Ards 1st XV had a long road trip to Letterkenny on Saturday in their final game of the first block of fixtures this season. To date, this had produced 4 good wins, with Ards top of the league table and through to the next round of this season’s Junior Shield. There were some changes in personnel on the day, enforced due to injury and non-availability. This saw the rotation of Matthew Bell, Rory Christie, Ben Goldthorpe and Adam Barnes back into the match day squad.

Although the weather was generally fine, there was a strong wind, which Ards played into for the first half. With the journey still in their legs, they took most of the first 10 minutes to get into gear and found themselves 10-0 down to an energetic start from the home side. However, they were soon into their stride and patient phase building brought them into the Letterkenny 22 with carries from Matthew Kane and Danny Patton. The momentum had the defence on the back foot and Robbie Grant picked from the breakdown to crash over for the try. The conversion from Joel DePledge was good and Ards opened their account at 10-7.

On the attack from the restart, Ards scrum was heavily dominant, giving good ball to Robbie Johnston and the backline. Ryan Upritchard made good ground before Johnston flashed the ball out to Jack Smith on the wing for a good finish out wide. The difficult conversion was just wide, but Ards took the lead at 10-12 as the first quarter was closing. After a period of centralised play, Ards pressed well again into the home 22, releasing Johnston to skip through a mismatch in the cover defence for a try. The conversion was good from DePledge and the lead moved out to 10-19.

Letterkenny came back hard from the restart and fought for good field position before earning a kickable penalty. Taking the three pointer, the lead was reduced to 13-19. From the restart, the home side continued to use a kicking game for territory. Full back Christie fielded well and ran back through the oncoming defence before releasing Johnston to run in his second try and a bonus point for Ards. With DePledge adding the conversion, Ards lead was growing at 13-26. With only a couple of minutes left in the half, Ards went on the offensive from the restart, with Barnes and Grant making inroads on the right wing and Aaron May making a break on the left. As play switched back, Christie burst through on a straight line to outdo the home defence and score out wide on the stroke of half time and Ards took a 13-31 lead into the break.

Now playing with the wind, Ards looked to add easier territory to their advantage in possession. However, the home side started in the same way as they did the first, with tempo and hard carrying. Ards’ defence was called upon and did its job well, with Curtis Ewing, May and Grant featuring. Riding out the storm, Ards won back possession and from it a penalty. Kicking deep into the home 22, good line out ball from Adam Finlay was moved to some explosive carries from Ewing, Kane and Tom-Arthur Donnan. Quickly earning an overlap, the ball was moved to Smith on the wing for a simple finish. DePledge added the extras to move the score line to 13-38.

With half an hour still to play, Letterkenny, refreshed from their bench, enjoyed the upper hand for a good period and took two well deserved tries. With the score now at 27-38, Ards’ lead was now in sight and they made some changes and found a second wind of their own. The game still had 10 minutes to play when they were reduced to 14 and then 13 with yellow cards, but still retained possession well and held their line. Forcing a kick from Letterkenny, Smith ran laterally to take out the chasing defence before releasing Johnston from just outside his 22 on a jinking run and a great try. Kicking his own conversion, Ards were now 27-45 to the good. The final 5 minutes saw Ards absorb the Letterkenny attack before winning a turnover and kicking the ball dead to end the game.

Ards now lead Championship League 2 and the squad are looking forward to a rest week before resuming duties on 11th October at home against Larne RFC in the next round of the Junior Shield. Their coaching team will be satisfied with a great start to the season and working on continued performance as the season rolls out.