The weather conditions were not conducive for rugby with heavy rain and low temperatures but despite these the pitch was in reasonable condition. Bangor kicked the match off and Malone retrieved the ball and after several phases of play despite good defence from Bangor, Malone worked their way down to the Bangor 5 metre line. From a maul a Malone player broke free and drove over the line to score out wide which went unconverted.

From the restart Malone were on the attack again and after half a dozen phases and from a driving maul their No 8 broke through and scored which was not converted.

Bangor settled and the next 10 mins of play saw possession alternate between the two teams, a knock on by Bangor and from the resulting scrum and subsequent phases Malone again drove towards the Bangor line, despite good defence on the line a final pick and go resulted in another Malone converted try.

From the restart Bangor were more determined and put Malone under pressure with good line speed and tackles. A knock on gave Malone the put in at the scrum which was passed quickly though their backs and the winger scored in the corner which was not converted.
Bangor pressure forced a knock on from the restart and it was Bangor’s turn now to go through the phases and encamped themselves in Malone’s 22. The pressure eventually led to Charlie Burns driving over to score in the corner which was not converted. As the halftime whistle went the score was 5-20.

The second half began with possession alternating between the two teams and although Malone crossed the Bangor line good defence held them up. From the scrum Malone scored and converted the try.

From the restart Bangor pressure forced a penalty and good awareness from Kailen Cantley with a quick tap and go then through the hands to Carson Mahaffey who beat his opposite number to score out wide which was not converted.

Malone had to work hard from the restart against Bangor’s defence however; sustained pressure saw them cross the Bangor line, but again they were held up and a 5 metre scrum awarded which Malone won and the ball was passed to the Malone centre who scored under the post which was converted. Final score 10-36.

The boys should be very proud of themselves as the score does not reflect their performance. Despite the loss of Josh Orr, Jonathan Zund, Sam Lennon and Brandon Beattie to injury and the conditions the boys did not give up and played to the final whistle.

Several aspects of our game were good, our defence, line speed and tackling were the best of the season so far. There are still things we need to work on but there always is. It was a great effort by the boys today under terrible conditions.

Training Wednesday night 19.00 – 20.30 in preparation for the league match away against Ballyclare next Saturday 16/11/2019.