ERGS U14s travelled up to the Ards peninsula and came away with a win that continues to cement the side’s excellent development under the guidance of coaches Stephen Bothwell and Alastair Keys. ERGS won the toss and opted to kick off. Regent House caught but lost possession after a knock on. At the ensuing scrum ERGS dominance allowed No. 8 Justin White to loop round the blind side, feed Scrum Half Eddie Keys who in turn distributed the ball out to Jason Bothwell. Jason put the first points of the morning on the board.
Matthew Graham took a very secure catch from the Regent House restart. Matthew gained ground and offloaded to Callum Smyton who displayed his characteristic evasiveness in possession and ran in the second try from just outside the ERGS 22. After the restart the ball found its way to Out Half Matthew Bothwell who fed Stephen Balfour who went on to score the third. Good back line play led to full back Sam Milligan getting his hands on the ball and adding further points to the ERGs score.
At 24-0 down Regent House began to gain momentum in the pack and consistent rucking led to their only try of the day. ERGS came straight back at them though when Regent decided to kick for territory. Eddie Keys read the play well and distributed to Taine Haire who fed Stephen Balfour for his second score.
For all the individual efforts perhaps the best try of the day came off the back of the incredible ground made by David Stinson, Callum Smyton and Ryan Phair. The offloading demonstrated in the move clearly displaying exactly the style of rugby that is being coached on the training field. The forwards eventually distributed to the back and excellent handling saw the ball arrive with Jason Bothwell who touched down for his second of the day. Good back line play led to a further try before the break.
ERGS were quick to find the try line again in the second half. Sam Milligan fed Matthew Beatty who offloaded to Callum Smyton who touched down. A knock on by ERGS at the restart led to a scrum in which good work by Ben Davis, David Scollan and Zak Havers won the ball back. Justin White fed Sam Balfour off the back of the scrum who ran in his try from the half way line. A further try was put down by Sam Milligan after strong game line play by Henry Keys. Adam Sanderson also made good ground for an additional score.
The last try for the day started with a solid catch by Callum Smyton who fed Sam Balfour on the half way line. Sam offloaded in the tackle to Jason Bothwell who stepped inside and fed Aaron Haire who stepped back inside to release Henry Keys for the score.
A strong display by the ERGS in their first game of the season.
