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4th XV match report - Saturday 6th October
STEPHEN NUTT23 Oct 2012 - 17:51
Ards 12 v Antrim 29 Ards like fish out of water at Antrim!!
The Black Knights continued their dismal start to their league campaign with a disappointing 29-12 defeat by a strong Antrim 1st xv.
The omens were not good from the start when captain Rab Irwin , enjoying an early morning fishing trip to the River Roe, failed to turn up for the match ,engrossed as he was in some frantic trout tickling!!!. Its not the first time Captain Irwin has been led astray by an old trout !!!!
Some urgent shuffling of the pack took place as Paul “Willie John “ White made his first start of the season .
Ards started brightly but were soon under the kosh from a fit and determined antrim side and following a turnover ,some slick handling by the Antrim backs put them in at the corner for an unconverted try.
Ards misery was compounded when the normally immaculate andy matchett made a break from ther base of the next ards scrum. Showing all the class of a European Cup Winner, he beautifully fed the antrim winger with an inch perfect pass, putting him in under the posts for a converted try. 0 12 to antrim.
This seemed to galvanise Ards and from kick off they pressed into the Antrim half to score the try of the match. From a ruck following a number of forward carries the ball was fed out to rotund winger jack flynn. Moving with the grace of a water buffalo rising out of the Serengeti he beat antrim man after man (at least 20 according to jack afterwards). They simply had no answer to his movement and couldny lay a hand on him. What they didn’t realise was that jack was simply running in a straight line – it was his stomach and moobs that were doing all the movement.In any case it was definitely a candidate for try of the season. Sadly it went unconverted to leave the score 12-5.
It also unfortunately spurred antrim back into action and they quickly restored their 12 point lead with a well worked try from another ards mistake.
By now however the ards forwards realised they had the beating of antrim in the set pieces and from a lineout in the antrim 22 ards mauled the ball over the line for andrew crozier to score under the posts leaving the halftime score 19 – 12 to Antrim
The second half started very much like the end of the first with Ards dominating the set piece but being strangely lethargic in the tackle areas.by this stage the ref (who really fancied himself as a comedian ) was coming into his own with some truly bizarre interpretations of the laws of the game.As a result there was no flow to the game until andy crozier had to leave the pitch with a back injury. Antrim quickly realised that his replacement at flanker , neil workman , was slightly lacking in pace and in the last 10 mins through the ball wide at every opportunity scoring 2 quick tries to leave the final score 29 – 12. Stopping only to pick up one of neil workmans lungs the ards team trudged off knowing they could have played so much better and looking forward to next weeks first home game of the season.
The omens were not good from the start when captain Rab Irwin , enjoying an early morning fishing trip to the River Roe, failed to turn up for the match ,engrossed as he was in some frantic trout tickling!!!. Its not the first time Captain Irwin has been led astray by an old trout !!!!
Some urgent shuffling of the pack took place as Paul “Willie John “ White made his first start of the season .
Ards started brightly but were soon under the kosh from a fit and determined antrim side and following a turnover ,some slick handling by the Antrim backs put them in at the corner for an unconverted try.
Ards misery was compounded when the normally immaculate andy matchett made a break from ther base of the next ards scrum. Showing all the class of a European Cup Winner, he beautifully fed the antrim winger with an inch perfect pass, putting him in under the posts for a converted try. 0 12 to antrim.
This seemed to galvanise Ards and from kick off they pressed into the Antrim half to score the try of the match. From a ruck following a number of forward carries the ball was fed out to rotund winger jack flynn. Moving with the grace of a water buffalo rising out of the Serengeti he beat antrim man after man (at least 20 according to jack afterwards). They simply had no answer to his movement and couldny lay a hand on him. What they didn’t realise was that jack was simply running in a straight line – it was his stomach and moobs that were doing all the movement.In any case it was definitely a candidate for try of the season. Sadly it went unconverted to leave the score 12-5.
It also unfortunately spurred antrim back into action and they quickly restored their 12 point lead with a well worked try from another ards mistake.
By now however the ards forwards realised they had the beating of antrim in the set pieces and from a lineout in the antrim 22 ards mauled the ball over the line for andrew crozier to score under the posts leaving the halftime score 19 – 12 to Antrim
The second half started very much like the end of the first with Ards dominating the set piece but being strangely lethargic in the tackle areas.by this stage the ref (who really fancied himself as a comedian ) was coming into his own with some truly bizarre interpretations of the laws of the game.As a result there was no flow to the game until andy crozier had to leave the pitch with a back injury. Antrim quickly realised that his replacement at flanker , neil workman , was slightly lacking in pace and in the last 10 mins through the ball wide at every opportunity scoring 2 quick tries to leave the final score 29 – 12. Stopping only to pick up one of neil workmans lungs the ards team trudged off knowing they could have played so much better and looking forward to next weeks first home game of the season.
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