On Thursday the U12’s rugby team went to Coleraine to play a tournament against other local teams.
Cullybackey started the tournament off against a tough Ballycastle team who scored within the first minute. The lads shown great confidence with their play and managed to score two ties in a couple of minutes. The game was closer than it should have been due to the weather conditions we put the ball down short of the line three times but still managed to come out on top.
In our second game we played against a very strong St. Patrick’s team who had gone undefeated in the previous tournament. Some great tackling from Jesse Mark, Josh Reid and Zach Reid helped to stop the opponent’s strongest players whilst the speed of Curtis Rea on the wing helped us to secure a 4-3 win and hand St. Patrick’s their first defeat.
We gained our final win of the day against a new St Mary’s team. They shown great motivation and attitude for a team that had very few players who had played before. Tries from Izak Richmond, Robbie Logan and Jesse Mark were enough to gain us the victory.
We finished off the tournament against a team we are yet to beat this season Dunclug. The lads fought valiantly and managed to score two tries from Alfie Dripps and Zach Reid but it wasn’t enough as we suffered our only defeat of the day 4-2. Despite the loss I felt that this was our strongest performance against a very tough opponent.
All of the players deserve massive credit for the way they played but my two standout players across the day were Jude Millar who’s experience and knowledge of the game helped massively and Jesse Mark who scored a couple of tries and made some impressive tackles.
Anyone who would like to try rugby and get involved with the team are always welcome at training on a Monday 3:30-4:30.
