2010-09-25 / Malone / UL Away:
Derry beat Coleraine in League
City of Derry RFC 62 pts, Coleraine RFC 10pts
City of Derry Rugby Club overwhelmed Coleraine in their North West derby at Judges Road on Saturday last. City of Derry romped home to gain their second maximum points haul for winning and scoring four try’s. This they had secured when they were leading by 29pts to 3pts at half time. Derry went on to outscore their opponents by nine tries to one at the end.
In beautiful conditions it was the visitors who forced the pace early on, and they were rewarded with a massive five minute penalty from inside their own half by centre Adam Parke.
Five minutes later a Derry mix up on the Coleraine 22 metre line saw the ball dropped and out half Josh Hansen hacked on twice to pick up and appear to gain the touchdown but the referee who was at least forty metres back disallowed for a knock on.
After this scare the home team settled and opened the scoring on 14 minutes, when the ball went right and winger Henderson cut back to finish at the posts, and soon after centre David Funston after a line out went straight through to touch down, with full back Mark O’Connor converting both for a 14-3 lead.
On 25 minutes after midfield possession, Derry spread left and winger Ryan Campbell had too much power to dive over at the corner. Just on the half hour mark Derry had their fourth try and bonus point, when Richard McCarter raced round to the posts, with O’Connor converting, and with the last action of the first half he kicked a penalty for a 29-3 Derry lead.
Coleraine prop Leslie George had to retire three minutes after the restart, to be replaced by Stephen Jefferson, and soon after the Bannsiders had their first and only try. A tap penalty on half way to winger Nigel Hall who was their most dangerous attacker, saw him side step past Derry defenders and race away to the posts, with Parke converting for a 29-10 scoreline.
Another Coleraine injury saw their second replacement on, but on 50 minutes after a series of rucks Derry second row Philip Brady powered over. When the Coleraine full back Peter McNay had to be helped off with shoulder injury the Bannsiders were a man short, and Derry took advantage of the extra player.
McCarter had two further scores, to complete his hat trick on his home debut since returning from Dungannon, and with replacement number eight Colin Mitchell another two try’s, then Campbell completed his brace of tries to complete the try scoring.
O’Connor converted the last four scores with superb strikes from wide out, to complete a very satisfactory afternoon for the home team. City of Derry Coach Bevan Lynch was delighted afterwards and he said “ this was a very important victory for us. We gave three young players their senior debuts and they all acquitted themselves with credit. Jared Bennett was solid in the centre and Peter Henderson who was only playing his second game after being out with a knee injury for a year showed his class on the wing. Simon Logue who is just out of Foyle College had an outstanding game at Scrum Half. We now look forward to Armagh away in two weeks time and that will be the big test for us as a squad”.
City of Derry Team: Mark O’Connor, Peter Henderson, David Founston, Jared Bennett, Ryan Campbell, Richard McCarter, Simon Logue, Karl Gemmell, Stephen Corr, Chris Cooper, Bob McKillop, Philip Brady, Sam Duffy, Steven Duffy, Sam McAuley, Replacements: Chris Shields, Colly Mitchell
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