Given the improvement shown in the victory over Rainey the previous weekend the earlier win away against Belfast Harlequins, there was an underlying optimism in the Ards camp as the home side kicked off on a dull, cool day at Hamilton Park.Ards line up shown six changes from last week but such is the strength and completion for starting places the coaches were confidence of a good performance.

Opening play was confined to mid-field exchanges, until eventfully the home team secured possession and territory through controlled play. A series of forward drives from Andy Hassard and Matt McHenry brought play deep into Quins 22 the pressure on the visitors defence began to tell and after a number of infringements they where penalised Ricky Aston slotted the penalty for the opening score.Ards regained the intictive from the restart with a good catch and drive from second row Pete Coan to take play back into the opposition half. Ards had most of the next 10-minute spell before a fine penalty goal by Aston extended the lead. Aided by a couple of busting carries from their number 8, Quin’s enjoyed a spell in the Ards 5 metre area until a great turnover from hooker Conran Stewart eased the pressure. Quins finished the half strongly and worked an overlap for they winger to score an unconverted try. Ards were disappointed to only have a 1 point lead after dominating most of the possession and territory

A solid ards scrum on the 22 gave the backline quick ball to centre Chris McClure who made the hard yards and off loaded to Stephen McKee coming in off the wing at pace broke though two tackles to get under the posts.Aston added the extras. With both packs fully committed at the breakdown a tussle broke out on the ground resulting in Ards two backrow players Ryan Mills and Ryan Yates being joined in the sin bin with the Quins centre. Ards were under immense pressure as Quins got their forward game working.first up tackles from Matt Busby and Adam McKee held the defence firm as Ards consistently soaked up or spoiled the visitors attack. The workrate of remaining flanker David Chivers at the rucks restricted the opposition on several occasions. Finally from a driving maul the visitors got their reward with a converted try.Ards now up to full strength played smart rugby to see out a hard fought win.

Team W.Dodds,C.Stewart,M.Busby,P.Coan,A.McKee,R.Mills,R.Yates,D.Chivers, M.McHenry,R.Aston,A.Hassard,C.McClure,S.McKee,A.Coulter,S.Robinson.