U14’s winning ways continue at Newry

After nearly a forty eight hour period of continual rain, the young men of Bangor were grateful their match against Newry was given the green light. The young men made their way en mass to Newry, with expectations remaining high. Bangor were hoping to continue in their winning ways, in what was going to be a tough match.

Bangor were immediately up against it when they were only able to field fourteen men, against Newry’s fifteen. However the young and exuberant Bangor team were not deterred by this, and if anything were more determined to get a win on the road.

Bangor began with great physical prowess and immediately stamped their authority on the game, by scoring within the first few phases of play from the kick off. This appeared to unnerve Newry and their heads dropped. From the following restart, Bangor continued to show their dominance in the forwards, with some great positive physicality at the breakdown. This was also mirrored by the pace riddled and extremely capable Bangor back line, who were keen to run with the ball, despite the poor conditions under foot.

Bangor demonstrated some fantastic interplay between the backs and the forwards. The distribution of the ball at the breakdown was extremely efficient, and the whole team worked tirelessly to support one another in both defence and attack. Bangor played at a high tempo throughout, despite the heavy under foot conditions. This really suited their backs, who were confident enough to seek to offload the ball in the tackle. This allowed for holes in the Newry defence to be exploited, and created some well taken try scoring opportunities.

There were even two occasions were players managed to successfully offload the ball through a one handed back hand pass. This was Barbarians-esque, and joyful to watch (although coaches still consider carrying the ball in two hands is best!).

It is clear that these young men are really enjoying their rugby, and are always seeking to improve. The boys are continually striving to better themselves, and this is very encouraging and pleasing to watch.

Given that Bangor faced Newry with a man less, Newry never looked as though they were in a position to challenge Bangor’s lead in the game. The coaches were again left in a very difficult position of choosing a man of the match. A great headache to have. For his tireless work in defence and attack, Tyler Mahaffey was this weeks MOTM.

Final Score Newry 7 - Bangor 50.

Well done boys and onwards to our next league encounter against Donagahdee on the 17th November at Upritchard Park, 11am KO.

All support as always is welcome, particularly in a North Down derby! Thank you to all those supporters who made the trip to Newry. As always, it’s appreciated and a great encouragement for the boys.

Bangor are always seeking to expand their squad. All players of all abilities are welcome to come to training, Wednesday nights at 7pm.