On the hitherto wettest day of 2018 Donaghadee welcomed Civil Service to Donaldson Park. Despite the incessant rainfall and dreary conditions the pitches were in great order and large contingent of both Dee and Service support looked forward to an appetiser for the Ulster v Leicester Heineken Cup game later in the evening. The Dee showed one change up front with Phil Collins coming in for Rab Irwin who reverted to the bench and in the backs Davy Kirkpatrick and Dicky Bailey replaced the unavailable Karl Yellop and Ben Siri with Chris Scott stepping up to the bench.

The Dee did not get off to their customary good start and Service pressed the Dee defence which after only five minutes found it necessary to infringe and Service kicked a penalty from the 22 in front of the post to take a 3-0 lead. This setback spurred the Dee into their usual expansive game and quality ball from up front allowed the free flowing backline to pressure their opponents with successive forays towards the Newtownards end try line. Whether it was the dreadful overhead conditions or may a little over-elaboration the Dee then spurned what was three or four clear try scoring chances with passes going awry, coughing up ball or wrong options being taken. The best move of the afternoon did however let Robbie Ingham go around his opposite number to score in the corner but, regretfully, the referee pulled it back for an earlier forward pass. On 17 minutes however the Dee got their just reward when a rolling maul took them to the Service line and successive drives eventually led to Chris Good forcing his way over for the opening try. The conversion was missed but the home support now expected the floodgates to open. This was not to be Service now started to play very smart rugby in the conditions. With their talented No. 9 running the operation they played ten-man rugby and the Dee progressively found it extremely difficult to garner any sort of meaningful possession. Eventually Service pinned the Dee back in their own half and the home side conceded a penalty for not releasing on 40 minutes to allow their opponents to take a 6-5 lead into halftime from the ensuing penalty kick.

Into the second half and, with conditions worsening, Service continued with the game-plan which had been so successful for them in the first period. Successive forward drives brought the best out of the Dee defence but with the game about to enter the fourth quarter there was no change to the scoreline and the Dee faithful were more than a little fearful of an unexpected reversal at the hands of the men from Stormont. The Dee successively had tried to kick out of defence to allow them to play rugby on the opposition red zone but the slippy conditions underfoot meant that too often kicks from hand were being fielded by the Service back three who immediately sought the protection of their abrasive pack. On the 60 minute mark a ball was spilled from a Service ruck and the ball kicked for right-winger Ingham to chase. The No.14 kicked the ball on and outpaced the home defence to score what appeared to a perfectly good try in the corner. For the second time in the game, however, Ingham was denied when the referee adjudged the ball to have crossed the dead-ball line prior to touchdown. The Dee now felt hard done by but lifted their game to spend some time in the opposition 22. Increasing pressure forced Service to concede a succession of penalties and the now dominant Dee scrum was to the fore. Two kickable penalties were spurned with the Dee looking for a try to take the lead. From the second of these a pick-up by Sam Ingham was collapsed by Service with the culprit sent to the bin. The Dee opted for a scrum and from the ensuing drive scrum-half Paul Johnston released his half-back partner Mark Cooper who stepped inside the Service close defence to score. Cooper converted and the Dee now looked to the improbable task of scoring two more tries to try and capture the bonus point – a dangerous ploy given only a six point margin between the two sides! Although on occasion it looked as if the Dee might break their opponents line Service held firm and the game ended with no further scoring.

Donaghadee will look upon this as a learning curve and it will remind them that every side presents a challenge in this league. For their part Service played the conditions perfectly and may feel they were a little unlucky not to take more than a losing bonus point from the game. On the other hand Donaghadee always looked the more dangerous side and will count themselves unlucky not to have profited more from their golden period of dominance in the middle twenty minutes of the first half. Throughout the game the Dee back row of Sam Ingham, Chris Hamilton and Stephen Adams stood out ably supported by the evergreen Good plying his trade in the front three. In the backs Johnston, skipper Matthew Stockton and Ingham caught the eye. On this occasion however Man of the Match goes to No. 8 Ingham whose willingness to carry the ball at every opportunity and deft ball handling skills often proved the starter for Donaghadee’s most meaningful periods of play.
With the first block of six league games now over the Dee have taken 29 points from a possible 30. A good start to the campaign then but the Coaching team will be mindful that there will be many more difficult hurdles to overcome and with Monaghan only 4 points behind nothing can be taken for granted. Next Saturday the 1st XV travel to Virginia for the first round of the Gordon West Cup whilst the 2nd XV have no game – next up for them being a home game v Lurgan II on Saturday 27/10/2018.