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Douglas win derby
SWING LOUW: Vagabonds Jo Louw attempts to break the Douglas line during Saturdays keenly contested Old Firm match in South Lancashire and Cheshire Division Two. Douglas won the encounter at Ballafletcher 22-32 to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season
TWO tries from former Vagabond Daryn Thompson gave his new club Douglas the honours in the first Old Firm fixture of the season in a compelling game of rugby at Ballafletcher on Saturday.
The opening 10 minutes of the South Lancs/Cheshire Division Two match were devoid of any scoring chances as the sides probed each other for weakness and rarely broke into either 22. But that changed a couple of minutes later.
Douglas prop, Danny Creer, broke free down the right. He was halted short of the line but with supporting players queuing up for the ball, Vagabonds’ wing Sam Cannell killed it and earned a yellow card for his troubles.
From the ensuing penalty Douglas opted for the catch-and-drive, with Thompson doing the honours against his former club.
Douglas took immediate advantage of their numerical superiority at the restart. Bryn Snellgrove chipped ahead and regathered. From the ruck, the ball was moved swiftly left with right-wing Liam King making excellent ground to finish off the move. Douglas skipper Scott Goodall converted for a 12-0 lead.
Still a man short, Vagabonds retaliated. Douglas were unable to get to grips with the restart and when the ball found its way to Leigh Kennaugh he sliced through the Douglas cover defence. Vagas recycled the ball quickly and Ross McCulloch slipped over for the first of his two tries, which Johnny Beckley converted.
Five minutes later Beckley added a penalty for Vagas to leave his side trailing 10-12 at half-time.
Douglas came out of the blocks quicker in the second half. Vagas’ Tom Gascoyne knocked on a horrible bouncing ball and conceded field position inside his own 22. From the scrum, Ryan Maddox carved an opening and went in under the posts. Goodall added the extras and the lead was up to 19-10.
It remained that way for eight minutes before Vagas struck back. Kennaugh was the architect and McCulloch was the executioner. Kennaugh’s deft pass got McCulloch into space and he lit up the afterburners to go in from a fully 40metres out to make it 15-19.
Within another five minutes, Vagas were in front. From a scrum 20metres out, Vagas went right. Wing, Sam Liver, had managed to drift wide of his marker and found acres of space out on the touchline. When the ball was shipped his way, he made no mistake. Beckley converted and Vagas were ahead for the first time at 22-19.
With the going getting tough, Douglas decided to get going. Midway through the half they regained the lead. Snellgrove darted through a half-gap and flipped the ball to Niall Killeywho raced clear to retake the lead.
Five minutes later, with Vagas starting to flag, Thompson finished them off with his second from a well-executed rolling maul to leave Douglas leading 29-22 with 10 minutes to play.
Vagas were forced to chase the game and this left them exposed. Douglas should have made it safe with five to go when Callum Carine intercepted on halfway, but he didn’t have the pace to finish it himself and Killey stepped over the dead-ball line before he could ground the ball. They finally made it safe when Snellgrove dropped a goal from 40 metres out to seal the win and deny Vagas even a losing bonus point.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Sunday 26 May 2013
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Heavy rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
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