Carrick 7’s Day 1: The Kukri U20’s.

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by

John McMurtry

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The Carrick 7’s got underway on Friday night with the Kukri U20’s.

First up in Pitch 1 was BRA Big Cats against Larne with the BRA boys giving a view of things to come in a free scoring game against the Co Antrim side. The teams traded tries in the first half but the Cats eventually pulled clear in the second to take the game 22 – 10.

Next up saw Malone edge out Belfast High School 15 – 12. The High School won over the growing crowd  with a second half comeback but the Red Socks managed to hold on to their narrow lead.

The final pool match on the show pitch saw a tense encounter between Donegal County and Grosvenor Stags. Despite going into an early lead Grosvenor were unable to close out the game and the powerful Donegal side fought back to claim a 19 – 19 draw.

Grosvenor went on to to play in the Bowl final where they ran out of steam and lost to Ards Ravens 33 -14, with the Ravens delighted to travel back to Ards with the Bowl.

Larne made short work of Carrick in the semi-final of the Plate beating the local favourites 42 -12 but were overpowered in the final losing to an impressive Atletico Telford who just managed to keep their noses in front throughout the game and pulled clear as Larne took more risks. Telford claimed the Plate by a score of 47 – 29.

A tense and sometimes fractious final saw the Big Cats eventually overcome a confident Surrey Colts side. BRA stormed to an early lead but the Colts showed great determination to claw their way back. With a couple of minutes to go the game was tied at 26 – 26 but it was the School’s Cup finalists who managed to drag out a last effort and score the winning try in the dying minutes to leave the final score Big Cats 31 Surrey Colts 26.

Final Squads.

Kukri Bowl.

Grosvenor Stags: James Mitchell, , Jonathan Henry, Chris Quinn, Johnny Taylor, Conor Robinson, , David Montgomery, Curtis Herron, David Fullerton, Mark Cartmill, Craig Steele

Ards Ravens: Neil Armstrong, Adam Larry, Darren Kelly, Garth Brown, Eamon Jaminson, Max Harbinson, Sam McVeigh, Michael Ashley, Simon Hamilton, Robert Smith, Stephen McKee

Kukri Plate.

Athletico Telford: Sam Aitken, James Ferguson, Ross Grant, Gregor Porteous, Joe Taylor, Jamie Bhatti, Colin Hutton, Adam Stone, , Ronnie Spinks, Thomas Steven

Larne: William Connolly, Johnny Hall, Ryan Gabbey, Ian McIlheron, Robbie Nixon, Stephen Andrews, Jay Malcolm, Gary Andrews, Ali McMillan, Johnny Milliken, Ricky Borgen, Johnny Court

Kukri Cup.

Big Cats: David Cartmill, Eoin Devlin, Ryan Clarke, Robbie Martin, Gareth Redmond, , Jordan Buchanan, , , Mark Glover, Matthew Robinson, Callum Leckey

Surrey Colts: Connor Stapley, Charlie Rooke, Ryan Jeffrey, William Sharp, Fred Hebart, James Rowbotham, Alex Gardener, Tom Brown, Sam Manning, Jack Cooke

IF in Doubt, sit them out

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