ERGS U14 vs RS Dungannon

The expected storms of Friday night had not quite made it across the Atlantic and Dungannon Royal kicked off in cloudy but dry conditions. Enniskillen Royal caught and retained possession. The forwards carried the ball well and Zak Havers, Matthew Wilson and Fred Weir were able to control the rucks at the breakdown. Scrum half Hugo Graham delivered quick ball to the backs and centres Jason Bothwell and Andrew Patton combined well with wingers Charlie Donaldson and Aaron Haire to gain early territory.
The Dungannon defence held up the initial Enniskillen attacks but Enniskillen eventually ground their way to the Dungannon 22 line. From here Eddie Keys kicked strategically into the Dungannon end zone where the Dungannon full back grounded to ball leading to a scrum on the 5 metre line. Callum Smyton, playing at No. 8, took the ball from the back of the scrum to get the first score. Eddie Keys converted well.
Play went back and forth after the restart with Matthew Wilson, Jason Bothwell and Matthew Beatty all tackling hard. Pressure at the ruck led to a penalty that gave Eddie Keys the opportunity to kick to touch. Dungannon stole the ball at the line out and kicked for territory but didn’t bank on the speed of Enniskillen full back Sam Milligan. Sam tore through the onrushing Dungannon pack before releasing winger Charlie Donaldson who was supporting well. Charlie gained twenty metres before offloading to Jason Bothwell who gained a similar distance before being tackled. John Elliot and Ryan Phair rucked well and Callum Smyton took the ball and stole in for an opportunistic second. Callum was able to make it a hatrick of tries before making way for Henry Keys.
At 21-0 down Dungannon started to rush the Enniskillen attack at all opportunities and were able to intercept a loose ball. The move took everyone off-guard and Enniskilen were fortunate to have Sam Milligan at full back who made a try saving tackle on the 5 m line. Enniskillen kicked their way out of defence, tackled Dungannon into touch and prop Ben Davis showed his exuberant nature at the resulting line out. Alert to the call, Ben took the ball from the front of the line out, rushed the blind-side winger before faking and side-stepping the Dungannon full back. It was only the pace of the Dungannon flankers rushing back in defence that prevented him from getting over the tryline.
From the breakdown Hugo Graham distributed the ball out to the back line and Andrew Patton carried it into the tackle. Supported by John Elliot and David Stinson, Andrew kept possession in a mall that gained 10m. From here Hugo Graham passed the ball to Zak Havers who made further ground and offloaded to Matthew Beatty who carried the ball over for a try.
Adam Sanderson came on at inside centre and combined well with Taine Haire for two tries. Justin White got a further two and, with Matthew Bothwell also converting well, the score finished 64 – 0 in Enniskillens favour.