On Saturday the 2s travelled to Hamilton Park to play Ards in a league game. During midweek the team beat Portadown 81-5 at home so they were looking to keep the momentum going.

With the weather in perfect condition the team knew it was a day for running rugby. The game started a bit scrappy though with both teams trying to run as much as they could. Ards were first on the scoreboard with a penalty 3 mins into the game for Hinch being off side on the middle of the field.

This got the visiting moving and in reply James McBriar crossed over for the first try. He converted himself to make the score 7-3. Ards immediately hit back with a try of their own. Poor tackling lead to their winger crossing over. The conversion was missed to leave it 8-7 to the home team. Hinch had to knuckle down and start playing their own game, they did manage to score through Scott Hughes after 15 mins and after that Hinch kept the pressure on.

Further tries in the first half from David Chambers and a brace from Kyle Corrigan meant Hinch were leading comfortably 40 points to 8 at half time.

In the second half Hinch tried to play as much as they could but it was difficult with uncontested scrums being a major issue and slowing the game down. Kyle Corrigan got another two tries bringing his tally to 4 for the day and Mark McCormick finished off the scoring in the 37th minute. With James McBriar kicking well the final score finished 57-8 to the visiting Hinch team.

With the semi-final of the junior cup looming the boys are going to have to play much better than they did today. Yes, they did score 57 points but the score line does flatter them a little. Armagh will be a much sterner opposition and a couple of week’s hard work is needed to prepare for them.