Scorers: Walsh (1*Try), Short(1*Try),O’Connor(1*Try), Douthart(1*Try, 4*Conv)
A new-look Rainey U14 side opened their season by hosting a 3-way round robin against Dungannon and Ballymoney. In the first match, Dungannon 14s were the first to score, a forward breaking through a ruck from a pick-and-go and carrying a few players with him to the line to score. They got another out wide via their backs and a third through their heavy set of forwards once more.
Throughout, Rainey’s game was starting to come together, with some great carries coming from the forwards and just before half-time they finally clicked. From a scrum on the opposition’s 22, Rainey scrummaged well, hooker McOscar won his own ball and the platform was set for the backs. Scrum-half McIvor got quick ball to his half-back partner Douthart who fed the oncoming centre Davison. Davison cleverly released his centre partner Walsh, who had quick feet to weave his way through the Dungannon defence to score at the posts. Douthart was successful with conversion.
As the second-half commenced, Rainey were playing with much more fluidity, and wasn’t long before they struck off a scrum once more. The Rainey backs moved the ball quickly, a lovely switch move involving Douthart and Walsh released winger Short who jinked through the Dungannon defence to score. Douthart’s conversion brought them to within one point, and they took the lead when lock O’Connor who broke through after a great gather to score to the right of the posts. A fourth from Douthart sealed the result.
In a shortened game against Ballymoney, the visitors showed their class to put three tries past Rainey, who were unable to turn pressure into points.
This was a successful first outing for the U14s, with several of last year’s U12, notably Finn McOscar, Ewan McDonald, Matthew O’Kane, Charlie Foley, Ciaran Short and Daithi Murphy all successfully making the transition to U14s rugby.
Team: C.Bradley 2. Finn McOscar 3. Andrew McKeown 4. Oliver Nelson 5. Louis O’Connor 6. Matthew O’Kane 7. Oisin O’Loughlin 8. Matthew Cunningham 9. Daniel McIvor 10. Thomas Douthart 11. Charlie Foley 12. Harris Davison 13. Eoin Walsh 14. Ciaran Short 15. Cillian McLarnon Subs. 16. Ewan McDonald 17. Daithi Murphy