The Ards men travelled to Tyrone this morning in good spirits, looking to avenge a home defeat in October when the Dungannon men took a 59-26 win back up the M1.

With a number of players unavailable, including 8 of last week's squad, it was an opportunity to try some new combinations and roles, with Tomass and Will swapping between 9 and wing, TJ moving back to N8 from second row and Kai S returning to hooker following a stint at 12 last week in a tactical switch up.
After what had been some horrid weather on the east coast on Friday afternoon, the Dungannon pitch was in fantastic condition for the type of fast paced rugby this squad have been getting used to in recent weeks. It was, however, the Dungannon team who were the sharper of the teams in the first half and coupled with 'home luck', were 3 tries up before long.
As this squad have done on occasions before, they didn't let this deter them, constantly looking to the next phase and striving for the next try. And it came, after excellent defensive work from Harley, Kai F, Kai S, Jamie and Maison led to a Dungannon coughing up possession, which was picked up by Kai F who fed Corey who had to do a lot of work before running it in under the posts.
Half time approached and Coaches Kennedy and Wallace were impressed with what they had been watching, with grit, determination and most of all, improvement being evident for all to see!

After the turnaround, Ards didn't let up in their desire and termination, exemplified by the likes of Harley, Euan, Kyle and Kai S, who were either sick en-route, during the first half, or picked up niggled throughout the match, but all wanted to get back involved after a long enough stint on the sidelines to 'walk it off'. Each and every boy showed a desire to play for the shirt that is commendable!

As the second half wore on, further tries for Noah and Kai S were traded with a few in response for Dungannon and the scoreline ended up a very credible 32-19, more than halving the deficit from the earlier match.

Next up is a visit from Ophir next Saturday, before another trip along the M1, this time to Lurgan, on 20th December before we break for Christmas.