Lisburn disappoint against Randalstown

The P6 squad which represented LRFC superbly with a strong display, with excellent team work and fair play.

At Blaris last Saturday the Smiley Monroe sponsored Lisburn went down to a rather disappointing defeat in a lacklustre display.

Whether it was the long gap since the last Qualifying League game at the end of October, or the loss of key personnel through injury, it is hard to say but next Saturday they will have to recover their momentum before travelling to Enniskillen for another tough League fixture.

The game had started promisingly for Lisburn as they led by two well taken penalties from scrumhalf Mark Crowe. However, Randalstown were full of running and at the end of the first quarter they cut the deficit to 6-5 with a good try.

At this stage of the game Randalstown lost their Number 8 with a shoulder injury and this should have resulted in more dominance by the Lisburn pack but it was not apparent. Then Lisburn had Crowe injured and he had to switch from scrumhalf to the wing with winger Chris Knox moving in.

Nevertheless, Lisburn increased the lead to 9-5 before halftime and within five minutes of the restart, to 12-5. However, for the last quarter of the game was all Randalstown. The dam broke when their speedy left wing Ryan McGarry scored near the posts and on this occasion the conversion was safely made to equalise the scores at 12 points each. With their tails up Randalstown started to run the ball freely. The next scores were two simple penalties to take a six points lead, Randalstown were now attacking incessantly and when Lisburn were also reduced to 14 players through a sin binning, the writing was on the wall. Three minutes from time, Randalstown denied Lisburn the consolation of even a bonus point when their pack gained possession and drove through the home forwards whose body positions were unable to halt the surge. The conversion made it 12-25 and Lisburn were left to rue their performance.

• Elsewhere, Lisburn RFC P6 minis travelled to Bangor on Saturday to play in the Bangor Floodlit Mini Rugby Festival. The festival gave teams from all over Ulster a chance to play under floodlights, an exciting experience for all the kids.

Mini rugby is going from strength to strength at Lisburn and the minis are thankful to their main sponsor Greens Food Fare for the continued support and are delighted to be associated with such a well-respected city centre store. LRFC minis also welcome new local sponsors RO-CO Auto Solutions and Integrity Tyres.