Larne 1sts gain bonus win point v Donaghadee

The game kicked off with Larne immediately stamping their authority on the game putting in some great tackles and disrupting any ball that Dee had.

Colin McKinty found himself on the wing this week due to unavailability and work commitments of some of our players, it was long before he got himself on the score after a great tackle that dislodged the ball, Colin showed that he would be at home on a soccer pitch with some good football skills by controlling the ball for a good 60 meters and outpacing a number of Dee players at the same time to touch down for Larnes first score. Conversion by Philip Andrews: Dee 0 - 7 Larne.

Dee kicked off and disrupted Larne’s retake at the kick off which became a feature of the game, however with Peter Reid, Matthew Crampsey and Gareth Jamison in the forwards, defending round the ruck there’s not many teams that would get through. A scrum soon followed deep in Larne territory and with Rhys Thomas in mid field and McKinty outside Larne where only going one way and that was forward. A great exit play and a well-placed kicked by Andrews allowed young Jonny Wilson to chase and make a great tackle on the Dee fullback, this led to a Larne penalty which was slotted over by Andrews.

McAlister was next on the score sheet after one of Garrett's trade mark inside passes at the break down. Dee 0 - 17 Larne.
Andrews followed up with a try after Larne spun the ball wide to McKinty who fed Burns to race down the field supported by Andrews who was on hand when burns beat the last defender by using the ball and taking full advantage of a 2 v 1 situation. Andrews kicked the conversion. Dee 0 - 24 Larne.

Dee did have a short spell on the Larne line after this try but Big Pete Reid was on hand to hold up two attempts at a maul by Dee. However the lines where cleared and Larne kept their clean sheet.

Young Wilson got his name on the score sheet after some great bull dozing runs by Thomas, McKinty and Burns gave Larne good territory and Andrews put a neat kick in for Wilson to gather and show good footwork to step the last defender and cross the whitewash, con P. Andrews. Dee 0 - 31 Larne.

Burns got himself on the score sheet, but not before Larne threw the ball around like the barbarians with some great offloads out of the tackle and outstanding support lines. Andrews again kicked the conversion keeping his 100% record for the game and rounding out the half leaving Larne leading 0 - 38.

The 2nd half was much as was from the first half with Larne dominating the scrum and break down. This was giving Larne more and more confidence to throw the ball around and really enjoy the game as much as the travelling Larne support where.
Burns finished off what was an outstanding performance by him not only in attack but defence by scoring a further two tries; the first was scored after good hands in confined space and McAlister giving the 2 v 1. The 2nd was a bit of a solo try cutting through the Dee defence and handing off the fullback to score.

Andrews and McAlister, and McBride added to the try count scoring a further try each. Andrews converted both giving him a 100% kicking record for the game, kicking 10 conversions and a penalty leaving the final score 0 - 73 in Larne's favour.

Fixtures for Saturday 19th Nov:
Coleraine v Larne 1sts
Academy 3rds v Larne 3rds