HOLYWOOD’S CUP SHOWS CRACKS
It was a damp and overcast day at Stormont as Holywood 1st XV visited Civil Service in their first match of the Gordon West Cup. It’s a round-robin competition with Lurgan and PSNI making up the other two members of Holywood’s group.
Holywood kicked off into whatever wind there was and after the kick-off didn’t go the requisite 10metres, Civil Service won the resulting scrum and kicked downfield for a lineout on Holywood’s 22metre line. It was a theme that was to be played out frequently throughout the first half as Civil Service were to repeatedly use the elements to relieve the pressure on their own line. Similarly both hookers struggled to find their targets in the line with the wind affecting Andy MacDonald’s usual pinpoint accuracy. The game was barely 2 minutes old whenever Civil Service stole a ball at the lineout and drove up field forcing Holywood’s backs to snuff out a dangerous attack close to their own line. Holywood took clean ball from the defensive lineout and following a short drive, Civil Service were caught offside at the ruck allowing Holywood a penalty and the chance to clear their line to halfway.
Another crooked feed at that lineout gave Civil Service a scrum and by this stage the home side were starting to feel the pressure coming from Holywood’s front five as the visitors took a ball against the head but their subsequent attack fizzled out. Twenty minutes had gone before an opportunity to put points on the board was presented to Holywood. From a Civil Service scrum Ollie Grysmek and Davy Hunter caught the Civil Service outhalf dawdling when he should have been clearing his line. His reluctance to let go of the ball gave Stevie Leyland a chance to convert the subsequent penalty. The chance was spurned with what could only kindly be described as not one of that kicker’s finest examples of his trade.
The first half was drawing to a close whenever Civil Service got an opportunity to attack from their own scrum by spinning the ball wide across their back line. A score looked a certainty until 1st XV debutante Stuart Cave produced a fingertip tap tackle to send his opposite number sprawling and see the ball spilt. Play continued around midfield with neither side really getting a grip on the game although with having to play into the wind and not conceding any points Holywood must have felt the game was theirs for the taking as the sides changed around at halftime.
With no score in the first half both sides were looking to break the deadlock quickly. This however only led to a succession of errors on both sides which meant that the game began to lose any fluency. It was 10 minutes into the half before the crowd was woken up when Holywood gave the ball away on Civil Service’s 10metre line allowing the home side to break through and hack the ball forward. As Holywood’s full back Gavin Gleeson went down to gather up the ball he slipped and the kick ahead looked a definite try scoring opportunity. Happily for Holywood two of the Civil Service backline couldn’t seem to decide which of them should score so one of them settled the debate by knocking on whilst over the try line! Gleeson injury was serious enough to be substituted for Nick Patterson. Civil Service continued to press the Holywood line but another lineout steal on their own 5metre line allowed the visitors to show what they can do when they get good quick ball. Backs and forwards combined to cut through the opposition with short passes given just before contact taking play almost the length of the pitch.
Now it was Holywood’s turn to apply the pressure but small errors and over elaborate back play denied the visitors the opening score. Play spun back up the pitch with Holywood being penalised for a late tackle. Civil Service hit the post with the penalty attempt. Ian Moore came on for Grysmek in time to see Civil Service take the lead with a simple penalty. A 3-0 deficit after 25 minutes seemed to spur Holywood on as they applied pressure to the Civil Service line but another over elaborate move in the backline saw the opposition centres intercept and run the length of the pitch to score. The easy conversion saw 10 points scored against in less than 3 minutes. Holywood played the last 10 minutes of the game inside the Civil Service 22metre area but to no avail in terms of points and the final whistle recorded a 10-0 win to Civil Service.
Clutching defeat from the jaws of victory leaves nobody very happy but with Lurgan visiting Kerr Park for a cup match on Saturday Holywood will have a chance to wipe out this performance and show their home support the good rugby they can and have played this season.
