With CIYMS sitting just below Bangor in the league standings, this fixture was of considerable significance for both sides in trying to move away from the danger zone at the lower end of the table. For Bangor’s part, it would be important to make their home advantage count and maintain their good record of results against the Belfast side.

Playing with some wind advantage in the opening half, Bangor kicked off and, in similar fashion to recent games, got into their stride quickly and kept play in the CIYMS half for most of the first quarter. However, as CIYMS made their first visit to Bangor’s twenty two, they won a penalty in front of the posts which they kicked to take the lead by 0-3.

From the restart, Bangor immediately forced the visitors back again and within minutes produced an opening on the left hand side for Conor Lusty to run through and score in the corner. Rhys Larmour expertly added the touchline conversion to take Bangor into a 7-3 lead.

Once again the game swung back to the opposition as CIYMS pushed back into Bangor’s territory. However, a combination of cold hands and a wet ball caused CIYMS to drop the ball and give Bangor an opportunity to clear their lines from a scrum close to their twenty two metre line. This set piece has been a pretty reliable facet of Bangor’s game, but on this occasion they found themselves pushed off the ball and forced to concede a penalty. With the offence happening in front of Bangor’s posts, the CIYMS kicker took advantage of the simple opportunity and slotted the ball over to narrow the score to 7-6 after 27 minutes.

The slender difference on the scoreboard belied the fact that it was Bangor who were producing the more meaningful attacks. As they pushed forward once again, a clumsy and late tackle by CIYMS resulted in a yellow card. However, not only were Bangor unable to take advantage of their extra manpower, they made life more difficult for themselves with another penalty conceded in front of their own posts. CIYMS made no mistake with the kick, which pushed them into a 7-9 lead which they held until the half-time whistle.

CIYMS got the second half underway, looking to hold Bangor at bay until they could return to full strength. But just as their yellow carded player was about to return to the pitch, a deliberate knock-on saw the referee send another CIYMS player to the bin. As they faced another 10 minutes with 14 men, a no-arms tackle as Bangor pressed forward saw CIYMS suffer another yellow card penalty. At last Bangor seized this golden opportunity and almost immediately availed of the stretched CIYMS back line, with Aaron Corbett finishing off a simple passing move with a try in the left hand corner. Another great conversion by Larmour leap-frogged Bangor into a 14-9 lead.

CIYMS managed to prevent any further scores while they still had men in the sin bin, but by now Bangor had built up a head of steam and were applying sustained pressure inside the CIYMS twenty two. Their patience eventually paid off when Conor McKee was on hand at the back of a ruck to pick up the ball and crash over from short distance to score Bangor’s third try which was also converted by Larmour, stretching their lead to 21-9 as the game entered its final quarter.

For some reason, Bangor then seemed to lose composure in loose play, which gave CIYMS several penalties from which to attack. Once again Bangor infringed in front of their own posts, but this time CIYMS opted for the scrum. In a simply executed move, the ball came back cleanly and the backs stepped up to continue the attack. However, a rare gap in the Bangor defence was immediately spotted and CIYMS simply glided through to touch down under the posts. The simple conversion brought CIYMS right back into contention at 21-16.
Matters didn’t get much better for Bangor when Conor McKee was shown a yellow card for pulling down a CIYMS maul. From the resulting penalty, CIYMS kicked for touch and followed it up with a cleanly taken lineout. As their maul trundled forward, Bangor tried to hold it up but were unable to prevent CIYMS forcing their way over for another try, which when converted, put the visitors into a narrow 21-23 lead, and with just 10 minutes left to play.

Bangor's response was immediate. From the restart, CIYMS gathered the ball and, from the ensuing ruck, got the ball back to their out-half who prepared to clear the danger by kicking for touch. The combination of CIYMS taking slightly too long on the ball and a determined chase by Andy Smyth, resulted in the kick being charged down. For once the ball bounced kindly for Bangor as Smyth continued his run, then gathered the ball and finally touched down in the corner to regain the lead for Bangor and earn a try-scoring bonus point into the bargain.
Bangor nerves were jangling as the game entered its final few minutes. However, CIYMS were unable to produce any more counter-attacks and Bangor closed out the game to record an important victory which moves them up a position in the league standings.

The quirky nature of Championship 1 fixture scheduling continues with these two sides facing each other again next weekend, but if Bangor can not only repeat but also improve on this performance, there’s every possibility that they could progress further and steer clear of the league’s danger zone.