1st XV v Dungannon
Dungannon 7 Ballymena 16
Ulster Senior League
Sat 30th Sep 2006
Ballymena travelled to Dungannon and, in atrocious weather, adapted to
the conditions better than the home side and came away with a well-merited
victory by 16 points to 7.
The rain was incessant throughout the match and right from the start Ballymena
took the game to Dungannon and were in controlof the scrums during the
match. Unfortunately a lot of the advantage of this was lost because the
home side reverted to underhand tactics and the referee chose to ignore
a lot of basic scrum infringements. In spite of this Ballymena stuck to
the task and ground out a victory which was totally deserved.
In conditions like this controlled play is needed and in the 2nd minute
of the match Ballymena were in the home 22 and they fed the ball back
to the waiting Dirkie Strydom who slotted the ball between the posts with
a dropped goal.
Although Dungannon had their moments Ballymena in general controlled the
game and answereany Dungannon threats with good defence and positive responses
to a few deft kicks into the Ballymena goal area.
From a home attack Dirkie Strydom relieved the pressure with a huge kick
into the Dungannon half. From the ensuing lineout Ballymena won possession
and got a penalty. Dirkie Strydom scored again to increase the lead to
6 points. This trend continued and after another dropped goal attempt
had hit the post he converted another penalty just before half time to
put Ballymena 9 points ahead at the interval. In the prevailing conditions
this was a good lead.
At the start of the second half Dungannon began sharply and a couple of
Ballymena errors were almost disastrous but the situation was recovered
and they settled down again. Their control up front was eventuallt rewarded
10 minutes into the half. From a lineout in the Ballymena 22 Dungannon
won possession. Ballymena got a turnover and Peter Budina hacked on a
loose ball and made his way deep into the Dungannon 22 but the defence
got to the ball first and a scrum ensued. From the scrum the home side
were penalised and Ballymena were awarded a penalty try. The offending
player was yellow carded and Dirkie Strydom slotted the kick to increase
the lead to 16 points.
Now was not the time to relax but Dungannon came back and started to throw
the ball around. Numerous chances went abegging due mainly to the conditions
but also due to errors. However in the 54th minute from another attack
Richard McCarter chipped over the top and there was no Ballymena defeders
in position. He score near the posts and added the conversion to bring
Dungannon back into the game.
Ballymena responded well to this set back and continued with their game
plan. They played controlled rugby and took the game to the home side
who were now sensing a come abck was possible but were too eager to make
it happen. Play was mainly in the home half apart from a couple of forays
into the Ballymena 22. Late in the game a melee developed in the middle
of the field while play was elsewhere. The referee had his back to this
but still saw fit to give Glen Moore a yellow card and Ballymena were
down to 14 men. However, even though 5 minutes of injury time was added
on, Ballymena played well and there was no further scoring.
