Their previous attempt had been aborted after leaving their hotel to discover their game against Rotherham Titans was off. Ulster have a new coach in Mark McCall after Alan Solomons departed to Franklin’s Gardens. A few new players have arrived with the coach and some of them will be familiar to us. They include Kevin Maggs. Ulster are the raining Celtic Cup holders, although they had a slightly disappointing league season. Both sides had much to play.

Several of the players Quins brought over didn’t get any match time due to minor injuries so opportunities existed for some of the youngsters to shine. Most did.

Quins started badly. A little slow out of the blocks their defence was pierced several times in the first quarter. Neil Best scored for the home side after only three minutes after a break from hooker Paul Shields. Paddy Wallace converted to make it 7 – 0. A few minutes later James Topping was stopped just short of the Quins line by a good tackle from Simon Keogh. After some possession from Ulster Andrew Maxwell scored wide on their right after an incisive grubber had exposed Quins lack of cover. Wallace again converted to make it 14 – 0. Quins came straight back with solid forward play. Ulster were penalised for killing and Andy Dunne kicked deep into Ulster’s 22. A better throw from Tani (his first couple had wobbled a bit!) saw a skilfully controlled rolling maul. Over the line it went and Ceri Jones emerged from the bodies with the ball to get his first try of the season. Dunne couldn’t continue his excellent form of Tuesday night and missed with the conversion. 14 -5 after 16 minutes.

Quins were now getting on top and their pack, though lighter, were doing damage. Quins camped in the Ulster half for the next few minutes recycling ball well and moving swiftly through several phases. This period of play came to an end with Tani being given a wagging from the ref. Not sure why to be honest! Casual defence from Ulster almost gifted Quins a try as the impressive Henry Barratt charged a slow clearance. Kai Horsman was just denied scoring from the lose ball. The penalty count was now going in Quins favour, Dunne regularly kicked to the corner. The lineout was now functioning quite well and our pack were moving as a smooth unit. The rolling mauls were coming thick and fast. Steve So’oialo was controlling much with his speed of thought and pass. The last score of the half came on about 35 minutes as the ball was recycled from a Keogh break, So’oialo followed up to score from close range, again showing some fair acceleration. Dunne converted to make it 14 12. Just before the break what appeared to be a bad clash of heads saw Kai Hortsmann and Tani Fuga leave the field with nasty gashes. Tani was taken to hospital, more as a precaution as the cut was deep. Team Manager Mike Scott, speaking exclusively to CAW considered that neither were serious and he wasn’t greatly concerned about either. Although that might be because his quite callous! Dippy and James Hayter came on as replacements.

The second half commenced and Ulster started to make the first of numerous changes. The game was settling into a pattern of patient possession from Quins, working down the lines and using numerous rolling mauls. Quins weren’t being very expansive but the few chances the backs got were taken well, often on the counter attack. Ulster worked themselves into good positions but poor or slow distribution spurned a couple of excellent scoring chances. Ace Tiatia soon replaced Dippy who was then very quickly replaced in turn by Simon Miall. I gather Ace had a slight groin strain. Roy Winters moved to 8 to accommodate this change. Play was relatively even at this stage although some excellent work from Barratt stopped and cleared after another grubber had almost opened our defence. A short period of Ulster offence ended with a booming clearance from Jeremy Staunton. Ulster ran the next couple of phases back at Quins then lost possession. Ceri Jones gathered the ball deep inside the Quins half, beat the first man before Simon Keogh broke a couple of half tackles and fed inside to the supporting Andy Reay. Like a ferret running from a bad pair of trousers he pinned his ears back and ran half the length of the field to catch a strangely hesitant Ulster defence out. Great try, three passes had taken the ball swiftly from almost one end to the other. Staunton added the extras to make it 14 -19. He took all the kicks in the second half.

The crowd was now a little less enthusiastic and perhaps sensed that their year long unbeaten record was about to go the way of Laker Airways. Another swift move up the left side saw Gavin Duffy just denied after some neat crisp passing Quins. Ulster came back into the game for a little while and after some possession worked an excellent try on the right. Andy Ward scored to bring the scores level, then Wallace missed the conversion. The scoreboard then went crazy for a few minutes to provide a welcome distraction from the numerous Ulster replacements. However Ulster had a new momentum and banged away at the Quins line as the clock ticked down. Mel Deane, still wearing those girlie white boots, replaced Andy Reay. Ulster’s pressure lead to a succession of penalties, each kicked to the corner. After one rolling maul stopped just short of the line the ref, international whistleblower Alain Rolland, gave Karl Rudzki a stern taking to. I bet that’s never happened before! The next play the move was halted illegally by Quins and Maama Molitika was shown one of the few colours that aren’t on our shirts, yellow. Quins would have to play the last couple of minutes with fourteen. However, the ball was instantly pinched and the danger was cleared. Both sides pushed for the win. Ulster strung a couple of good phases together than lost the ball. Quins moved it swiftly up field then camped there for a couple of minutes. The clock was ticking down. Keogh half broke then was scragged. Possession was retained and So’oialo set up the maul. Now late in added on time So’oialo broke and unloaded to Luke Sheriff. With a truly amazing bit of individual skill he chipped over, caught it and sped for the line. Leaving three statuesque defenders in his wake and silencing all but thirty of the six thousand plus crowd. A brilliant try! Truly brilliant! The thirty-ish Quins fans went mental. The gangways were filling with disgruntled home fans. Fortress Ravenhill had been breached for the first time in a year and Quins had won their first silverware, well glassware, of the season. So the Bank of Ireland Challenge Trophy was won by Quins. Staunton had added the conversion to make it a 26 – 19 victory.

Quins: 1 Ceri Jones 2 Tani Fuga (replaced by James Hayter) 3 Jon Dawson 4 Karl Rudzki 5 Roy Winters 6 Maama Molitika 7 Luke Sherriff (captain) 8 Kai Horsmann (replaced by Tony Diprose, then replaced by Ace Tiatia who in turn was replaced by Simon Miall, following this?) 9 Steve So’oialo 10 Andy Dunne 11 Simon Keogh 12 Andy Reay 13 Jeremy Staunton 14 Henry Barratt 15 Gavin Duffy

Replacements not used: Mike Worsley, Mark Lambert, Anrian Jarvis, Andre Vos (despite some serious begging) and Mike Brown.

So what can be learned from this? A fair bit. Both coaches probably had as much to be a happy with and a bit to work on as well. Quins have strength in depth, several of our likely first choice starters still haven’t played yet. Assuming everyone ends up OK we have two good front rows, James Hayter has had a pair of good outings. Ceri and Jon Dawson both gave feisty displays. Jim Evans still hasn’t appeared yet and the back row is a wealth of riches. Molitka had a quieter game and I would guess Andre and Ace will get two of the berths, the third going to Luke, Kai or Dippy depending on where Andre plays. We have a light but very mobile pack. The lineout does appear to have improved a bit. Better organisation and throwing. I think our pack will get shunted about a bit in the set phases, but will gain in the loose. The backs is harder to call. Our staring pair of centres Will and Mel? Looks as though Simon Keogh could end up on the bench as Steve So’oialo appears to have nailed down nine and Andy Dunne ten. But there’s still much to play for.

So that’s about it. A good overall performance and an edged win with fourteen men. What more can you ask for?

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS