The Under 17's at Ballymena Rugby Club

Peter Greenwell reports on West Hartlepool (Vikings) Under 17s  ...

...Had a very enjoyable and successful two-match trip to Northern Ireland over the Easter weekend, after travelling over by ferry on Good Friday the squad of twenty-one players and eight officials and supporters were made extremely welcome.  

On Easter Saturday they played Ballymena under 18s at Eaton Park.  Kicking of with the wind behind them on a lovely sunny day they were soon into their stride. The pace of the West backs put the rather surprised hosts on the back foot almost immediately a pattern that continued for most of the 1^st half. This allied with some sterling work from the front five allowed the west back row to dominate the proceedings.  

The first score came when some good interplay between the forwards and backs Chris Lambert rounded the opposition defence to score wide out after fourteen minutes. From the kick off west stormed straight back at their host, prop forward John Greenwell made a twenty metre barnstorming run down the centre of the field and although he was held millimetres short he managed to flip the ball up to scrum half Gavin Robinson who dived over the line for a try which he converted himself. Then on the half hour mark and after a good passage of play full back Rob Bellerby scored West third try which was converted by Tom Dixon this gave West an impressive 19 –0 lead at half time.   

 The second half was however a different story with Ballymena pressing very hard to overcome a stubborn West defences. Ballymena did manage to breach the West line twice wide out in this half but were unable to convert them. Giving West a well deserved 19 - 10 victory.

West Hartlepool Flanker Tom Barker was chosen by the Ballymena coach to be the man of the match and was presented with his award by former Ballymena, Ulster, Ireland and British Lions Legend ‘Willie-John McBride’, who praised all of the players for the standard of the rugby that they had played.

In their second game against Portadown under 19s at Chambers Park on Easter Sunday ‘West Vikings’ were faced with a different proposition. Where the home sides large pack supremely lead by their Irish under 18 international scrum half put the young West side under considerable pressure. A mistake by the west halfbacks conceded a try after some fifteen minutes. This seemed to galvanise the young ‘West’ side, which then produced some very good rugby. After 30 minutes having stripped the ball from one of the Portadown players in the tackle, and then dancing through three tackles, skipper Arron Myers handed the ball to centre Chris Lambert who sprinted around the defence and under the Posts from thirty yards out to score a well earned try which was converted by Gavin Robinson. (Half time 7 – 7). 

The second half began in the same mode as the first with Portadown pressing very hard with some tremendous forward surges which finally culminated in a try after fifty minutes for their scrum half and Irish under 18 international to score after a superb blindside break which he converted himself. The match continued in the same vein until the last few minutes, when after some brilliant handling by both forwards and backs left wing Luke Austin was released some twenty five yards out and he sprinted around the despairing tackles of the home team to touch down under the posts which was converted by Tom Dixon in the last play of the game. (Final result 14 – 14).