On Saturday the second team provided a great warm up for those arriving at the Hamilton Park to watch the Ireland Match as they ran in eight tries against a disappointing Malone side.

Malone kicked off into a stiff breeze, but some indecision by the Ards forwards resulted in the ball being knocked forward, giving Malone an early scrum on the en meter line. The Ards defence stood firm, and after several phases the ball was turned over providing the home side an opportunity to clear their lines. On the ten minute mark, Ards were awarded a penalty, just inside the Malone half as their defensive line drifted off side. Paul Cox kicked the goal to give the Ards men an early lead.

From the restart Ards went straight back on the attack. The forwards were effective as they cleared the opposition out at the breakdown leaving clean ball for Simon Hamilton and Paul Cox. The backs made good ground with Chris Agnew and Alan Crawford both breaking tackles in the centre. From one such break in the mid-field Johnny Dawson received a pass from the resulting ruck. He continued the forward momentum, popping the ball out of the tackle to Gary Presho who drove over to score just under the left upright. Cox easily kicked the conversion.
Several minutes later, from an attack by right winger Gareth Wilson, Chris Agnew broke free of yet another tackle and out paced the full back and right wing to score under the posts. Cox again added the two points.

Just before half time, Ards again went on the attack from a lineout on the left hand side of the pitch, as Michael Taylor came into the line from full back to carry the ball into the opposition twenty two. Again the forwards cleared the ruck leaving clean ball for Hamilton who popped the ball to Brian McNally to drive towards the line. Gary Presho picked the ball from the back of the ruck, drove forward a further 2 meters and presented the ball to Kenny McCombe who used his power to burst through the defence and score to the right of the posts. The conversion was another formality for Cox leaving the half time score at 24 – 0.

Malone looked as though they might start to get back into the game as the second half got under way. They began to disrupt the Ards ball at ruck time and used their forwards to punch through at the fringes as they began to attack. For a period of ten minutes or so the home side looked like loosing their structure, but after some stern words from the coach they settled back into the game. With the front row of Ricky Hamilton, Johnny Garrett and Johnny Wylie dominating the scrum, No 8 Ross Reid was able to make good ground from the base of the scrum, and with the lineout functioning well quick ball could be made available for the backline to attack wide. At about 15 minutes into the half Reid picked up from the scrum and broke to the right. Cox identified the opportunity to switch play and put the ball wide for left wing Andrew Jess to cross the line out wide.

A few minutes later, after a number of phases inside the Malone twenty two, Agnew picked up and drove over for his second score of the day. Cox added the conversion.

At this point it became one-way traffic, with Malone kicking off, and Ards running the ball back at them from every opportunity. With about twenty minutes to go, Kenny McCombe broke free from a tackle just inside the Malone half and sprinted clear to touch down under the posts for yet another try, converted try.

From the restart McCombe gathered in the ball, and from another surging run, passed the ball to Alan Crawford, who outpaced the full back to cross the line under the posts for another seven points.
Michael Taylor followed up on this with a break down the right flank. He outpaced the winger, chipped the ball over the fullback, re-gathered the ball, and crossed the line, only to be brought back to the half way line for a lineout.

In the dying stages Gareth Wilson was also put in the clear after some slick passing along the backline, he sprinted in for the final try of the match. Paul Cox had the final say with the conversion. At this point the referee blew the final whistle to end the match 57 - 0.
After a long hard season for the second team, it was good to see them finally getting a break. It was also encouraging to see a number of players returning from injury and hopefully strengthening the squad from now to the end of the season.

The Ards squad were as follows: R. Hamilton, Garrett, Wylie, Presho, Dawson, McNally, McCombe, Reid, S. Hamilton, Cox, Jess, Crawford, Agnew, Wilson, Taylor.