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Strabane 35 - Antrim 5 | Sat 22nd Oct 2005 | | Strabane comfortably marched on to another convincing win at Antrim Yesterday. But as usual we didnt make it easy for ourselves in the first half at all. Missed tackles and poor defensive lines meant we allowed Antrim a lot of possession.
A quick period of passing saw Paul off-load to Nigel who in turn put Eddie through fot the first try of the match. Antrim responded well and scored through a missed tackle and a good run in by their winger. With the scores level a neat clearing kick by Housty and a show of dissent by the Antrim 13 allowed Strabane to take a quick penalty which was eventually scored in the corner by yours truly. Unfortunately Housty couldn't find the posts with either try in the first half.
During the half time team talk the team sorted out a few key things which had needed to be improved on - namely rucking, mauling and first time tackles. This seemed to have worked well as Strabane expoloded in the second half and showed what their true potential actually is - Antrim didnt have an answer to anything Strabane threw at them - we dominated Scrums, line outs and even turned them over on quite a few of their own balls. Key performances by Strabane Front row and in particular Mal who scored 2 very neat tries and Back row namely Mitcy who also scored 2 very well worked tries.
James Hamilton unfortunately received a nasty hip injury on a break down the wing - hospital treatment was required and we all hope that it is not serious and he will able to train again shortly
The success of this game very much rested on the wide shoulders of the Strabane pack - they showed that even though they were up against a heavy and well drilled Antrim pack they could re-adjust their game capitalise on the mistakes they made. Once the games was very much over the a disheartened Antrim team seemed to fall to peices at the core with arguments between players happening quite frequently.
On the whole Strabane need to take several key things away from this match - firstly - what can be acheived when the ball is rucked properely - secondly - how good the back's defense can be when they move up in a line and communicate better and thirdly - how much a difference only having to commit one person to the tackle can make - first time hits are vital!
Notable Occurrences
1. Mals Lateness - apparently he was diverted.
2. Johnny Bap - advice to players - "Shoe Him" - in ear shot of the ref.
3. Housty's try saving tackle on the full back.
4. Housty's Conversion kicking.
5. Mitchy's disruption of Antrim ball around rucks and mauls.
6. Chris Hamilton getting speared into the ref - tackle of the match.
7. Johnny Bap eating what seemed like a bottomless bowl of stew.
Good game all round - bring on Donegal!!
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