Power of Braidmen just holds out Malone

Ballymena 14 Malone 12

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Malone - who narrowly missed out on promotion to All-Ireland League Division One - came very close to pulling off an upset, but the home side had enough firepower up front to grind out a victory to set up a final showdown with Belfast Harlequins at Ravenhill.

With dominance in the scrum all afternoon, a second-half penalty by Craig Woods, his third of the afternoon, was enough to snatch victory after the Belfast side had lead for long periods thanks to tries from Chris Rowan and John Anderson.

Malone, twice down to 14 men in a game lacking any flow or much quality, battled hard and with a bit more composure could have made more of a couple of gilt-edged chances.

Ballymena, however, were worthy of their win, having dominated possession and territory in the second-half if lacking the cutting edge to make it count.

It was Malone who took the initiative from the kick-off, with left wing Chris Rowan finishing off a move for the game's opening try in the sixth minute following two close-range tapped penalties by the visitors and a strong surge by Johnny Burgess.

Ballymena attempted to quickly assert themselves into the contest, but Paul Campbell saw a drop goal attempt pulled wide after advantage had been played for a penalty.

Yet Malone continued to threaten on the break and one superb move - started with a neat dummy from a great lineout take by number eight De Wet Bekker - saw Rowan come flying into the line but a long pass to John Anderson, with the line, beckoning went astray.

Craig Woods was then able to cut the deficit in the 26th minute with a penalty and Malone, in their attempt to keep the ball alive, at times played too much rugby in their own half.

And it was the failure to control their own ball at a put-in in their own '22' which allowed Ballymena flanker Michael Entwhistle to show great strength in powering over for a try in the 32nd minute to put the home side in front for the first time in this last four encounter.

But within a minute Malone had struck back.

Johnny Burgess pounced on a loose ball in the midfield and some swift hands put Anderson into half a gap and he finished superbly, with Fry adding the touchline conversion to give the visitors a 12-8 lead.

And Malone should have extended their lead but could not finish off a four to one overlap following a midfield steal by Bekker.

It was Ballymena, however, who finished off the opening half on top.

After the home side were held up over the line and won several penalties which they opted to scrum, Woods finally kicked his goal from in front of the posts with the last play of the opening half to leave the match poised on a knife edge.

It was Ballymena's turn to butcher a great chance at the start of the second-half when after out-half Paul Campbell's break, Jonathan Amos's pass was intercepted by Peter Baird with the line beckoning.

The visitors were then reduced to 14 men when Anderson was shown a yellow card for killing the ball and Ballymena turned up the heat.

Yet Malone were able to dig in, with Fry just wide with a penalty attempt as Ballymena failed to make their numerical advantage count.

Anderson returned to the fray, however, to find his team under huge pressure after Ballymena had kicked a penalty to the corner.

And although Malone were able to steal the ball from a five-metre scrum, the home side kept up the pressure, winning another penalty as David Halliday was sent to the bin for collapsing the scrum under the posts.

Woods slotted the conversion in the 66th minute to put the home side in front and with the edge up front, it proved enough to clinch victory.

Bruff 22 Banbridge 9

BRUFF after completing their league programme undefeated were much too strong for Banbridge in the All Ireland League Division Three play-offs.

It was the home pack that had the better of the exchanges, however, Banbridge kept in the game and led at one stage of the first-half.

Brian Cahill put the home team in front with an early penalty but Richard Finlay levelled two minutes later.

Bruff exerted a lot of pressure and Simon McKinstry was rather harshly dealt with when he was off-side at a scrum and was given a yellow card.

Despite this set-back the visitors added another Finlay penalty and Cahill kicked his second after 35 minutes.

The home pack pressurised the visitors line and when the scrum collapsed the ball went right for Gary Leonard to put his team 11-6 ahead at half-time.

Just after the restart Cahill made it 14-6, but Banbridge continued to keep themselves in the game and were justly rewarded when Finlay kicked his third penalty.

The visitors were caught in possession and Cahill kicked another penalty and with five minutes to go the home side added their second try.

This followed more forward dominance with the ball being passed amongst the three-quarters for Paul O'Brien to go over in the corner.