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League leaders Ballymena to face ‘Quins under lights

Thursday, 5 January 2012

Following a month's break, the All Ireland League resumes this weekend with league leaders Ballymena travelling to Ulster rivals Belfast Harlequins for a game under their lights on Friday night.
The match represents the second of three successive meetings that Ballymena have with other Ulster clubs, as Dungannon are next up on Saturday week at Eaton Park.
Since their last AIL Division IB match when they defeated Ballynahinch 6-3 at a wet and windy Eaton Park, Ballymena have picked up the Ulster Senior Cup when they saw off a gutsy Banbridge and then lost to City of Derry 27-19 last weekend after leading 3-19 at half time.
Backs Richard Aingworth, Alistair Frazer and John Semple scored tries with Semple converting two of them but in the second period Ballymena could not add to their tally as their hosts crossed the line on four occasions.
At the same time Belfast Harlequins were losing 29-0 at Dungannon but little can be read into those two scores as neither side was at AIL strength. That will not be the case on Friday night as valuable points and local bragging rights are on offer in front of what will hopefully be a big crowd for an eagerly anticipated encounter.
Conceded
At Dungannon, Harlequins conceded 4 tries and according to reports their only scoring opportunity came after 5 minutes when James Shields sliced a penalty attempt in front of the posts.
When Ballymena moved to the top of the Division 1B table with that win over Ballynahinch, Harlequins were losing their third game of the campaign when they returned from Bruff on the wrong end of a 10-6 shoreline.
In that game it was a dominant second-half performance from the Limerick side and their abrasive pack in particular saw them overturn a one-point half time deficit. Indeed the margin of the victory could have been even greater and more reflective of their performance had they not failed to ground the ball when over the line on two occasions.
Earlier though it was Belfast Harlequins who took the lead when scrum half Michael Heaney converted a 3rd minute penalty. Since then Heaney has left Ulster and Harlequins to take up a temporary loan position at Doncaster Knights.
Scored
Bruff scored their first try after 15 minutes following some excellent build-up play from their pack only for Harlequins to regain the lead once more with another Heaney penalty. Bruff then missed a simple penalty attempt to leave the score 5-6 at the break.
After keeping Bruff at bay with back rower Alistair Heatlie in the sin-bin, Harlequins conceded a second try when at full strength that made the final score 10-6. The Belfast side were unable to get back into the game and Bruff were not made to pay for some wayward kicking throughout.
The Belfast Harlequins side that featured in that latest AIL game was Scholes; Allen, Kettyle, Stewart, Holmes; McMurray, Heaney; Lutton, Annett, McGrath; Rourke, Ferguson; Rea, Babe and McComb, with replacements: Logan, Greenaway, Heatlie, Scott and Olding.
Meetings between Ballymena and Belfast Harlequins are always ones to look forward to, particularly when in the All Ireland League. This one has a bit more spice given that it is being played on a Friday night under lights and that Ballymena currently top the table.
Harlequins will want to knock their visitors off that perch while Ballymena will want to maintain their excellent AIL form and go into that Dungannon clash still as not only the best side in Division 1B but also the top club side in Ulster.
Guardian Sport is certainly looking forward to the game.
Belfast Harlequins' AIL Record. Belfast Harlequins 14-12 UL Bohemians, Ballynahinch 27-16 Belfast Harlequins, Galwegians 15-39 Belfast Harlequins, Belfast Harlequins 15-27 Dungannon, UCC 20-23 Belfast Harlequins, Belfast Harlequins 19-14 Buccaneers, Bruff 10-6 Belfast Harlequins
Ballymena's AIL Record. UCC 6-8 Ballymena, Ballymena 10-16 Buccaneers, Bruff 28-34 Ballymena, Ballymena 32-19 Galwegians, Ballymena 11-11 UCD, UL Bohemians 13-30 Ballymena, Ballymena 6-3 Ballynahinch
Friday's Fixture. Belfast Harlequins v Ballymena. Saturday's Fixtures. Ballynahinch v UCD, Dungannon v Bruff, Galwegians v UL Bohemians, UCC v Buccaneers

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