Fourths hit hard by injuries

In recent weeks the fourths had problems fielding a full side but things looked good for them on Saturday as they took the field with 15 players.

Five minutes into the match Ballyclare took the lead with an unconverted try. From the kick off scrum half Callum Henry fell awkwardly and dislocated his knee. After a very long delay he was taken to hospital and the match continued.

Things got worse for Ballymena when winger Richard Doyle pulled a hamstring. He bravely carried on but early in the second half he too had to retire.

When the match resumed everybody was cold but the visitors responded well and got two quick tries with one conversion. Ballyclare broke from their own 22 to score another try which was converted to make the half time score 24 points to nil for the visitors.

At the start of the second half the home side took the game to Ballyclare but with no reward. As expected they ran out of steam and Ballyclare got another four tries and one conversion to make the final score 46 points to nil.

This was a staunch effort from the Ballymena side and special mention must go to the back row of David Gaston, Adam Swan and Mark Moffett who lead by example and drove the team on.

Fourths: S McCullough; A Gordon, D Harkness, S Moon, R Doyle; J Kissack, C Henry; J Morgan, J Davidson, A Reynolds, R McKean, M Rodgers, D Gaston, A Swan, M Moffett.