Portora power into second round

Editorial Department • Published 21 Jan 2010 09:22 0 Comments

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Portora's Rory Gibson challenges for a loose ball against Carrickfergus.<<

Portora’s James Gormley celebrates his try against Carrickfergus on Saturday.<<

Portora Royal School 1st XV 25; Carrickfergus Grammar 1st XV 0;

Portora Royal overcame the recent hiatus in sporting endeavour to superbly book their place in round two of the Schools' Cup when they convincingly defeated Carrickfergus Grammar by 25-0 at Portora Lane on Saturday morning. In so doing, they showed that excellent wins against Foyle & Londonderry College, Portadown College, Omagh Academy, Sligo Grammar, Banbridge Academy and Royal School Dungannon prior to Christmas were indicative of the fact that this team can make an impact in the Schools' Cup this year and Saturday was more of the same.

Given the recent disruption to preparation, Portora approached and in fact started the match gradually and warily. Portora No. 8 Matthew Tanswell collected the ball from the kick off and ran it back towards the Carrickfergus pack and was promptly smashed by the opposition's captain and tighthead prop Jonathan McIlwaine. This impact however left the Carrickfergus man on the ground for several minutes before he and play could continue.

Portora then spent the remainder of the first 10 minutes of the match on the back foot defending. The first incursion by Portora into the Carrickfergus half resulted in a penalty for a ruck infringement and outside centre James Gormley converted from just over 40 metres to give Portora a 3-0 lead.

The Portora pack then started to awake with captain James Brady stealing two early lineout throws. The turning point in the first half came when Carrickfergus attempted to move the ball across their backline inside the Portora half. Portora's midfield of Gormley and John McKenzie herded the Carrickfergus ball carrier and dumped him backwards. This was followed by some powerful counter rucking from the Portora backrow of Allen, Rutherford and Tanswell, turning the ball over and enabling scrumhalf Rory Gibson to shovel the ball out to the left wing Andrew Morrison who showed an amazing turn of speed running away from the cover defence from 45 metres out to score in the left hand corner. Gormley missed the conversion from wide out and Portora led 8-0.

Playing with renewed confidence Portora now started to attack Carrickfergus at every opportunity. Out-half James Ferguson playing in his first Schools' Cup match showed lovely deception and soft hands to put Gormley through a hole off a clever backline move just inside Portora's half. The outside centre charged deep into the Carrickfergus half drawing the full-back and sending a 15 metre pass across to the right wing Stephen Patterson. Patterson still had to evade the cover defence but was ruled held up in the far right-hand corner.

Portora then applied the blow torch of pressure and shortly after received a scrum feed five metres out and 15 metres in from touch. No.8 Tanswell picked up from the base of the scrum drawing the Carrickfergus flanker and passing to scrum-half Gibson who dived over for a try in the corner. Gormley again missed the conversion and Portora led 13-0 at the interval.

In the second half Portora started to dominate field position and possession. The lineout however continued to mis-fire and credit should be given to the Carrickfergus second rower Peter Stewart who stole several Portora throws and thwarted Portora's attempts to kick start attacking moves.

The major issue for Portora in the lineout seemed to be a sluggishness of foot speed and movement by the jumpers and lifters. Poor distribution from the set-piece and breakdown also hindered some attacking opportunities. Although in general play the scrum-half Gibson had a very strong game.

Midway through the second half Portora started to fire on all cylinders and produced several breakaway opportunities from deep within their half. Expansive counter attacking rugby, moving the ball wide and sweeping down field.

This was exciting for the supporters to watch with the Portora outside backs really having a go. The final execution wasn't poor but wasn't as precise as they will hope for in the coming matches.

One such move again starting from within their own half resulted in some lovely inter-play among the Portora backs to send inside centre McKenzie down the right-hand flank from 30 metres out to score. This time Gormley converted to give Portora a comfortable 20-0 lead.

Out-half Ferguson showed an exquisite rugby brain when he moved into the base of the ruck to retrieve a ball and then cleverly spotted the Carrickfergus full-back out of position and chipped over the defensive line but was unable to regather the ball at the crucial moment on the try line as he attempted to dive over.

Brady and fellow second row Rodney Blair where yellow carded within a couple of minutes of each other which meant Portora competed with only 13 men for some time in the second half. This only added to the tension for the supporters and coaching staff. Portora used five players from their bench replacing the hardworking Allen and Rutherford with Phillip Dickie and Nathan McCrae who both contributed well in the second half. The young front rowers of Simon McIlveen and Adam Farrell also enjoyed debuts late in the match.

Carrickfergus threw all caution to the wind very late in the match and attempted to run out of their own 22. They kicked the ball down field to winger Morrison who caught the kick and shifted the ball infield to full-back Scott Burrell who ran towards the approaching defensive line and dabbed a lovely kick over their heads into the far right corner where the Portora players again smashed the ruck regaining possession.

Quick hands from right to left put the ball into Gormley's hands and the outside centre ran in for the teams' fourth try of the match. He missed the conversion and the referee blew for full-time with the score at 25-0 to Portora.

Portora:

1) Charlie Sargaison, 2) Richard Ogle, 3) Michael Trimble, 4) Rodney Blair, 5) James Brady, 6) Neil Allen

7) Graham Rutherford, 8) Matthew Tanswell, 9) Rory Gibson, 10) James Ferguson, 11) Andrew Morrison,

12) John McKenzie, 13) James Gormley, 14) Stephen Patterson, 15) Scott Burrell

16) Nathan McCrae, 17) Simon McIlveen, 18) Adam Farrell, 19) Philip Dickie, 20) James Houston

21) John Magwood, 22) David Docherty

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 21 Jan 10

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