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11/11/2006- Limavady 19- Donaghadee 3

DONAGHADEE GO DOWN AGAIN

Losing their Qualifying League 1 game at Upritchard Park two weeks ago was disappointing, but going down at home last week to Limavady was a very hard blow to Donaghadee RFC. They can parade the excuses of having a grievously depleted squad, a strong Limavady pack against them, and on a seriously wet and windy day, but in simple terms they were just not good enough on the day and deserved to lose.

Donaghadee began well enough, playing up the slope and into the rain slanting across the Donaldson Park pitch. The first thrilling moment was created from a fine catch in his own ‘22’ by Jonny Webster, followed by a fiery dash that brought back some happy memories. He brought Gordy McBride into the play and the hard-running winger took it to the opposition with a fine thrusting run. He went as far as he could before the cover defence closed in, whereupon he accurately kicked ahead and Limavady were grateful to smuggle the ball into touch to relieve the pressure.

The auguries looked even better a few moments later when Paul Blewitt converted a difficult penalty from out right to give Donaghadee a slender 3-point lead. Under enormous pressure from the huge Limavady pack Donaghadee were forced to concede two kickable penalties during the next minutes, but were relieved to see only one of these go over their crossbar. This now-tied situation did not last long however. Another Limavady attack produced a scrum about thirty metres out. The Limavady No. 8 dropped his hands off his own second-row men, picked up and drove for the Donaghadee line, only to be well stopped by the defending back row men – illegally thought the referee. The penalty kick was little more than a formality, and the score was now 6-3 to the visitors.

The large throng of loyal Dee supporters could now tell that things were becoming more difficult for the Donaghadee forwards. For the few who were in doubt this was confirmed when Richard Martindale was yellow-carded for playing the ball on the ground in a desperate attempt to prevent Limavady once again gaining power possession. To add to Donaghadee’s misery the Limavady kicker put the penalty kick over from forty metres to take the score to 9-3.

Not long after the restart kick Limavady took further advantage of their numerical superiority when their big No. 8 once again picked up and drove for the Donaghadee line. When the ref called for a Limavady scrum on the Donaghadee five-metre line everyone knew what was coming. The pushover try was text-book, albeit that the Donaghadee seven tried as stoutly to hold it as they could have. Unfortunately for Donaghadee, this tactic had appealed to their opponents and they were quickly at it again. The only consolation for the home supporters and players was that the Limavady kicker missed both conversion attempts and the score was only 19-3 and not the more awful 23-3 it might have been.

With the elements in their favour in the second half, and Martindale restored to the fray, Donaghadee were able to exert some better pressure on Limavady. The forwards altered their tactics to get the ball sooner to their backs, and Webster, McBride and Simon Crowe showed some powerful running. The wind and rain had clearly evened the teams up and the crowd were treated to some robust and exciting rugby, although not to any exhilarating scoring chances so tight were the respective defences. It was interesting to see the uncompromising approach Haywood Fraser brought to his selection as a flanker, as he showed what a full-stop tackle is all about. If they needed an example the Donaghadee backs showed that they could do the die-in-the-ditch stuff too, and the Limavady backs were never able to make any capital out of the ball being won by their strong pack.

For an extended period it seemed that Limavady would strive to score a clincher, and that just as strenuously Donaghadee would work to deny them the cherry on the cake that they clearly wanted. When no-side came with no apparent alteration coming to the scoreboard everyone seemed happy to retreat to the warmth of the Donaghadee clubhouse in good time to watch Ireland perform so well in defeating the Springboks.

The Donaghadee players last Saturday were:
Jonny Webster, Michael Moore, Simon Crowe, Steven Seymour, Gordy McBride, Paul Blewitt, Peter Bennett, Andrew Drummond, Dee Herron, Alan McCullagh, Andrew Dunn, Cois Beukes, Norman Bell, Richard Martindale and Haywood Fraser; subs: Billy Allen and Garth Bennett.