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Est 1865

Carrick 1st XV won their encounter with local rivals Belfast High School FP by 37 points to 15 on Saturday 6 March at the War Memorial ground in Greenisland. The Maxol-sponsored Carrick side, with a number of enforced changes, made hard work at times of subduing the bottom of the table High School side which was reduced to fourteen men when they lost their out-half to injury after just fifteen minutes. Although on top in the set pieces throughout, Carrick made far too many errors and it took them until well into the second half before they showed the patience to take advantage of High School being a man down. Partly, this was down to over-eagerness, particularly on the part of the backs. On the positive side, Captain Stuart Currie led by example, putting in another outstanding performance in the line-out, in taking and chasing kick-offs and generally in the loose. He was awared "Man of the Match". Michael Patterson again showed how dangerous he can be from the base of the scrum while his half-back partner, Karl Wilkinson, kicked extremely well out of hand.

On a perfect day for rugby, Carrick dominated territory in the early stages but it was the home side which came closest to scoring with a move which started inside their own 22 and ended when they turned the ball over on the Carrick line. The visitors had a number of try-scoring chances but could not convert them although they did eventually take the lead after twenty minutes when Karl Wilkinson put over a penalty. He extended the Carrick lead on twenty-seven minutes with another penalty just after centre Johnny McConnell lost the ball in contact inches from the High School line. Carrick's first try came shortly afterwards; Karl Wilkinson found touch in the High School 22 ,Stuart Currie won the line-out against the throw and charged through from fifteen metres out to score. The try was not converted. It was another charge from a line-out by Currie, just before half-time, which set up Carrick's second try; this time, quick ball to the backs allowed Andy McKeen to dive over when Johnny McConnell was held up just short of the line. Karl Wilkinson put over an excellent conversion from close to the touch-line.This left the half-time score at 18 points to nil in the visitors' favour.

High School completely dominated the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half, aided by six penalty awards against Carrick. However, the only reward for the home side was a penalty after thirteen minutes of the half. Almost immediately afterwards, Carrick extended their lead when a loose clearance kick by High School was flipped to Johnny McConnell who ran in from thirty metres out with scarcely a hand laid on him. Karl wWlkinson added the points to give Carrick a 25 points to 3 lead. Then, Carrick indicipline led to the award of a penalty try to the home side. As this resulted from obstruction after a chip through by a High School back about thirty metres out, when there were several Carrick defenders between the kicker and the line, it was far from certain that a try would have resulted had the offence not taken place. The try was converted. Carrick responded eight minutes later with the best try of the match. A series of picks and drives by the forwards tied in the High School defence and, when the ball went to the backs,Johnny McConnell made the decoy run while Aaron McKinney drew his marker and delivered a well-timed pass to Graig Jordan who ran in from the 22 to get the touch-down.The try was not converted but Carrick now led by 30 points to 10.Virtually from the kick-off, the visitors conceded a soft try when no one was on hand to pick up from the base of a ruck and the High School left winger was allowed to run in unopposed from forty metres out. This try was not converted. In the thirty-second minute of the half, Carrick got the final score of the match when Michael Patterson, spotting an undefended blind-side at ruck, twisted out of a tackle and raced in from the High School 22. Karl Wilkinson added the conversion points to make the final score 37 points to 15 in Carrick's favour.

This was a very patchy performance by Carrick and they will need to reduce the error rate considerably when they face a much sterner test against Ballyclare on Saturday 13 March.

The Carrick team against High School was:

M. Gilmore; C. Jordan, J. McConnell, A. McKinney, W. Shaw; K. Wilkinson, M. Patterson; G. Leslie, G. Baxter, P. Greenaway, S. Currie(Capt), M. Patterson, M. Hadden, N. Marsden, A. McKeen

On Thursday 4 March ,Carrick 2nd XV put in a solid performance in beating Lisburn by 26 points to 10. ( Lisburn pipped Carrick to trhe Junior Section 3 title last season.) The Carrick try scorers were Tim Green, who got two, Jason Wady and Johnny McConnell. Luke Totten kicked two conversions. "Man of the Match" was shared between Ross Crymble and John McDowell. On Wednesday 10 March, the 2nds travel to Ballynahinch for their postponed Crawford Cup quarter-final.Kick-off is at 7.30.

In only their second League defeat, the Carrick 4th XV lost by 14 points to 7 away to Ballynahinch on Saturday 6 March. The try came from Danny Thomas, with Gary Hunter converting.

Both the 3rd XV and Under 19 XV matches were forfeited by the oppositon.

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.Match Reports, 06-03-10