Match report by Geoff Ingham

Donaghadee made the long journey south on Saturday to play their penultimate league game of the season against Virginia. There were several changes to the team that played in last week’s Cup Final. In the forwards the unavailable Jamie Wilson and Stephen Adams were replaced by Phil Collins at prop and the young Ewan McCracken, making his debut for the 1st XV, in the second row beside his brother Andy. The backline saw some positional switches due to the unavailability of Paul Johnston and the influential Karl Yellop, which allowed Chris Scott and Danny McBride to slot into the wing positions. The dozen or so of faithful Dee supporters, after enjoying Virginia’s excellent pre-match lunch, knew that Virginia would be fired up to try and put an end to the Dee’s unbeaten record in the league. The match kicked off with Dee playing with the strong breeze behind them and quickly settled into their attacking patterns and were soon encamped in the opposition’s 22. After only 5 minutes a good solid scrum saw the ball passed to out-half Mark Cooper who firstly dummied his opposite number and then jinked his way through to touch down under the posts. McBride kicked the easy conversion to give the Dee a 7-0 lead. The next 10 minutes were played out in the middle of the park with both teams defences cancelling each other out. After 15 minutes Collins had to be replaced by veteran prop Rab Irwin who proved his worth a few minutes later when he helped the pack win the ball from a good square scrum. This allowed the backs the time to execute an excellent move which saw full-back Chris Knox hit a great line and run through untouched to score. McBride was again successful and Dee stretched their lead to 14 points. The rest of the half was a tight affair with the aggressive Virginia forwards making good inroads into the Dee’s half and it was only due to several turnovers by the impressive Ewan McCracken that Dee kept their line intact. The Dee also had several opportunities but unfortunately were unable to take advantage, losing possession at crucial times, mainly due to a malfunctioning lineout.

As the second half began the Dee faithful were asking if a 14-0 lead was enough due to the strong wind now at Virginia’s back. The home side could also sniff an upset and the tempo of the game increased significantly. This paid off after 5 minutes when the Virginia centre made a break down the left wing and, although well tackled, managed to get a great offload away to the winger who ran in to score. The try was converted to make the score 14-7. For the next half hour Virginia had the majority of possession and continued to threaten the Dee’s line. As has been the case all season the Dee’s defence was excellent and some huge defensive efforts by the likes of Chris Hamilton, Sam Ingham and Andy McCracken in the forwards and Robbie Ingham, Mark Cooper and Chris McGivern in the backs kept Virginia at bay. This defensive effort was orchestrated by skipper Matthew Stockton who organised the defence superbly all day and also led by example with several huge hits on the opposition. During this period the Virginia centre was yellow carded for a deliberate trip, however, Dee were unable to benefit from this numerical advantage. With only 10 minutes to go Virginia were deep inside the Dee’s 22 and were awarded a penalty. After several scrums, during which Dee were penalised as the Virginia scrum edged towards the line, the referee decided to award a penalty try and also sent scrum -half Robbie Ingham to the bin.

With only 5 minutes left Virginia were now favourites to win this game, however, Dee showed their character with a huge final effort to try and defend their unbeaten record. Drive after drive by the forwards saw them make ground into Virginia’s 22 and eventually Hamilton slipped the ball to Sam Ingham who crashed over under the posts – only to see the referee signal for a forward pass. With time ebbing away the Dee managed to create one last chance after Sam Ingham charged down an attempted clearance kick and after several attempts to cross the line it was Captain Fantastic, Matthew Stockton (pictured) who forced his way over. After McBride narrowly missed the difficult conversion the ref blew for full time and the Dee had won 19-14.

After winning the league a couple of weeks ago and the disappointment of losing the cup final last week this Dee team showed remarkable character and determination to win this fixture. There were several stand out performances in the forwards, including an impressive debut by Ewan McCracken but the man-of-the-match this week has to go to the captain, Matthew Stockton who possibly gave one of the most impressive individual performances by anyone in a Dee shirt for many a season. The Dee finish their season with a final league game next Saturday away to Newry.