P.S.N.I. 7 - 27 STRABANE |
Sat 11th Feb 2006 |
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 The Gordon West Cup has been blown wide open by the shock win for Strabane rfc over the peelers at newforge lane on saturday 11th february. In the same fixture in the league last year, the police gave us a rugby lesson, but this time around it was the boys in blue who got taught a thing or two - suffering their heaviest home defeat of the season. the team: mal finlay, bob dillon, davy finlay, jonny ( bap ) robinson, john graham, gordy baird, eddie mccrea, jason mitchell - subbed willy mccarter 45, jason mcknight, simon maxwell, ross smyth, greg mitchell, brian allen, stephen ( soupy ) campbell - subbed stuarty thompson 39, simon mowbray Looking at this fixture at the start of the season, no-one, not even the optomistic gerry taylor, could have forseen the events that were to unfold in belfast over the weekend. but as the season has progressed, the team has gradually improved and gelled together, and with our come-from-behind victory over ballyshannon last week confirming our league credentials, we travelled up to the big city with more than just hope. the minibus arrived at the splendid newforge lane complex just before 1.30pm and we had plenty of time to sort out the 6 team changes enforced by injury and work commitments. the stiff wind was blowing diagonally across the pitch and we played with the wind in the first half, the police kicking to us to start the game. The police made their intentions clear early on, they were going to try and steamroller us with their massive pack, but for all their early possession they hardly got into our 22. we continually turned them over and maxi was having a great day with the boot and made fantastic distance with his kicks all day long, to relieve whatever pressure there was. the scrums were going to be crucial, and they stole the first two with great shoves, but once we got settled we held our own, and would eventually turn the tables . from another scrum they again went for the 8 man shove, but after a good clean hook to mitchy's feet, he was off the back of the scrum like he'd seen a good digger going cheap. our tight 5 was going back at a rate of knots, but mitchy was already steaming into their half and looking for support. rossi then tore up from the left wing and received the pass, took it on well and flying up was young mcknight to take the scoring pass on the 22, speeding to the goal-line for a try. the ref wisely ignored a traffic branch member who said he'd gunned ross at well over 30mph in a built up area, and it was 5-0 to strabane. the game was being played at a fantastic pace and with great commitment from both sides, with no quarter asked or given. the police had bullied us around the pitch last time, but whenever a bust up started on our 22 we all rallied round and showed them that we weren't going to roll over. we then had our first problem, when mcknight got yellow carded for stamping, but their player was killing the ball and it wasn't the first time he'd been caught where he shouldn't be. a good scrum-half should be allowed to tramp for the ball and i'm only thankful that it wasn't me in jason's way . justice was done though, as the penalty attempt was missed and we headed up the pitch again. things got even better just before the break when from another scrum mitchy broke again and offloaded from a gang tackle to maxi. he dashed up the line and eddie, relishing his return to the flanks, was in prime position to take the pass to go over the line unopposed - 10 bloody nil and a man down . the try had come at a heavy price though, as we danced back up the pitch only to see mitchy limping off with a suspected torn hamstring - greg showing great brotherly love with the quip " he doesn't even know what a hamstring is " for all their bluster we held the police out, in a first half performance that was by far our best of the season, but at the added cost of poor soupy, 1 minute from time when his badly abused shoulder gave up the ghost in a tackle. ( he had to be knocked out in hospital to get the shoulder back in - i'm sure he didn't think he'd be unconcious that early in the night ) the half-time whistle went and unbelieveably we were in the lead, but the black eyes and bloody noses in the huddle showed we were in a belter and the second half was going to be even tougher. we all agreed that it would've been a complete waste of time putting in a display like that unless we backed it up with a second half to match, and we knew that the cops would be hurting and would come out with all guns blazing. greg mitchell's marshalling of our backs and all round nous was having a galvanizing effect on the whole team and john graham's sheer doggedness was lifting us grunters. however the loss of mitchy was a very serious blow - the scene was set for an epic second half. As expected the peelers came out like a bull at a gate, and were soon within our 22 and were awarded a 5m scrum when a rolling maul was held up over the line. with their tails now up, they went for a real blast and were slowly pushing us back. we'd managed to get a bit of a turn on them, but as they were crossing the line john graham dived into their backrow and did a classic piece of burglary, but the ref was having none of it and awarded a penalty try . there was much discussion of this after the match, with some of the experts saying that as soon as the ball crosses the goalline the scrum is over and anyone can touch the ball ( which is correct ) and regardless of this, the police's nos. 8 knocked the ball on . 