Larne hold out against Randalstown

With extremely wet and windy conditions the Larne side knew they would be in for a hard days graft against a well drilled Randalstown pack coached by ex Ulster and Ireland international – Gary Longwell.

Winning the toss, the home side opted to play with the gale force wind in the first half to take what advantage they could in case the elements decided to change throughout the afternoon.

The visitors kicked off and it did not take long for the wind to play it’s part and allow the hosts to work deep into the opponents half. They set up a number of opportunities off scrum and lineout, however, solid Randalstown defence did not give the Larne men a sniff at the try line. A penalty soon ensued and Andrews comfortably nudged over to put Larne into an early lead.

Again, it did not take long for Larne to establish some field postion. With young Burford throwing the ball into the lineout perfectly in extremely testing conditions it allowed Larne to set up a rolling maul. The Randalstown pack held them up five metres short but McBride hit a huge line bouncing his way through three attempted tacklers to score near the corner, Andrews unable to convert on this occasion.
As the conditions started to worsen, errors in the game started to creep in for both sides and both packs had to work hard in what would be a game with a lot of scrums. Props Rea and Lough held firm not allowing the visitors to gain any easy yards up the pitch.

As Randalstown carried ball up field they spotted an overlap on the blindside, Garrett stepped in with an interception to race away from the half way line for a seven pointer which was followed up with a quick penalty to put Larne into an 18-0 lead.

The hosts were in a favourable position approaching half time, however, an error in their own 22 allowed the visitors to pounce on the ball and dot down to bring the score line back to 18-7 going into the break.

Playing into the wind, Larne knew that they would have an almighty task ahead to hang on for what could be a crucial victory in the league. From the off, Randalstown exerted great pressure on the Larne line and the penalty count started to increase. After a warning from the referee, Hunter was the unfortunate victim of the game’s first yellow card which gave the opponents an edge in the scrum.

Unfortunately the valiant efforts of the seven Larne forwards could not hold out the scrum and they pushed over to bring the scoreline back to 18-12. Going down to 14 men was proving crucial and Randalstown would again take advantage of this by working into a good field position and crossing over for a well worked try, fortunately the conversion was missed.

Larne were given a boost as Hunter was welcomed back to the field and Burns moved back to full back to try and dissolve the threat of their kicking game. Cole and Jamison worked tirelessly in defence and led by example to their team mates. With fifteen minutes still to play, Larne continued to hold firm in defence and Randalstown passed on the opportunity with a number of penalties from close range. In the final play of the game, the referee adjudged the home side to have made a high tackle giving the visitors one last chance to steal victory from the jaws of defeat from long range.

Fortunately for the Larne players and spectators alike, the kick fell a long way short and the game ended 18-17.

A great four pointer for the Larne men edges them closer to safety and with no further League games until January will try and get a few injuries ironed out over Christmas.

This week sees return of the conference league and Larne travel to Ballymena on Thursday evening for a 19:45 Kick off.

All support would be greatly appreciated.