Burns Bags Five Tries

A well-attended pre-match Christmas Dinner saw a larger crowd than normal stay for the match to support the home team.

It was the home team which was to start the quicker of the two and opened up an early lead. Burns was first on the score sheet closely followed by Garrett after some superb off-loading for both tries.

The wind and soft conditions did not make it easier for kickers and with conversions just drifting wide saw the score line sit at 10-0 within the opening five minutes.

Ophir began to enjoy a bit of territory as they played with the wind in the first half. They pressed hard through the forwards, however, great defence around the fringes, notably by McKinty and Hunter saw any threat nullified.

The Larne scrum proved to be the most solid of the season to date which give the Ophir team little go forward.

With the pressure mounting on the Larne line, the attacking number 8 picked to go blind and his pass to the scrum half was intercepted by Garrett who sprinted the length of the pitch to score under the posts.

The fighting spirit of the visitors was short lived and Larne controlled the game up until half time. Great ball carrying from McIheron and Thomas put the hosts into strong field position and the latter was rewarded with a try of his own after seeing off a couple of defender in typical “Thomas the Train” fashion.

Hall’s hard work from full back was rewarded after a neat backs move which saw him find a hole, throw a dummy and cross the whitewash. Burns felt it had then been long enough before he had got his hands on the ball and went searching. It wasn’t long before he found himself in a bit of space when he glided round a number of defenders to dot down in the corner.

Half time score sat at 34-0 to the home team.

Larne fell asleep at half time and the Ophir side came out the quicker of the two. Their ever threatening scrum half found numerous soft shoulder as he went on a rampaging run for over 50m. The Larne defence was in disarray and their flanker picked and went straight through untouched to score under the posts. A quick chat whilst the conversion was taking place soon put the Larne heads in the right place.

Great work from the pack at kick off saw the ball turned over and spread wide for Burns once again to round his man and score his third of the day.

Not for the pack not to be left out of the equation, close range tries from McCluggage and Rea saw the gap on the score board open further. Credit to the Ophir side for not wanting to blow the game up early and their heart was rewarded with yet another well worked try through their pack.

Larne stepped it up a gear approaching the last ten minutes, a great line from Agnew saw him disappear from the wondering defence and race away to score in the corner.

Burns was still not finished and was again to haunt the Ophir side on two more occasions. Although down to 13 men having picked up a couple of injuries, the home side gave the ball to Burns just outside the 22. His deceptive pace took him outside three covering defenders to score yet again in the corner.

In the last play of the game Larne played out from their own 22. Garrett put in a cross field kick for Burns to gather, again beating a couple of men from 60 meters out to score under the posts to cap off an outstanding individual performance with five tries.

The final score was 68-14 to the hosts.

An away trip to Carrick next week for the second leg of the Cup will be a tightly contested affair and any travelling support would be greatly appreciated by the players.