Match Reports 22.4.23

Portadown 1s v Lurgan 1s in Ulster Rugby Junior Plate Semi Final.

Portadown travelled to Lurgan RFC to play the semi final of the Ulster Branch  Rugby Junior Plate. Portadown started well with pressure on the Lurgan 22m area. The Lurgan defence worked hard to keep Portadown out. The Lurgan’ s defence forced errors from Portadown who had not played for 3 weeks making it hard to get a break. 

Portadown got there team work together and their rucking and passing allowed Brandon Gribben to break through. A popped ball to scrum half Drew Flack allowed him to drive over for the first score converted by Toby Gribben. Making the score 7 nil.

The forwards drove at the Lurgan pack making space for their backs and eventually the opening was found out wide for Brandon Gribben to score. Toby Gribben converted to make the score 14 nil to Portadown

Lurgan then got some of their game together and pressured Portadown’s line just on half time, gaining a penalty to make the half time score 14 to 3.

At the beginning of the second half Lurgan were in the ascendancy and pushed Portadown’s defence in a turn around from the first half. 

They were rewarded with another penalty to make the score 14 to 6. This drove Lurgan on and errors in the Portadown defence let them go close on a few occasions. But it was a handling mistake in the Portadown attack that allowed Lurgan a break away which resulted in a converted try.

The score was now 14 to 13 and Lurgan were playing at their best. Another dropped pass and hack through by Lurgan lead to a chase to the Portadown line. Portadown touched down to get a goal-line dropout. On the wet pitch the kick slipped of the foot to give Lurgan the ball in front of the Portadown post and a drop goal from Lurgan 10 gave them the lead at 16 to 14.  

This pushed Portadown to change gear and get back to the playing the way they had been at the beginning of the game. They now pressured Lurgan and a forward maul from a line out got them over the line to gain back the lead Sam . This was converted to make the score 21 to 16. A further Penalty from Portadown made the final score 24 to 16 and put Portadown into the final in May against Coleraine.

Portadown 3s v Letterkenny 2s in the semi final of the Ulster Branch Rugby Ravenhill Cup.

Portadown 3s played host to Letterkenny seconds in the semi final of the Ulster Branch Rugby Ravenhill Cup. Letterkenny came to play and soon had Portadown under pressure. A converted try gave them the lead very quickly. Portadown were a sixes and sevens trying to get to grips with the strong Letterkenny side. Soon they found themselves 14 nil down and looking like they had an uphill task. 

It was the mix of experience and youth in the Portadown team that started to gel and push at the Letterkenny defence. They were reward with a try by Jack Orr. A good forward drive moved the ball wide and it was a good line change that allowed Jack Orr to break through the Letterkenny defence for a try under the posts converted by Luke Aston. This made the score 14 to 7 at half time.

In the second half Portadown controlled the game and soon had another score  by Diarmuid O’Kane in the corner. This made the score 14 to 12. It was another score by Jack Orr in the corner that gave Portadown the lead 17 to 14.   A penalty by Letterkenny brought the score to 17 all and a close finish to the game 

Portadown continued to press the Letterkenny defence and after some strong rucking close to the Letterkenny line, scrum half Jonny Hampton squeezed over for a score converted by Luke Aston to leave the score 24 to 17. A final penalty to Letterkenny made the final score 24 to 20 for Portadown who now play Ballymena 4s in the final.