Date: 5th November 2011

Under 17 v Ballynahinch 30-20 (A)
Under 15 v Ballynahinch 0-62 (A)
Under 13 v Ballynahinch 10-7 (A)

Ballynahinch U15s 0- Carrick U15s 62
31 points in perfect symmetry in either half demonstrated Carrick U15’s total dominance of this fixture at Ballymacarron Park, Ballynahinch. The Reds in mean and aggressive mode were in no mood to surrender a single point in this Elite league clash. Ballynahinch are a fine youth operation but on Saturday they were no match for a Carrick side that have worked hard recently on the physicality to compliment the passing ability that comes with painstaking preparation.

At the final whistle only the most nit picking of punters could have found a mistake in an hour of almost flawless rugby from the men in red. Carrick hardly made a mistake in either half and their opponents and supporters could only hold their hands up in admiration of the East Antrim visitors play.

Right from the kick off, uphill and in very muddy conditions Carrick drove into the heart of Hinch’s defence. The Hinch could not resist the power of the Carrick backrow of Surgenor, Fisher and Gardener; Gardener it was indeed who opened the scoring as he blasted over the line. Two minutes later the red machine surged up field, Wallace fired the ball to skipper Jake Porter who knew where the line was. Wallace converted. Minutes later Wallace outflanked the home defence to score himself wide out. Stung by this bewildering onslaught the home side applied some pressure but Carrick treated this as some defensive training and it was business as usual when Jake Porter broke free to score his second of the game converted by Sam Wallace.

Half Time 31-0.

4 mins into the second half Wallace kicked through gathered his own handiwork and scored under the post. At this stage it was all one way traffic and Matt Fisher bruised his way over for Wallace to convert. On 52mins John Stewart, the reds talisman hooker tapped a penalty and ran 30 metres to score at the posts, Wallace converted. Moments later Michael Whittle scored out wide – a try he had been threatening all day. On the stroke of full time Jake Gardener, having a great game at 7 scored his second of the day to complete the score line of 62-0.

There is no such thing as the perfect performance but this was near enough Flawless. It was powerful and it was dazzling and both sets of supporters knew it.
Difficult to pick a man of the match from such a game but big John Turner was magnificent!

Ballynahinch U13s 10- Carrick U13s 7
At U13s level Carrick were very unlucky to lose a closely contested affair 10-7, the referee playing a total of 7 additional minutes at the end of the game allowing Ballynahinch to score what proved to be the winning try. It was the home side that opened the scoring after 10 minutes at take a lead of 5 points to nil. This indeed proved to be the only score of the first half in this tightly contested league match. During the interval the Carrick coaching staff of Richard Higgins and Andy Bell praised the boys for their efforts during the first period of play and stressed the importance of putting into practice the skills that the squad have been working on during training. The young U13s players responded to their coaches’ praise and were the dominant side in the opening exchanges of the second half. Sustained pressure eventually told with Matty Carson going in under the posts for a converted try leaving the score 7-5 to Carrick with 10 minutes of official time to play. The home side were spurred into action and attacked the Carrick line with ferocity but heroic defence from the visiting team fended of all advances for what the travelling coaches thought was remainder of the match. The match official from Ballynahinch had other ideas and continued to play for an additional 7 minutes eventually allowing Ballynahinch to score the winning try. All credit to the young Carrick side who will have learnt a great deal from this match and will be a stronger team because of it. The U13s continue their development with a floodlight match this Wednesday night against Ophir U13s.

Ballynahinch U17s 30- Carrick U17s 20
In the other fixture Carrick U17s disappointingly lost their league fixture 30-20 to a well organised and highly committed Ballynahinch side. The travelling side were slow to start allowing the home side to cruise to a 22-8 advantage in the first period. A number of the poor defensive slips by Carrick allowing the home side to score 4 very soft tries inside 25 minutes. Carrick’s 2nd row forward Iain McMenamin did manage to register the away side on the score board with a barging score late in the half. A stern talking to from coach Marty Lusty at half time seemed to do the trick with the opening of the second half seeing much more dynamic passages of play from Carrick. Indeed 2 quick scores from the travelling side gave a glimmer of hope of a shock recovery. However once again a defensive slip allowed ‘Hinch to score another try which effectively killed off the contest. To their credit Carrick again added to their tally late on leaving the final score 30-20 to Ballynahinch. The effects of an enforced cancelled training session were apparent this week and coach Marty Lusty hopes for a much improved performance next week at home to City of Derry.