Following last season’s defeat the ERGS boys were determined to play well against what promised to be an strong Banbridge U14 side who were unbeaten so far this season. From kick-off it was evident where the Banbridge’s strengths were but No.7 Devin Harron soon made his presence felt as he set about his mission to disrupt the opposition 10 at all set pieces. As McConkey (9) and Bothwell (10) once again took the opportunity to work on the quality of their passing and spread of the ball it wasn’t long before centres Owen and Irvine started looking for the gaps in the Banbridge defensive line. From Ingram’s clearance kick and with some impressive pace and offloading the first score of the game came from Quillan Irvine and was converted by Shay Owen. Bainbridge replied well and just before half time managed to ruck themselves within striking distance, crashing over for the equalizer.
In the second half both sides displayed some impressive skills in attack, defence and set piece play. Cullinan, Read and Clarke continued to dominate the scrums but as fatigue crept in mistakes were made in basic handling and the speed of support play, meaning opportunities for ERGS to push ahead were missed and in fact it was Banbridge who managed to score first and bring the score to 12 – 7. From the Restart ERGS once again pressurised the home side and eventually an impressive break by Harron and off-load to Owen allowed ERGS to score the equalizer. Unfortunately the conversion was missed meaning the score was now tied with minutes to go. At the re-start winger Ben Richmond bravely gathered a messy kick from the large Banbridge 10 only to be the victim of a crunching tackle which saw him take a serious knock resulting in a break in play whilst we was carried from the field. In the final minutes momentum was seemingly lost and a well battled game resulted in a 12-12 draw.
