HOLYWOOD OFF TO A FLYER
Saturday saw the end to all the pre-season hype about who was retiring, who was about to sign and who was going to play where. The warm-ups were over and it was time to knuckle down to a hard season’s work and put all the training into practice.
The 1st XV entertained Ballyshannon at Kerr Park to kick off their Kukri Qualifying Section 3 campaign. A fine autumnal day and a perfect pitch boded well for what the crowd hoped would be a feast of fast open rugby. They weren’t to be disappointed. Holywood kicked off with the sun and wind at their back and went immediately on the attack. Following quick ball from a well won scrum in front of the posts Holywood’s Gary Stocker picked from the back of the scrum and showed good strength to drive over for the first try. Stevie Leyland converted giving the home team a healthy 7-0 start with barely 5 minutes on the clock.
Holywood made a mess of the restart, failing to clear their line and conceded a kickable penalty at the lineout. Thankfully Ballyshannon’s kicker had left his kicking boots at home and missed. This seemed to spur the home side on and led to a period of sustained pressure with most of the play being in Ballyshannon’s half. The young Holywood backs showed lots of adventure and enterprise and following two breaks by captain Paul Foster, (well, not everyone in the backline can be in their early twenties!), an inside pass saw Mike Williams dander in for a try. With Stevie Leyland adding the extras a 14-0 after 25 minutes seemed scant reward for the home pack that was dominating in the scrum and loose. Lineouts were a different matter but nothing training and practice can’t sort out. Too often ball got turned over at the lineout and penalties flowed from those errors. Thankfully the visitors were unable to take advantage of the opportunities.
Holywood’s pressure brought a glorious line break by Stevie Glover leading to a penalty chance for Holywood but Leyland missed narrowly. Ballyshannon were finding it hard to get out of their own 22 and following another scrum Holywood again picked up and drove before a short feed saw Davy Hunter scamper over for a try. Stevie Leyland converted making it 21-0 with a minute to go to half-time. That minute was long enough for Holywood to show more indiscipline and with the visiting kicker having had a bit of practice it was no surprise to see the teams turn around with Holywood leading 21-3.
Holywood started the second half with coach Paul Andrews’ words still ringing in their ears as the picked the pace up markedly. After a long run by Ivan DePledge, who could do with wearing glasses to help him see the support jogging along beside him, Holywood recycled the ball quickly and spun it wide. League debutante Gavin Gleeson topped off great handling in the backs to score in the corner. Leyland missed the conversion but the scoreboard showed a healthy 26-3 only 5 minutes into the second period.
Five minutes later the forwards were at it again with Gareth Hillen leading a fine piece of interpassing amongst the forwards to take the ball some 70metres up the pitch, leading to a penalty chance for the home team which Leyland just missed. Not to be outshone by the forwards the backs produced another great display of what practice can do in a match and a miss move sent Gleeson in for his second try. Rodger Higginson converted to make it 33-3. all this exertion in the sun was taking its toll on both sets of players but after 25 minutes the referee singled out Jamie Cooke for a 10 minute “rest” behind the posts for “hands” in a ruck. Cookie protested his innocence only briefly as he did need a rest!
On the half hour another steal and driving run by Hillen led to a scrum where a move on the short side gave skipper Foster a well earned try. The missed conversion left Holywood leading 33-3 with only minutes to go. Those few minutes however were enough to see Paul Foster skip in for his second try and with Higginson converting the final score was 40-3.
In the after match ceremonies Gareth Hillen was awarded Man of the Match, although Gavin Gleeson must have run him close. Neil Ferguson easily won the “Richard” of the match award, which he wore around the clubhouse, for his undoubted prowess at backwards kicking.
A heartening display for the first match with lots of positives for the team and it’s great to see young players showing commitment and enterprise. There’s still work to be done in certain areas, particularly in the lineout and discipline in general. It was good to see so many “old faces” down supporting the teams but there’s always room for more!
Holywood 2nds went down away to a strong Academy team but the 3rd XV gave Shorts a 50-0 lesson in the local derby. Rod McMaster led the try festival with 4 until his legs gave up, a criticism that could not be levelled at the Springbok gazelle Warren Thompson, who showed his all-round rugby brain by starring in the 2nd row. Special mention should also be made of Mark Russell and Drew Mikhael who kept the scoreboard clicking with fine displays. For those with a longer memory, it was good to see Colin “Fido” Burnside can still marshal his backs, Peter “Maxi” Maxwell is as fond of passing as he always was and Bobby Irvine can still manage to find people to buy his dummies. Competition to get on such a great side only bodes well for the rest of the season.
Teams for Saturday 22.09.07 (at time of going to press)
1st XV: away to Cavan leaving the Club at 10.00
I.DePledge, P.Simpson, R.Woolley, F.Lockhart, J.Cooke, O.Grysmek, G.Hillen, J.Shaw, D.Hunter, S.Leyland, P.Foster, R.Higginson, S.Glover, N.Ferguson, G.Gleeson.
2nd XV: home to Clogher Valley 3rds meeting at the Club at 13.15
G.Bates, R.Greaves, C.Murray, J.Elliot, D.Verner, K.Bloomer, M.Collins, R.Sykes, A.Gordon, P.Glover, G.Brown, N.Craig, M.Kennedy, P.Gordon, G.Leyland.
3rd XV: away to Belfast Harlequins 5ths leaving the Club at 13.30
B.Irvine, A.Connolly, P.O’Flaherty, D.Elliott, M.McCleave, R.McMaster, C.Burnside, A.Cassidy, W.Thompson, J.Clarke, P.Moran, M.Russell, R.Anderson, G.Hunter, W.Griffiths.
