Despite Bangor’s current good run in the Junior Cup competition, their precarious position at the lower end of Championship 1 means that league points are becoming a big priority. So far, it has been a difficult start for Bangor as they have mostly faced the top sides in the league, and this match was sure to offer no respite as they face Portadown who were sitting in third place.

Bangor kicked off in perfect playing conditions, and got off to a great start. In fact, the opening 10 minutes were all played inside the Portadown half, with the visitors appearing slow to get into their stride. Bangor made their early dominance count when a rolling maul following a lineout on the Portadown twenty-two was steadily driven towards the Portadown goal line. As Bangor kept up their forward momentum, captain Rob Gamble was on hand to finish off the move with a dive for the line and open the scoring with a well worked try. Rhys Larmour was on target with the conversion to put his side into a 7-0 lead.

This seemed to jolt the visitors into action and, just a few minutes later, they looked sure to score after a flowing backline move, but a last-ditch Bangor tackle just managed to force a knock-on as Portadown went over, and the try was saved. However, Portadown simply repeated their move another couple of minutes later, and this time they made no mistake as they ran through to score in the corner. The conversion was added to level the scores at 7-7. A long-range penalty kick by Larmour shortly afterwards nudged Bangor into a 10-7 lead, but unfortunately this was to be the last time that the home side would be in front.

Bangor’s recurring problem with being unable to make their tackles count came to the fore once again allowing Portadown to slip off the defenders and run through for a try under the posts. The next score came after some long and fast passes found the Portadown winger in lots of space and, with the conversion being successfully added, moved the visitors into a 10-21 lead. In the closing minutes of the first half, Bangor came agonisingly close to clawing a try back, but were held out just inches from the goal line.

As the sides turned around at half time, Bangor might have felt that they were still in touch. However, it took just 2 minutes of the second half for Portadown to simply run away from the Bangor defence and score their bonus point try. This was followed shortly afterwards with a textbook penalty, lineout and drive that Bangor were helpless to stop. Portadown were in almost total control at this stage and when they executed a chip over the Bangor defence, even the bounce of the ball played into their hands, as they snatched the ball back and ran through to put the game well beyond Bangor’s reach at 10-42, with 30 minutes of the game left to play.

While the Bangor supporters may have been worried that this was going to be an even heavier defeat, the Bangor players stuck to their task and eventually created a flowing backline move that was finished off strongly by Mark Widdowson with a try in the right-hand corner. However, Portadown’s response was immediate with a penalty which they kicked to touch, and then produced another well-controlled lineout and driving maul. With Bangor struggling to stop the drive, they collapsed the maul and the referee signalled a penalty try.

Any faint hope of a Bangor comeback was now gone, but after Thomas Boyd scored their third try after a good period of forward play, the chance of salvaging a try-scoring bonus point became the new goal. To Bangor’s credit, they threw everything into attack and came very close after Ali McIvor dived over in the corner, but was judged to have narrowly slipped into touch. Time was running out for Bangor, but they maintained their pressure and, with the final play of the game, Conor Lusty forced his way over at the corner flag to salvage the valuable bonus point. Josh Carman added the tricky conversion to bring the final score to 29-49.

On a day that Bangor RFC celebrated the importance and achievements of the club’s mini and youth sections and their associated pathway to senior rugby, it was notable that 14 of the 18 players that comprised the 1st XV line-up had come through the ranks of these younger sections, with a similar proportion also involved in the 2nd XV. With the next batch of talent graduating from the Under 18 team later in the season, Bangor can be rightly proud of its focus on nurturing home-grown talent, and encouraging a truly community-based club.