Having secured the Division 2C league title earlier, the only remaining challenge for Instonians this season was whether or not they could complete a clean sweep of victories, each with a try-scoring bonus point. For Bangor’s part, having been the only team in the league to pick up any points from any encounter with Instonians, the focus was on maintaining their discipline and repeating, or even improving upon, that earlier performance. Unfortunately a momentary loss of discipline put paid to that hope, but nonetheless Bangor showed remarkable grit and put up a determined fight to the end.

With a largely home-grown senior squad, and a great pipeline of talent coming through the mini and youth ranks, Bangor have been steadily nurturing talent from within its local area. By contrast, Instonians have made no secret of their aspirations to move up through the leagues and have assembled a squad that is undeniably tailored to achieve that goal. Impressive investment in both player and coaching personnel has produced equally impressive results. We wish them every continued success in next season’s Division 2B.

Bangor got this match underway and very quickly conceded a penalty, which Instonians kicked for touch, deep inside Bangor’s twenty two. In the earlier meeting between these two sides, this platform proved very fruitful for the Belfast side, as their secure lineout and solid rolling maul repeatedly produced tries. Bangor had obviously prepared for this and were able to disrupt the Instonians plan. However, Instonians were not to be denied as they quickly recycled the ball and forced their way over the line for the first score of the game, after just 2 minutes of play.
Although shaken, Bangor were stirred into action from the restart, and forced a penalty of their own in front of the Instonians posts. The reliable boot of Rhys Larmour was on target with the kick to narrow the scores to 3-5.

Although barely 5 minutes had elapsed, there was plenty of adrenalin pulsing through both sides. Unfortunately for Bangor this led to an over-exuberant tackle by Blair Morgan that saw his opposite number up-ended and brought to the ground in a dangerous manner. After consulting the touch judge, the referee had little option but to show Morgan a red card, leaving Bangor with just 14 men for the remainder of the game. Understandably, Bangor spent the next period of play simply trying to maintain an adequate defensive cover. To their credit, they managed to do this for the next 10 minutes, but eventually the manpower deficit was laid bare when an Instonians attack down the left wing saw a solitary Bangor defender facing three attacking players. Instonians easily exploited the situation with a clear run in to score under Bangor’s posts. With the simple conversion, their lead was now 3-12, with a quarter of the game gone.

As the game progressed, Bangor seemed to have adapted to their earlier loss and were largely holding their own and preventing any further scores. However, they fell foul of an unlucky bounce after the visitors put a speculative kick into Bangor’s twenty two, allowing the advancing attackers to scoop up the ball and run through for another score under the posts, stretching their lead to a more respectable 3-19. Although staring down the barrel of defeat, Bangor’s position was a lot better than many other sides who have suffered big losses against Instonians, and by no means was this contest over.

The half time break allowed Instonians’ vastly experienced coaching team to direct their players on how they could better use their manpower advantage, and this was made clinically evident in the opening minute of the second half. Good running and accurate passing across the Instonians backs quickly stretched the Bangor defence who were unable to prevent another clear run through for the visitors’ bonus point try. This was soon followed by quickly taken free kick which was followed by a clever dummy pass, allowing Instonians to drift through a gap in Bangor’s defence for another converted try, bringing the score to 3-33.

At this point, with 30 minutes still to play, the fear was that Bangor would slump to an even bigger defeat. However, although obviously ‘down’, Bangor were far from ‘out’, and were determined to recover some pride from an otherwise difficult situation. While nobody enjoys fitness training, its benefits were now visible as the Bangor players raised the tempo and spent the next 10 minutes applying pressure in the Instonians half. This hard work was finally rewarded when Ally McIvor forced his way through several tackles before being driven over the Instonians line by his supporting forwards. Gareth Millar kicked the conversion, which brought Bangor’s score into double figures at 10-33.

Bangor’s delight was short-lived. Instonians were clearly stung by this try, and responded within minutes with another of their own. However, Bangor had proved that they could give their opponents a fight to the end, and deservedly enjoyed the last word with arguably the best try of the game. From a defensive scrum inside their own twenty two on the right hand side of the pitch, Bangor won the ball and decided on what would normally be considered a risky strategy to run it across their posts. Strong running by Gareth Millar and Ally McIvor brought play across towards the left wing where it was taken on by Shay Storey. A quick pass set Mark Widdowson free on the left hand touchline. Now it was the Instonians defence that was stretched, but they still managed to get across in time to block Widdowson’s route to the goal line. However, Storey had kept up his supporting run and was able to gather Widdowson’s last minute pass inside before sprinting for the corner. Despite the attention of a couple of Instonians defenders, he managed to get the ball down for a remarkable try. Millar was on top form with the boot, and added the touchline conversion, bringing the score to 17-40, with 10 minutes left to play.

As expected, Instonians came right back as they tried to cancel out Bangor’s progress, but were unable to find their earlier attacking form. However, another Bangor set-back in the final 5 minutes of the game saw Shay Storey yellow carded for what was considered to be a deliberate knock-on. Now down to 13 men, Bangor had their backs to the wall but, to their credit, they managed to deny Instonians any further score as the referee eventually blew for the end of the game.

Having suffered a red card and subsequent defeat, this was hardly a game for Bangor to celebrate. However, the nature of Bangor’s response is worthy of note and speaks volumes for the teamwork in the squad and positive attitude when the chips are down. With just two games remaining, away to Ballina and Sundays Well, this should provide confidence for a positive finale to this season’s league campaign.