With the 1sts having no fixture and the 2nds playing away at Dungannon, all eyes at Upritchard Park were focussed on the high-flying 3rds as they faced University of Ulster Coleraine (UUC). On a bright but cold afternoon, UUC kicked off and were immediately put under pressure as Bangor pushed forward. Although the home side enjoyed most of the attacking play and were close to the UUC line, it was the visitors who had the first scoring chance after 13 mins when they had a kickable penalty, but the effort was pushed wide. Bangor’s response followed shortly afterwards when a good break by Andrew Todd created the opening for Lee Johnston to take the pass and drive through the UUC defence for the opening try, which was duly converted by Chris Walton.

Bangor’s second try came after a superb run out of defence by Nico Espana split the UUC backline and set Aaron Orr free from the UUC twenty two to score under the posts. With another successful conversion by Walton, Bangor were now ahead by 14-0 after 24 minutes, and starting to look in control. This dominance was confirmed just 1 minute later when Espana used his pace down the left hand wing to outrun the struggling defence and score an excellent individual try in the corner.

The bonus point try came just 5 minutes later when first Todd and then Johnston set Harry Blair clear to run in for an unconverted try. Within a minute, another flowing Bangor move including several pop passes and good support play saw Orr finish with another well taken try to bring the half time score to 29-0 for Bangor.

It took just 7 minutes of the second half for Bangor to pick off where they left off when Gareth Moore crashed over in the right hand corner after a quickly taken tap penalty close to the UUC goal line. However, whether it was complacence or over confidence inside their own twenty two, but Bangor were guilty of not clearing the danger and trying to play the ball in their danger zone, which UUC pounced on and got the try which was also successfully converted.

If this was a chance for UUC to stage a comeback, it was short-lived as Bangor replied with two quick tries. The first was a fine individual effort by Walton as he chipped into space behind the UUC defence and then collected before diving over. The game was effectively over just 2 minutes later when the impressive Espana ran in from the half way line to score.

As the referee brought the game to an early finish, Bangor could celebrate another convincing victory that puts them well clear at the top of their league. With no league fixtures for any senior side next weekend, the next game at Upritchard Park will be the annual Stayers versus Leavers, kicking off at 12 noon on Boxing Day.

Bangor scores: L Johnston (1T), A Orr (2T), N Espana (2T), H Blair (1T), G Moore (1T), C Walton (1T, 3C)