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Senior Friendly: Ards 16 - 30 Donaghadee (20/11/99)

"WELL DESERVED WIN AT ARDS

Donaghadee's faithful band of loyal supporters journeyed all the way to Hamilton Park, Newtownards last Saturday hoping that the Senior Friendly they were going to see would not prove too much for their team. Donaghadee are sitting at the top of their Qualifying League table, having won their last five straight games - but this was Ards, recent victors over Omagh in Section Two of the Senior League and Malone in a friendly.

The coaches and players had a different view. They knew of Ards' record, but they also knew that the seasiders had beaten their neighbours' strong selection in the North Down Cup Final earlier in the season, and were "up" for a chance to test themselves against their old foes. For their part, Ards felt that they needed a run-out on a free Saturday between their league fixtures to keep their momentum going. Both teams were ready to play.

The game was played throughout in beautiful balmy conditions conducive to fine rugby and there was little doubt that Donaghadee started the better. The early play was mostly at the Ards end and Donaghadee's backs kept up a good pressure with flowing ball across the backs and dangerous looking runs from Jody Waterworth on the right wing. From a ruck near the home side's line Nigel Forsythe won possession, the ball was flashed to Paul Blewitt and he, realising that he had no other options, swung on his right peg and hoisted a beautiful drop kick high over the goalposts.

Donaghadee looked to add to this with a long penetrating run through the midfield by Sharn Chistensen, who was ably supported by Donaghadee's Neil Back, John Carlisle, but the Ards defence just kept the attack in check. Donaghadee in their eagerness jumped off-side. At this point the play was stopped for a long period while the Ards hooker, Michael Graham, was attended to. Unfortunately his injury was a shoulder dislocation and he was taken to hospital for attention.

Back on the field it was Donaghadee's attention which had wandered. Once Ards had been told that the game could restart, they took their penalty with a quick tap and Steve Trebilco crashed over for the softest of tries, converted by out-half, Joe Montgomery.

Donaghadee, perhaps understandably, then lost their cohesion, partly from the unexpected reverse and partly from the series of penalties which went against them. This is a common event in all sports. A team suffers a setback, the players try too hard, some edge offside, or dive over the ball in their desperation to win it, they get penalised a number of times for these discretions and they become even more unfocussed.

They did continue to play, but not as well as they can, and Ards quite rightly punished them. With only a few minutes left of the half the men in black had kicked three penalty goals and were 16 points to 3 in the lead. Donaghadee were tackling well, with Christensen, David McMinn and Philip McNamara catching the eye in the mid-field area.

The half ended with Donaghadee pressing, and, ominously for their hosts, winning Ards' ball in the line-out, but being held up by the desperate Ards defence. Half-time team talks are private affairs but it is a safe bet that the text in Coach John Blewitt's short sermon was "discipline."

The improvement in Donaghadee after the interval was proof enough that the words must have hit home because the concerted running in attack, the tightness of the drift defence and the caution about straying offside were most impressive. The backs ran well from newly-restored Jeff Allen at full-back and right through the three-quarters. When these attacks were halted there were the loose forwards to continue the pressure. Storming runs from Matt Duff and Aaron Martin kept taking the ball to Ards and they began to give a little under the constant pressure.

With the hour just up, some of the Ards players became a little irritated that the game which had seemed to be going their way in the first half was in danger of slipping away from them. This lack of discipline led directly to a sustained assault on the Ards line.

Kurt Courtney was over-vigorously tackled while he was in the air catching a ball and Ards were penalised. Paul Blewitt kicked into the opposition "22" for a line-out. This led to a fluid run across the field and back again, eventually giving Matt Duff a half-chance at the line. This is about twice as much as he needs and he ploughed over with a deal of class.

This only brought Donaghadee to 16-8, and a lot still to do. But they now had their heads up. And perhaps Ards had theirs down, because Allen and Courtney were only stopped right on the goal line with Ards going "over the top". Blewitt kicked it a few metres into touch right on the line, and from the maul following the line-out Martin dived through for an excellent score.

Ards were now going through their worst period. The referee had to speak to a few of their more aggressive players and their lack of discipline was leaving the holes in defence which Donaghadee were good enough to exploit. Play had hardly restarted when Donaghadee opened up from inside their own half, putting the ball through a series of hands until Allen and Courtney reprised their double act but with Courtney this time getting the ball over the line to take the lead. A brilliant touchline conversion kick from Blewitt made the score 22-16 to Donaghadee, and a memorable victory on the cards.

Another penalty for Donaghadee took the margin between the teams to 9 points with ten minutes to go. Strangely the more junior side did not seem too hoping for the whistle to seal their win. Rather they were revelling in their good play and wanted the game to keep going in order to give them more chances to score. This column has been critical of some of Donaghadee's play, determination and concentration in recent weeks, but definitely not this week. All of the above and more were of the finest quality last Saturday, and this augurs well for the stiff league encounters coming up.

Gary Fleming and Dan Taylor were now dominating all the line-outs with some quite amazing high catches to gain quality possession. Dan put a gloss on his performance at the very end when he soared like Michael Jordan and then fed the ball to his hooker for an impressive Matt finish.

Donaghadee can take a lot from this game. They were not perfect, but they are on a steep improvement curve. They have the talent, the steel, the teamwork and the attitude to continue this. Ards showed in the first half that they are a good side, but in the second they were without two of their key players, and they know better than anyone what went wrong during that period when things went against them. The strong liklihood is that they will sort this out and their next league opponents will suffer for it next Saturday. If Donaghadee continue working hard to sustain their current impressive form their next league encounters should be well worth watching."