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STRABANE 2ndXV 12 - 0 OMAGH III | Sun 24th Sep 2006 | | Team:- David S, Garry S, Fawcett, Bert, Lee, Gordy B, J.K, Decky, Ross S, McKnight, Jimmy, Gilsy, Warney, Andy B, Smiler. Subs:- Gody McKelvey (used) Stuarty (used) berts mate (not used)
What a match for the first game of the season!!! Unfortunately I couldnt get away from work on time to play but I got to watch most of it. Strabane played towards Lifford in the first half with the wind to their advantage and tried to make the most of it. Inside the first 8 mins Strabane where peppering the Omagh line but couldnt get the ball over with drive after drive being repelled and the ref eventually saying that the ball had been held up over the line. This gave strabane an attacking scrum from which Jimmy wanted the ball to the blind side. Ross duely gave him his wish and Jimmy crashed through 2 omagh attackers to score in the corner. McKnight was on kicking duty and just narrowly missed the conversion in the windy conditions.
Omagh got the pressure on again and had some good periods of play. Strabane had a few men playing out of position with Ross as scrum half but he played well with a few sniping runs from the back of the scrum causing the Omagh defence some trouble. The moment of the match has to be watching J.K chasing Sheldon down the pitch!!! After a period of play with strabane going sideways across the pitch and not crossing the gain line Sheldon managed to get the ball between his 22 and the half way line. He broke clean through and was away with J.K in hot pursuit. It was like watching slow motion with these 2 giants of the game and speed of light running skills going down the pitch. Something happened sheldon and he decided that J.K was somehow going to catch him in the last 10m with J.K a full 5 m behind him. The omagh man must have took fear of J.K's war face chasing him and threw the ball to the closest omagh man who somehow fumbled it and the chasing strabane pack managed to get gathered up and got the ball back.
There was more intense pressure from strabane resulting in another attacking scrum at the 22. Ross picked and passed to McKnight who ran to the blind side with Jimmy in support. McKnight managed to dummy 1 attacker and left another on his ass to run the try under the posts. He slotted over the conversion and the ref blew for half time. The break saw many subs with J.K getting oxygen at the side as he was still done out after his sprint and Smiler having to go the car for a fag to try and slow his heart down!!!
The second half saw intense pressure from Omagh with the majority of the game being played in the strabane half. Handling errors were now to the fore with 3 or 4 good Omagh runs being stopped by forward passing and fumbling the ball. Stuarty managed to continue his run of getting injured in every game by clashing heads with smiler. Stuarty was now playing scrum half with Jimmy at out half and ross back on the wing due to McKnight straining a calf muscle. Gordy B was superb in the line outs all day with him getting high up due to decky and Fawcett lifting him and he disrupted many Omagh throws.
There was to be no more scores in the game and many lessons have been learned. Garry only had a few kicks that actually made touch so several penalty oppertunities where missed so maybe going for a definite touch in windy conditions instead of distance should be adopted. The pack was solid in the scrum and at the line outs however some indecision was coming up during the phases. The tackling was good and hard with very few men getting missed and everybody making the effort. Bert had a great game and had a few runs into contact although sometimes the support was lacking. Overall it was a great game to watch and a superb way to start the season.
P.S word from the clubhouse in omagh was that they complained at the amount of Firsts playing on the team. Only 3 permanent firsts players where used being Gilsy, McKnight and Ross with Gordy having only made the step up at the last few games and Jimmy and Stuarty being subs. Besides Omagh had a few players of their own from the higher levels on the pith not to mention their secret weapon A.J who is an Omagh seconds player!!!!
REPORT BY GARETH ( CALAMITY ) CALDWELL |
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