick-and-go in the left hand corner. With the kick from out wide converted by Ned, Bangor now had a 17-13 lead.

However, once again sloppy play from the restart allowed Queens to get straight back into Bangor's half. With sustained pressure in Bangor's 22 a yellow card was conceded by Graham Kirk and Queens converted the penalty, narrowing the score to 17-16. Although now with just this slim lead, an improved Bangor performance ensured their lead would not be relinquished. At the 65th minute mark Bangor's forwards were starting to assert their dominance with strong carrying, and this led to Thomas Smyth being able to squeeze his way over the line from short range toward the right hand side. The difficult conversion was missed making the score 22-16.

Bangor really started to appear comfortable in possession and after a great set piece scrum Bangor went back into the opposition 22. From here an offload from Josh Nelson to Ned Stewart in support got the ball going quickly to the backline with Queens held narrow to Josh. The ball ended up in prop Andrew Durkin's hands who unleashed his inner Dan Carter to throw a perfect miss pass to Chris Beattie wide left who found Marcus Orr who beat the last man and scored under the posts. Bangor now 29-16 in front showed some good defensive effort to prevent Queens from scoring again, highlighted by Josh Nelson and Aaron Orr performing a last ditch tackle on the Queens left winger and bundling him into touch to end the game.

(report by Alan Acheson)