Larne Overcome Civil Service in Butler Shield

After being knocked out of the McCambley Cup, Larne were determined to come away from this game with nothing less than a win.

Despite a sluggish start where both sides traded tackles and turnovers in the middle of the field Larne got into their stride first and opened the scoring with J. Hall stepping the winger to score to the right of the posts.

Civil Service no.10 tried to relieve the almost constant pressure Larne were exerting by sending long kicks deep into the home 22 but the equally savage boot of fullback H. Saunderson returned the favour time and time again.

From a ruck inside the Service 22, M. Gilbert took a crash ball and scored Larne’s second try despite the 3 opposition players trying to bring him down.

Civil Service fought back well and their solid rucking and counter rucking forced Larne into giving away several penalties which they used to set up lineouts deep in the Larne half. But with 1-15 all playing their part in defence Service couldn't find any way through.

The last 2 tries of the half proved how well this Larne side worked together. D. McCann and D. Hagans were instrumental in disrupting the Service scrum and allowing the reds to take several scrums against the head. From there, the forwards secured the attacking platforms inside the opposition half and rumbled forward with the strength of J. McKinty and W. Rea before releasing the backs to spin the ball wide, bringing H. Saunderson into the line to break through and score twice.

Half Time score: Larne 26-0 Civil Service.

Larne picked up the second half where they had left off, attacking strongly and giving no quarter in defence. Scrum half A. White decided that he needed to shed a little weight to allow him to move faster and left the contents of his stomach at the side of the pitch. Evidently this had the desired effect as after a break away by D. McCann, White was in support to receive the offload and step inside to score the first points of the half. He was involved in the next try as well giving Saunderson the ball off the back of a ruck who then showed fast hands to put A. Murray in under the posts for another 5 points.

R. Jones and S. Johnston came on to replace J. McKinty and D. Hagans and immediately caused chaos for Service with bruising carries and big, physical tackles.

Larne’s 3rd try of the half was something quite magical. Strong running from Rennix and Saunderson drove the attack deep into the Service half. Excellent vision by White spotted no one at home on the left wing and sent a delicate chip into the open space. A. Ferguson and S. McAllister both charged after the certain try. In a beautifully heart-warming moment they couldn’t decide which of them should make the score. With the rain falling, their fingers entwined as they reached out together and touched the ball down. After witnessing such a display of tenderness and respect there wasn’t a dry eye on the pitch, though most will claim it was the rain.

All credit to Civil Service, they never gave up. They continued to batter away at the red line, and were rewarded when a mix up in attack saw Larne drop the ball and the Service 10 kicking it through, chased closely by A. Murray. Despite getting to the ball first, just as it reached the try line, the referee judged the service outhalf to have knocked it on rather than scored.

This slight hiccup caused lads to regain their focus. Murray, determined to score again, ran at the opposition line with Gilbert in support. Murray popped the ball to Gilbert and then got it back again on the switch to confound the defence and send him in for the last try of the game.

In the dying minutes, Service again worked their way into the Larne half and applied enough pressure to win another penalty. Opting to go for the posts in order to get some points their out-half pushed it wide and the game finished 50 – 0.

A fantastic result and an extremely promising performance all round for the Larne boys. If they continue this into the next round then there is a good chance that they can progress a lot further in the competition. It was a thoroughly enjoyable game.

Line-up: D. Hagans, B. Meikle, D. McCann, M. Gilbert, W. Rea, S. McAllister, A. Daragh, J. McKinty, A. White, C. Aston, J. Shirley, J. Hall, G. Rennix, A. Murray, H. Saunderson, R. Jones, A. Ferguson, S. Johnston