28th August 2007

Armagh played the last of their four pre-season friendly trials matches last Tuesday at Academy and achieved the third victory of the series by a margin of 7 tries to 1.

As before, there were no conversion attempts nor any penalty kicks at goal, so the reasonable conclusion was that under normal match conditions 50 points could have been achieved.

Also substitutes were used and positional changes were frequent.

While Academy are not in the same league as Armagh they took the game very seriously so it was no walk-over! A bright sunny evening succeeded the rainy afternoon fortunately, since there were no flood lights at the Mallusk grounds.

The fading light only permitted two short halves.

Armagh coach, Colin Steenson, must have been well pleased with his player’s performances. Possibly the main beneficiary of this series of games has been the seconds team, since their players have figured so prominently.

The first try was set up by Ethan Allen who made some good ground to send Alan Redpath in for a try.

The second try was claimed by another new face, Gareth Beggs, who scored at the posts.

The third try of the half was recorded by hooker James Johnston.

Academy hit back with the first try of the second half, but Adam Gowing kept up the pressure with a try in the corner. This was followed by a try at the posts by Chris Black.