| Harlequins and Ballymena met at Deramore on Friday night with the Belfast side recording a surprise 9-0 victory. This gave Derek Suffern’s men an ideal opportunity to reclaim top place in the league, but two defensive errors and poor discipline in the first half cost the County Down side two vital home points as the students from Dublin made the Hinch fight to the very end to scrape a draw 21-21.
Playing with the wind advantage in the first half the visitors raced into an early lead when out half Niall Earls converted two penalty goals in the 2nd and 4th minutes to take his side 6 points clear.
The Hinch responded with a try in the 9th minute from fullback David Nicholson, after the Hinch had worked a number of phases to put Nicholson clear, and with a man outside he dummied and crossed for a well taken score.
UCD wasted no time in hitting back, their lively halfbacks Niall Earls and Peter De Toit creating the opening after the restart, De Toit crossing just left the posts for the visitors first try which went unconverted taking them 5-11 clear.
Hinch battled hard to hold onto the ball and dominated the scrums taking strikes against the head on several occasions. In the 33rd minute UCD number 8 Richie Bent did well to clear from the back of a retreating scrum sending De Toit into space down the blind side. As Hinch out half James Lash attempted to tackle he lost his footing and a gap opened with winger Sam Coughlan Murray collecting the wide pass to sprint into the right hand corner for his sides second try. Earls added the extras from the touchline to increase the visitor’s tally to 18 points.
In the final minute of the first half poor discipline again cost the Hinch points as Earls landed a long-range penalty goal to leave his side with a comfortable 5-21 advantage at the interval
Now playing with the wind advantage the Hinch turned down a couple of kickable penalties early in the second half opting to set up the catch and drives in the corners, but the well organised students defence held firm. Hinch missed two opportunities to score in the 52nd and 53rd minutes both fell to number 8 Jonny Graham. Graham first dropped the ball with the whitewash at his mercy after a neat off load from Lash had put him clear just a few metres short of the line. From the resulting scrum Hinch took it against the head but flanker Jonny Madden broke off the scrum early and was pinged for crossing in front of Graham blocking De Toit as the big Hinch number 8 attacked the line.
Lash eventually increased the Hinch tally to 8 points after he converted a penalty goal in the 54th minute.
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Play at this stage was all Ballynahinch and in the 56th minute sustained pressure from the County Down men created room for centre Stuart Morrow to cross in the right hand corner for the second home try which went unconverted 13-21.
UCD managed to hold onto the ball for the next ten minutes but a great kick from Hinch scrum half Harry McAleese rolled into the visitors 22 and hit the cornerflag keeping the students deep in their 22. In the 70th minute Hinch attacked again and as Lash attempted a wide ball in front of the UCD posts but it was deliberately knocked on giving Lash an easy opportunity to convert closing the gap to 16-21.
In the final minutes it was all pressure from the home side as they attempted to force a winning try. After a long period camped in the UCD 22 the ball was moved right and with just 3 minutes remaining centre James Thompson did well for force his way over in the right hand corner. Ballymacarn Park held its breath as Lash attempted the touchline conversion, which narrowly missed the right hand upright leaving the score tied 21-21.
The game finished at 21 points apiece with the students returning to Dublin delighted with their 2 points and the Hinch left rather annoyed to have missed the opportunity to get back on top of Division 1B. Poor discipline and a large error count will be boldly underlined in the note book of Derek Suffern and Charlie McAleese as they prepare for the trip to Limerick this weekend to face UL Bohemians. Bohs had an encouraging away win in Galway last weekend so back on home turf this Saturday they will want to maintain that success, Hinch will have to be at their best to stay top of 1B.
Teams
15 David Nicholson 14 Aaron Ferris 13 Stuart Morrow 12 James Thompson 11 Robin Harte 10 James Lash 9 Harry McAleese 8 Jonny Graham 7 Keith Dickson 6 Jonny Madden 5 Chris Napier 4 James Simpson 3 Jerry Cronin 2 Neil Hanna © 1 Kyle McCall
Replacements
16 Aaron Cairns 17 Mark McCormick 18 Toby Manus 19 Gavin Armstrong 20 Jonny Simpson.
15 Andy Boyle 14 Sam Coughlan Murray 13 Alex Kelly 12 David Lynch 11 Tom Fletcher 10 Niall Earls 9 Peter De Toit 8 Richie Bent 7 Danny Kenny 6 Kellan McKenna 5 Emmet McMahon 4 Brian Cawely © 3 Brian Hall 2 David Doyle 1 James Tracey.
Replacements
16 Kieran Maloney 17 Risteard Byrne 18 Mark McGroarty 19 Rob Shanley 20 Michael Twomey
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