Donaghadee found themselves in the unusual position of entering into the month of March still needing to gather points to protect their Qualifying One status. With a number of permutations possible at the foot of the table the trip to bottom side University of Ulster Coleraine appeared to be an opportunity to pick up some all important points.
Donaghadee made the perfect start with an early try from David Murray who powered over from close range after an early period of phased play from the away side.
After this early setback the students, who before this game had only registered three losing bonus points on the table, responded well and enjoyed a long period of play deep in the Dee half but were unable to break down the line of defence.
On the 23rd minute player coach Paul McKenzie collected a wayward clearance in the middle of the park and went on a direct trademark burst through the middle if the pitch before feeding an ambitious pass out to the right flank that was well taken by the oncoming Chris McGivern. In collecting the pass McGivern lost some of his initial pace and was stopped just short of the line. In the series of play that followed Nigel Barker touched down from close range to give Donaghadee a 10 point lead.
The UUC side continued to invest their fair share of energy into the encounter and got their reward on the stroke of half time when they powered their way over the line with some excellent forward play to reduce the deficit.
Half Time – UUC 5 – Donaghadee 10
The home side were the first to register points in the second half of play with a penalty in the 44th minute that meant Donaghadee had now conceded 8 points without reply.
David Murray was the most influential Dee forward on the day and he was punching holes in the UUC defence every time he went on a forward charge. He got his second try of the in the 55th minute after good work from the Dee pack to allow Murray to use his explosive power from close range.
The all-important try in both putting the result to bed and picking up the all-important bonus point also happened to be the best crafted try of the contest.
Half backs Ali Lockhart and McKenzie combined well from the set piece scrum to create space for Full back Billy Allen to attack the line. After making good yards down the RHS flank Allen passed the ball to Chris Hamilton who fed what looked like a scoring pass to the oncoming Ryan Irvine however UUC had men scrambling back to defend and Irvine still had work to do to step inside his man to finish clinically. A classy try finished by Irvine who had come off his usual wing spot on Saturday and used the ball he received playing in the centre of the park very effectively in the second half of this game.
Another stand-out performer on the day Chris McGivern scored Donaghadee’s 5th and final score of the day In the 75th minute. Due to the injury of the substitute UUC prop the game went to uncontested scrums for the final quarter of the game. Donaghadee had a put in to the scrum deep inside the UUC 22” and all too easily Lockhart fed his right winger to run at some lazy runners and touch down.
Barker added the extras to give a full time score of UUC 8 – Donaghadee 29
This was by no means a vintage Donaghadee performance however much hard graft and effort went into what was a potential banana skin fixture and indeed a fixture that Donaghadee have failed to record a bonus point victory in quite some time.
Dee management will look to have the same desire from Gareth Gordon, Richard Martindale, David Murray and co. for what is now an exciting run of games that includes the visit of league leaders, local derby and Towns Cup Semi-final all in the space of 4 weeks.