10 - 7 to strabane At this stage the travelling band of strabane supporters ( all 10 of them ) could've been forgiven for thinking that our challenge was on the way out, but this was going to be our day and we were going to prove it. we set about our work with renewed effort and stories could be told about the massive efforts put in by the individuals, but this was to be a superb team performance and everyone fronted up big time. we were beginning to disrupt their lineouts well and stopped the dangerous rolling maul and got our own going to devestating effect. the scrums were also starting to go our way, helped by the loss of the peeler's massive hooker ( another one bites the dust ), and we demonstrated this with a wheel on their ball in our 22 to turnover possession. this seemed to upset them somewhat, and they were soon arguing amongst themselves - and this spurred us on even more. After more excellent work we rumbled into their 22 and mal made a good burst and made a basketball pass to bap . with plenty still to do, the newest second row in the club eventually used all his considerable ignorance to smash through a police roadblock and crash over the line for a magnificent try, with maxi adding the 2 points. there seemed to be some confusion amongst the touch-judges about whether or not the kick was over but they eventually raised their flags to great roars from the team and supporters. calamity caldwell and his hip flask may have had something to do with this tardiness. 17 - 7 to us The police were definitely far from pleased at this stage and the banter was getting good. a series of complaints from maxis opposite number about the quality of strabane was expertly riposted with " what are ye slabberin' about, sure were taking ye to the cleaners " , and the boy wasn't wrong. their loose head prop then lost the plot completely and threw his rattle, dummy, teddy and comforter out of the pram, simply huffed and left the field with 10 minutes still to play. this left the peelers without any other front rowers, so the ref went to uncontested scrums - which may have forfieted them the game. I've never seen behaviour like it and i hope the player is punished, but i would dearly love to play him again next year just for the chance to ask him " are you going to stay for all of this game ?" we continued to give the police all they wanted, and were soon inside their 22 again and after huge pressure they coughed up another penalty opportunity well within maxi's range, but before we could decide what to do up stepped mr bap with only one thought in his mind - he hasn't the capacity for many more . he tapped the ball off and headed straight for the biggest group of police he could find. afterwards hunter was saying he thought " where the hell is he going...........jesus bap, what the feck are........oh well done jonny, great score ". bap scored a superb solo try he had no right to get, and this converted score was the death knell for the psni's hopes of cup glory. 24 - 7 to the strabane At this stage we knew the game was ours, but to everyones' credit we played on like we were behind and we pushed at them right to the end. one final carry by myself led to a policeman doing his best impression of me and he gave away a penalty in front of the posts, with the ref telling us this would be the last play. maxi stepped up and calmly put the cherry on top of a huge helping of peeler pie with another 3 points to leave the final score strabane 27 - psni. 7 the look on our teams and supporters faces at the final whistle is what this is all about. all the busting yourself on a wednesday night, the quiet friday nights and the sore sundays. the smiles, the hugs, the shouts and roars and the deep feeling of pride and a job very well done are rich reward indeed. i still haven't got the smile off my face as i finish this report on monday night. everyone deserves mention and everyone will get it as they all played their part: mal leading from the front, davy solid as a rock and john graham who disrupted the peelers so badly they'll definitely be looking to arrest him before our next meeting. gordy covered more ground than the ethiopian marathon squad would in a week of hard training and eddy capped another blinder with a well deserved score. mitchy did enormous damage when he was on and thought we were doing so well he could take a breather after an " exquisite performance " - his own words . young willy mccarter came on and did so well that mitchy was hardly missed, and jason mcknight showed his class and his mean side . maxi kept us going forward all day and his boot was like a siege gun, lifting the troops every time you heard the bang and had to jog to the other end of the pitch . soupy needs the victoria cross for his services to this club and he again suffered for the lads, but stuarty came on and played like a demon, carrying great ball back into the pack. rossi is back to his speedy best and terrorised their backs and brian cut their defence to shreds, with both of them putting in great tackles again and again. it's bound to be frightening trying to stop these two speed merchants. mowbray-burger treated the ball like his last pie, seemed to have a crystal ball and didn't even drop a fart let alone the ball. greg mitchell showed us all why he his so highly sought after and organised the best strabane backs' performance i've seen. his crunching tackles will long be remembered by his victims and he stole more ball than the police team managed all together. but the man of the match award must go to the pie-chomper himself, mr jonny bap. our 2 try hero found his true calling amongst the fire in the engine room and his power and aggression were channelled 100% in the right direction .............................................. for a change |
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