Youth Results – 24th September 2011
Under 17 beat B’Hinch 15-5 (H)
Under 15 beat B’Hinch 57-7 (H)
Under 13 beat B’Hinch 32-5 (H)

Carrickfergus RFC U17s- 15 Ballynahinch RFC – 5
Carrick under 17’s have proved they can compete with the best after a very convincing win at home against Ballynahinch on Saturday. This young side have grown in confidence after winning their grudge match against a Ballynahinch side tipped to be league contenders.

The side lead by their No:8 John Magill fielded a full back line for the first time in weeks which reflected in a very strong pack being able to concentrate solely on their forward duties. It wasn’t long before the Carrick pack began to string together phase after phase completely dominating play up front resulting in the man of the match John Magill break up the blind side from a strong Carrick scrum and score in the corner to put his side 5-0 up.

The Ballynahinch side realising they were out muscled up front spread the ball out their back line at every opportunity hoping to break down the Carrick backs as they had done in the previous encounter a week earlier, however the nearly full strength Carrick line were not giving an inch repeatedly stopping the Ballynahinch side on the game line. The Carrick centre pairing of Chris Hamilton and Callum Wilson supported by wings Adam Williams and Jory Joel tackled furiously frustrating the slick Ballynahich three quarters. On instructions from their coaches the Carrick side played 10 man rugby for the next twenty minutes with props Ian Smith and Bradley Young again making the hard yards. It was during this period of intense Carrick forward play that lock Mathew”Crues”Wilson crashed over for Carrick’s second try. A well deserved try for a hugely popular member of the squad.
With minutes to go to half time Carrick again crossed the Ballynahinch line this time it was the turn of the dynamic Carrick hooker Johnny Mooney to get on the scoreboard. Again a well worked move involving three of the forward broke the ‘Hinch defence to release Mooney to score wide out.
Half time score Carrick 15-0 up.

The second half became very scrappy from the whistle with the referee awarding Ballynahinch double figure penalties in the first 15 mins and sin binning the Carrick scrum half Lewis Stockman for repeated offences. This took the spark out of the game which became very disjointed. The Ballynahinch side took advantage of Carrick being a man down and scored a try from yet another penalty when Carrick took their eye of the ball and Ballynahinch scored from the quick tap.

The last ten minutes gave the Carrick coaches the opportunity to run out some of the up and coming new members to the squad with Glen Cunningham and Sam Nimick getting a chance to show what they could do in the front row. Another new signing Danial Crawford also impressed on the wing showing great strength and blistering speed out wide.
A great win then for a side growing in confidence which will sound alarm bells across the other sides in this under 17’s premier league.
Final score: Carrick U17s 15 Ballynahinch U17s 5.

Carrickfergus RFC U15s- 57 Ballynahinch RFC – 7
In the second leg of a two match series with Ballynahinch which was played this week at Tom Simms Memorial Park, Carrick once again inflicted a comprehensive defeat on their Co Down rivals.
Not that Hinch were a walkover far from it they remained competitive throughout & even at the late stages of the game Carrick were made to work very hard for any scores that they got.
The home side once again had a strong starting line up and a very eager bench straining at the leash for game time, this permitted the Carrick coaching team the liberty of trying out various positional & personnel experiments which as the score line suggests were totally successful. The foundations for this performance were well & truly laid at a ferociously competitive training session on Wednesday night & a much focused pre match warm up on Saturday morning.

With John Stewart ensconced as pack leader & Jake Gardiner given a specific role at open side flanker a clear game plan was executed to perfection. These two proved to be leaders throughout & their work was built upon by the remainder of the pack in which there were outstanding performances by all at scrum & lineout. Where Carrick held all the aces however was their clean precise work at the breakdown which allowed Andrew Campbell to find his out half Sam Wallace with ease. When the ball was being set to the forwards coming round the corner it was Corey Kelly who took the ball a la Cian Healey for some barnstorming carries and a brace of tries, this presented a no brainer for the coaching staff with Birthday Boy Kelly receiving a fully deserved man of the match award. With Matthew Fisher & John Turner also carrying strongly this ensured a plentiful supply of ball for Jake Porter & Evan Sloan in midfield. A few times some players reverted to the up the jumper tactic & tries were scored when they could have been scored a lot crisper & earlier via quick release of the ball.

Not to be outdone Hinch stormed up field & a delicate chip over the home defence saw a wicked bounce defeat Matthew Best only to bounce into the arms of the Hinch kicker for the softest of tries, Hinch out half Joseph added the conversion & Hinch tails were up.

A refocusing of objectives at half time & a few more changes saw a highly charged Carrick XV take total control of the second half, if anything the forwards became more competitive, carried harder & cleaned out the contact area with more venom. This in turn allowed the backs to become more expressive and after a fantastic build up by the forwards up the right hand touchline the ball was quickly swung left with Carrick having a clear advantage, unfortunately a poorly flighted pass fell at the feet of the Carrick midfield with three players free on the wide outside. Changes were now being made wholesale by Carrick with the entire bench getting good productive game time. This also showed established players that there are viable options in all rows of the pack, in the midfield & back three.
Experiments at scrum half also should have incumbents peering anxiously over their shoulders. With the Hinch out half having to leave the field with a leg injury Hinch lost shape but still displayed a fighting spirit ensuring any late Carrick scores had to be hard earned.

This turned out to be not only a team performance but a triumph for the squad system that allowed 25 Carrick U15s players to get exposure in a highly skilled, fast tempo game of rugby. Full credit to the Hinch players & coaching staff who deserve praise for their efforts also to the referee who controlled the game in an efficient manner. The work begins once again on Wednesday night at 7pm when a full squad turn out is expected.
Scorers – Corey Kelly T2 Reece Berry T2 Sam Wallace T2 Matthew Fisher T3 Chris Berry T
Man Of The Match – Corey Kelly

Carrickfergus RFC U13s-32 Ballynahinch RFC – 5
Carrick U13s provided a clean sweep of wins for the youth section of the club with a comprehensive 32-5 win against their Co. Down rivals. After last weeks defeat Carrick were determined to “front up” and put in a much more physical performance against a team that bullied them for 50 minutes. This was indeed what happened and from the outset this young side took the game to the opposition.

In the pack Kyle Bell, Cameron McClean and Matthew Ellis all made early incisive breaks and Carrick where rewards with early scores from Connor Gascoigne and Jacob Bouma. Young Adam White at scrum half was also impressing with several snipping run and a number of excellent cover tackles. The first half finished with Carrick leading 10-0.

In the second half Carrick made several changes introducing a number of players who have joined the club or made the step up from mini rugby. These players proved to be very influential with in particular Matthew Carson and Matthew Dalton having a big impact on the game. Young Dalton, who last year was playing football on a Saturday morning, made a number of decisive breaks and bagged himself a brace of tries. The Carrick back line was now also beginning to dominate with Cormack McCracken and James Heyburn being impressive in the centres. Young Nathan Forsythe at full back also fielded several high balls and returned them with interest.

At the final whistle the score was 32-5 to Carrick. A much improved performance from last week but this young side had much more potential and over the next number of weeks the coaching staff hope to see significant development from the side.

Man of the match: Matthew Dalton. Led from the front and scored 2 great individual tries.