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Armagh travelled to Queens with a heavy forward pack including Ian McCall and Conor O'Neill as they needed to deny the queens side possession to have
any chance of winning the fixture.
Armagh started strongly with the forwards dominating possession only to be denied certain scoring opportunities due to the students cover defence.
Armagh took the lead after 15 minutes with a Davy Nicholson penalty after the Queens backs had strayed offside. Continued pressure from Armagh resulted in another successful penalty for Nicholson.
Queens now ran the ball at every opportunity but the armagh tacking was out
of the top drawer to deny Queens any points.
Armagh had a 5 metre scrum just on the stroke of half time and a well worked back row move between Ian McCall and Peter Hazelton saw Hazelton score near
the posts leaving Nicholson with the simplest of conversations.
This score gave armagh a timely boost at half-time and a 13 point lead.
Queens threw everything at Armagh trying to get that crucial first score but
all 15 Armagh players tackled their hearts out. From a Pearse Harney tackle
near the armagh line the loose ball was kicked up field and Stanley Hamilton
picked up and raced some 60 metres to score at the posts.
The conversation
was successful and Armagh were fortunate to hold on for another 15 minutes before Stanley intercepted a Queens scoring pass to sprint 70 metres to score a superb individual try.
Jamie Johnston pulled off a couple of try saving tackles before Niall Chapman was blood binned following a great break
through the Queens forwards. Queens then produced their best moves of the
game and following a succession of rucks near the Armagh line, Ian McCall
was sin binned for persistently slowing the ball down. This was to be the
first time in Ian's long career that he had been shown a card by the referee.
Chappie then returned to the field in place of Stanley at open side and he also tried his hand at number 2 jumper in the line out. This must be a first for a 50 year old centre.
Armagh now closed out the game with 14 men to be included in the draw for the next round.
This was a great team performance on a day when everyone was a hero against a youthful and very fit students' side. |
