Ballymena 29 Terenure 10
Ballymena were at home again , this time to Terenure College and continued in their winning ways with a well-earned victory by 29 points to 10. After a win against Dolphin mainly on the back of a strong forwards display it was hoped that the home side would continue on their winning ways and indeed they did with another convincing forwards display but thiw week they were ably abetted by a good backs division which showed that they were capable of good rugby as well. Andrew Maxwell, Scott Young and recent ex-Ulster player Jimmy Topping all showed what they were capable of. Scotty Young had a good solid game in midfield and Andrew Maxwell had some tremendous runs into Terenure territory and it was amazing how he never got his name on the score sheet. Jimmy Topping was always eager to go at the opposition and his good support work was rewarded with a try. Early in the match the forwards took the game to the opposition and all the early action was in the visitors half. The pack were just brilliant with Tom Court, Ian Caldwell and the back row making early forays into the 22. The home side had early penalty chances to go ahead but opted for positional kicking to push the opposition into their own 22. This was working but Terenure had a big strong pack and their defence held strong. Dirkie Strydom had a couple of penalty attempts but they were just wide. The game took a turn for the home side when Terenure lost a lock to a yellow card in the 14th minute. Ballymena immediately applied the pressure which resulted in a penalty and Dirkie Strydom put the first points on the board. The match continued to be played in the visitor's 22 and they did well to prevent a rampant home side from scoring but the try had to come and in the 25th minute it did. Ballymena had a kickable penalty but put it in the corner. Yet again Bob Young, who had been superb in the line-outs all day, took it off the top and the pack gathered round to drive the ball over with Ian Caldwell getting the try. Dirkie Strydom added the points. Ballymena contined to trouble the visitor's defence and just after the half hour they got their reward whan a quick ball was moved along the line and Peter Budina scored near the posts. Dirkie Strydom again converted. Just before half time after another phase of good forwards play the ball was moved between forwards and backs with Jimmy Topping getting through for a grand try. Dirkie Strydom converted to make the half time score 24 nil. As expected Terenure came out strong in the second half and took the game to Ballymena. Early pressure and a little bit of help from the referee saw them getting a try 8 minutes into the half but the conversion was missed. After this the game fluctuated with neither side eastablishing superiority. On the hour Terenure caught Ballymena by surprise with a quick penalty and John Bollard raced through a gap to score and reduce the deficit to 14 points. Ballymena started reassert their superiority and yet again scorned 3 points to kick for position. Needless to say Bob Young won the line-out and the pack drove Chris Henry over for a try. After this it was all Ballymena and they almost crowned the afternoon with a wonderful try but it was not to be. From a line-out just in the Terenure half Ballymena won the ball and drove the visitors back 40 metres to their own line despite several attempts to collapse the maul. They managed to get over the line but for some reason, known only to the referee, a scrum was given to the defending side. That was virtually the last action of the match and Ballymena got a superb victory with a bonus point which takes them up to a respectable 9th in the table. Ballymena: D Strydom; A Maxwell, J Topping, J Burgess, P Budina; S Young, D Drake (P Spence 62); P Steenkamp, S Douglas (M Harshaw 62), T Court (S Shawe 40), I Caldwell, B Young, A Graham, G Moore, C Henry.
