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Pre-Season Friendly: Donaghadee 3 -31 Belfast Harlequins (21/08/99)

"CLUB ENTERTAINS HARLEQUINS

On a wonderfully sunny and almost windless afternoon last Saturday Donaghadee was pleased to entertain Belfast Harlequins in a friendly fixture at the Newtownards Road ground. This was the first ever game for this new club, the amalgamation of the very old and renowned clubs of North and Collegians.

The visitors paid Donaghadee the compliment of arriving with a very strong party of 23 - essentially the new senior squad minus their Ulster stars. The home side knew they would be up against an uncompromising pack of forwards which included Donaghadee man Michael Higginson, and chasing high class backs of the calibre of last year's Ulster winger, Andy Park.

Donaghadee started in determined fashion with flanker Paul Proctor showing prominently. The early pressure soon gave Paul Blewitt the opportunity to put them ahead with a well-taken penalty goal.

The lead did not last very long. A few minutes later Harlequins took the ball to near the Donaghadee line. Here their strong pack consolidated their efforts into a very fast and hard drive, more a power-push than a rolling maul, and Donaghadee just got steam-rollered.

Not long after the re-start a huge diagonal kick took Harlequins back where they wanted to be near the home line. A beautifully executed line- out saw them cross the Dee line once more to take the score to 12 - 0. It soon increased by another seven points after a try under the posts from a well run penalty by Harlequins. This had been awarded after the visitor's jumper had run forward into the five-metre area to catch the ball, where he was adjudged to have been tackled in the air - an interesting decision. First offence or greater offence?

The end of the half came as some relief to most of the players on both sides, who, probably frustrated by the stop-start rhythm of the game to that point, erupted into an energetic discussion group, mercifully abbreviated by the interruption of the referee, who cautioned one man from each side, and awarded a relieving penalty to Donaghadee.

With a half-time score of 19 - 3 and Harlequins showing that they will be strong in Section 2 of the All-Ireland League this year, things did not look well for the home side. Coach, John Blewitt, clearly sent his lads back into the fray with renewed determination, because they really came back into the game.

Paul Blewitt, whose kicking was a little unsteady early on, started to pierce the Harlequins back three with deadly accurate grubber kicks. Perhaps more significantly he showed very fast hands to release Simon Crowe who needed no encouragement to sprint down his wing. With nowhere further to go, Simon kicked ahead and the ball fortuitously was deflected into the hands of young Blewitt again. Eventually the resolute defence of the Belfast men forced a knock-on. No points, but great encouragement to both the players and the home supporters.

Harlequins, of course, took this as a wake-up call, and put great efforts into attack once again. But the Donaghadee defence was up to the task. Again and again the tackles went in. Many of the collisions were audible, and very encouraging to see so early in the new season.

The sustained pressure was almost bound to succeed however. From a defensive scrum on the Dee line, the ball squirted out sideways. For a split second no one knew where it was, but unfortunately for Donaghadee, the first person to see it was the Harlequins flanker, who said thanks very much and went over the line really before he was seen.

The sterling work by the home defence continued although it would be unfair to single out any individual defenders because this was applied team effort. Right at the end the home players were exhausted and the visitors were able to run in one of those defence-stretching tries often seen at the end of a game. This brought no-side with a final scoreline of 31 - 3.

In a league match such a result would be disheartening, but in this context it brought great encouragement. The coaching staff saw plenty to buoy them up. Everyone in the club is aware that a few of this season's squad have not been available yet. Those who played against Harlequins all performed well and the indications are that Donaghadee will have an excellent starting fifteen very soon, and, more important, a good strength in depth. The host club were most appreciative of Harlequins' visit and encouraged by the positive compliments many of these top players paid to their opposite numbers."