HOLYWOOD’S CUP RUN UNDERWAY
Another unseasonably warm and dry day at Kerr Park saw Holywood 1st XV entertain Lurgan in the Gordon West Cup in front of a good sized crowd. This was Holywood’s second match of the round-robin competition with Civil Service and PSNI being the other two members of Holywood’s group. Having lost narrowly in the league at Lurgan, Holywood were looking to make home advantage swing the result in their favour this time. Claims from a local Lurgan newspaper that Lurgan would run in 50 plus points was to prove a fairytale as the visitors were sent home to lick their wounds after being shown to be second best on the day.
Holywood kicked off and went straight on the attack, keeping play in Lurgan’s half. Barely 2 minutes had elapsed whenever Holywood showed the strength of their scrummage by taking one against the head and spinning the ball wide across their backline. Lurgan strayed offside and Holywood kept the pressure on by opting for an attacking lineout on Lurgan’s line rather than going for a straightforward 3 points. The forwards tried to keep it close by launching short runs and rucking quickly. Lurgan’s defences were in disarray and they eventually conceded a penalty right under their own posts.
Unfortunately, Holywood took an attack of white line fever and dropped the ball from the quickly taken penalty. By now Holywood had signalled that their set scrum was a force to be reckoned with and having pushed Lurgan’s scrum around were given the put in to the reset scrum. A penalty followed and stand-in captain Stevie Glover restored some sense to proceedings by calling on Stevie Leyland to kick for goal. Leyland converted to give Holywood a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes.
Three minutes later Richard Wooley was given a 10 minute rest by the referee for a misdemeanour thereby giving the Lurgan scrum some respite from the Holywood attack. The indiscipline continued on both sides with minor “debates” between players leading to a succession of penalties. These upset the rhythm of the game but Holywood continued to press.
After 22 minutes Leyland missed with another kick at goal and Lurgan’s only response came from a blindside breakaway which took play the length of the pitch, forcing a lineout almost on Holywood’s line. Strong tackling in the centre by Holywood, ably backed up by a foraging back row, saw off the danger and applied the pressure once more to Lurgan’s line.
Five minutes before halftime saw Leyland pull a penalty goal attempt wide and just when the crowd thought that all the work of the team would come to nought a succession of rucks saw Holywood spin the ball across the backs. Up popped “centre” Ivan Depledge to ignore a 4 man overlap, sell an outrageous dummy and run in under the posts for a try. Leyland confirmed that he was having a bad day at the office by hitting the post with the conversion attempt. An 8-0 lead was scant reward for the dominance the team had shown.
The second half was only 5 minutes old whenever Davy Hunter, enjoying his man-of-the-match performance, pinned Lurgan back into their own 22 with his astute kicking. Holywood’s scrum was still the dominant force and following quick ball the backs ran the ball wide time and again until Aaron Harvey ran around his opposite number and went over in the corner for a try. Another Leyland miss, although this one was from the touchline saw Holywood take a 13-0 lead.
Lurgan must have remembered that they were meant to win by 50+ points because they suddenly took the game to Holywood, although their penalty attempt narrowly missed. Undaunted they continued to press for the next 20 minutes, during which Holywood’s defences were examined and stretched regularly. Pressure eventually told with a Lurgan try in the corner but the conversion was missed. 13-5 with only 10 minutes left and the cup game was now well and truly on. Rucking now became a dangerous sport as both sides threw themselves at the game. Thankfully Leyland found his kicking boots just in time to kick a good penalty goal to give Holywood a 16-5 lead. That only lasted a minute as missed tackles allowed Lurgan to run the ball the length of the pitch, touch down under the posts and convert to take the score to 16-12.
The home crowd had a shaky 3 minutes to go, as Holywood have a recent history of clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. Nerves were settled though when Lurgan’s injudicious use of the boot at a ruck was punished by Leyland, taking the final score to 19-12.
Holywood deserved to win but it was not the most convincing of displays. A win nevertheless will do wonders for the confidence and this young team will undoubtedly get better. Indiscipline still haunts the team and will have to be eradicated as it’s too easy a way to let the opposition off the hook. The team need to know that tackling is not a team responsibility – it’s the responsibility of each and every player. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln – some of the team tackle all of the time, some of the players tackle some of the time but some of the players tackle none of the time. This Saturday sees the continuation of the world tour as the team heads for Donegal in search of more league points.
Teams for Saturday 10.11.07
1st XV: away to Donegal - meeting at the Club at 9.00am
I.DePledge, A. Macdonald, R. Wooley, F. Lockhart, J.Cooke, O.Grysmek, G.Hillen, M. Williams, D. Hunter, S.Leyland, G Brown, S.Glover, S Cave, N. Ferguson, T Erikson
2nd XV: home to Lisburn - meeting at the Club at 1.30pm
G.Bates, R.Greaves, C. Murray, G. Reed, D.Verner, K Bloomer, M.Collins, A.N.Other, I. McCullough, P.Glover, A.Gordon, N.Craig, J. Hastings, M.Kennedy, N. Patterson.
3rd XV: away to CIYMS – meeting at the Club 1.15pm
To be announced
