HOLYWOOD LOSE OUT TO PSNI
Saturday afternoon at Kerr Park was a dull, windless day with an intermittent light drizzle – in other words a perfect day for rugby.
Holywood kicked off against a strong, fit looking PSNI side and misforture befell then almost immediately. As play moved upfield, Holywood wing forward Gareth Hillen lay motionless on the deck. After treatment he was helped to the touchline, but despite further treatment he was obviously unable to continue, leaving Holywood a man down for almost the entire match. The situation worsened three minutes later when after a break from the nippy looking PSNI scrum half, the ball was passed out to the left wing to run in a try. The subsequent conversion was missed leaving the score 5 – 0 to PSNI. After this, Holywood consolidated well and applied some pressure, leading to a penalty which was converted by Stevie Leyland - Holywood 3 - PSNI 5.
For the next ten minutes play took place around the middle of the pitch, with neither side making much inroads. At the set pieces the Holywood line-out was holding up well, but ominously the set-scrum was being driven back by the PSNI pack. After a further Holywood penalty, which was missed, a well worked PSNI move put their left wing in for a try – again the conversion was missed - 10 – 3 to PSNI. There followed a sustained period of Holywood pressure which could and should have led to a try in the corner, but instead PSNI ran and then kicked out of defence, the ball flew downfield, bounced awkwardly over the Holywood try line and the PSNI kicker pounced on it. This time the kick was converted leaving the half-time score 17 - 3 to PSNI.
The second half started well for Holywood with Leyland slotting a penalty after five minutes, but that was as far as it went. Despite a few bullocking runs from Ivan De Pledge and Justin Shaw, PSNI were in the ascendancy, with the Holywood pack being driven backwards in the scrums, and the extra man for PSNI increasingly starting to tell. The police team eventually ran in a further three tries, two of which were converted. Final score – Holywood 6 - PSNI 36. A frustrating day at the office for the Holywood team, especially losing a man virtually from kick-off, but they can have few complaints at the result. Lets hope for better fortune at Lurgan next Saturday.
