Bangor let lead slip against Clonmel

After the disappointing performance at Midleton the previous weekend, it was hoped that Bangor would learn from their mistakes and, with the return of Oscar Yandall at out half, return to winning ways against Clonmel who worked their way into this league through last season’s playoffs. Despite the earlier heavy rain, playing conditions were good, if a little soft underfoot, with the breeze blowing diagonally across the pitch.

Bangor kicked off with the wind at their backs. Early signs were promising, with the set piece working well and positional kicks keeping play mostly inside the Clonmel half. The Clonmel forwards were certainly big, but Bangor’s ability to counter weight with technique came to the fore and was rewarded with a penalty after 19 minutes which Yandall stepped up for. Uncharacteristically, he scuffed the kick and the ball was hooked past the posts. However, Bangor regained possession from the subsequent drop-out and drove forward again. Having worked themselves into a strong position with a 5 metre scrum, Bangor controlled the shove and won a penalty as a result. Opting for another scrum, they repeated the process, forcing the Clonmel pack to collapse which resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try. At this stage, Bangor looked to be in control as they kept their opponents pinned down in their own half and very soon afterwards won another penalty onside the twenty two, which Yandall converted to put his side ahead by 10-0 after 30 minutes of play.

As the wind began to swing around and play straight down the pitch, the touchline supporters felt a bigger margin would be needed before Clonmel could use this advantage in the second half. Their worries became greater when, with just a few minutes of the first half remaining, Clonmel clawed back 3 points from a penalty kicked by Darren Cass.

With their relatively slender 10-3 lead, Bangor needed to keep play away from their own twenty two, but Clonmel’s sensible kicking game made it almost impossible to do so. From a lineout just inside Bangor’s twenty two, Clonmel produced a rolling maul that drove the home side back towards their own line. It looked like the Bangor defence had just managed to halt the drive in time, but quick thinking by Clonmel saw them get the ball back to Cass who simply jogged around the maul to score on the left hand side. Cass added the conversion to put the sides level at 10-10.

Given Bangor’s early dominance in the scrums, this powerful drive obviously encouraged the Clonmel forwards. From a penalty which was successfully kicked to touch deep inside Bangor’s twenty two, the Clonmel pack simply repeated the process, but this time they kept the drive going all the way to the line before Phil Ryan dropped on the ball for another converted try, putting Clonmel ahead for the first time by 10-17 after 19 minutes.

With a quarter of the game remaining, there was still everything to play for. However, with the pressure now on Bangor, they started making mistakes. Yandall’s restart drop-kick went straight into touch, handing the initiative back to Clonmel. This was followed shortly afterwards with a yellow card for Andrew Shaw for an illegal tackle. Despite these setbacks, Bangor fought back and found themselves in good attacking positions, but unfortunately these came to nothing through a combination of strong Clonmel defending, poor Bangor handling and questionable decision making. In the end, Clonmel’s greater appetite for the win saw them through to pick up their first victory in AIL competition and, in so doing, leapfrog ahead of Bangor in the league standings.

Although Bangor managed to salvage a losing bonus point, they now find themselves at the wrong end of the table after this opening set of three games. However, with just 5 points separating the top teams from the bottom, this league continues to be one of the tightest in the AIL. With a break for the teams next weekend, there will be a lot to sort out ahead of another difficult fixture away to Bruff in two weeks’ time.