Carrick undone by hosts’ set-piece superiority

The continuous rain and gusting wind made attacking rugby difficult and contributed to a high error count for both sides. With defences on top - and Carrick's rush defence prevented the CIYMS backs from offering any sort of attacking threat - much of the action was up front where Carrick certainly gave as good as they got. Unfortunately the conditions also nullified the probably superior attacking threat offered by Carrick's backs when they did get their hands on the ball.

Ultimately, the differences between the sides came down to CI's set-piece superiority and Carrick's higher penalty count which gave the home side more time in the "red zone" and it was from two of these visits that they got their scores, one early and one in the last minute of normal time.

The Carrick forwards worked hard throughout, with Chris Rodgers and David Ferris in particular doing their best to counter the CI driving maul, Ryan McGonigle carrying strongly and all eight putting their bodies on the line in defence. David Carse and Adam White made the odd threatening run in attack but the conditions made slick passing and handling difficult and the few attacking moves by the backs came to nought.

In the early stages both sides struggled to adapt to the conditions and it was obvious from early on that the match was probably going to be decided by the close quarter dual between the forward packs. Carrick had an early territorial advantage but it was CI who took the lead in the 15th minute when two penalties set up a line out five metres out from the Carrick line and they went over with a line-out catch and drive. The try was converted to give the home side a seven points to nil lead.

Gritty Defence

For the rest of the half matters were fairly even with both sides getting time in their opponents' 22 but finding it difficult to keep control of the ball. CI did have one lengthy period of pressure around the half-hour mark but they were kept out by a gritty Carrick defence and ended up conceding a penalty for holding on.

Just before the break Carrick had probably their best chance to score when David Carse ran back a loose CI kick from half-way but what might have been the scoring pass did not go to hand. Half-time was reached with the home side holding on to their seven points to nil lead.

The second half was a repeat of the first, with both sides struggling for cohesion when in possession but defending strongly to deny their opponents scoring opportunities. A number of Carrick visits to the CI 22, including one following a superb 50/22 from a kick from inside his own 22 by Simon White, ended in failure to control line-out ball or in the concession of penalties.

Similarly, CI attacks broke down as they failed to keep control of the ball in the face of determined Carrick defence. It was the home side who had the final say, however, when they kicked a penalty from in front of the posts in the last minute of normal time to make the final score 10 points to nil in their favour.

Next Carrick have a difficult home fixture when they take on fourth placed Cooke at Tom Simms Memorial Park.

The Carrick team against CIYMS was: M. Hansen (O. Henry); J. Hutchinson, D. Carse, A. White, (capt) S. White; F. McCormack, C. Cambridge: G. McKeown, D. McArthur, P. Greenaway (K. Bell), C. Rodgers, D. Ferris, M. Johnson (A. Boyce), C. Simms, R. McGonigle.