Down High 1XV opened their 2011 tour of USA & Canada with a nailbiting 27 - 26 victory against Washington State Loggers U19's (a representative side including 3 USA U13 internationals drawn from clubs throughout Washington).
The match was played in very hot conditions and both sides rotated their squads extensively throughout the match. Down High settled quickly and opened the scoring after 10 minutes when outhalf Justin Rea cut through to scored an unconverted try.
This was shortly followed by a try by Jason Patterson in the right hand corner after some swift handling by the backline, Rea adding the conversion to give the tourists a 12-0 lead. The Down High forwards were on top at this stage with and from a driving maul Patrick Gifford forced his way over to extend the lead to 17-0. This seemed to spur the Loggers into life and they began to impose their physical advantage and they reduced the deficit just before half time with a converted try by their USA U19 international full back to leave the score 17-7 at the interval.
Down High began the second positively with Matthew McKeown finishing in the corner. Rea added the conversion to take the score to 24 - 7. There then followed a 12 minute period of sustained Loggers pressure as the visitors began to wilt in the heat. The home team ran and carried superbly scoring three tries and two conversions to take a 26 - 24 lead as the game moved into the dying minutes. One final drive from the Down High took play deep into the Loggers half resulting in a penalty being awarded to the visitors when Washington infringed at a ruck. There were only seconds remaining on the clock when Justin Rea struck the successful kick and when Down High secured the restart and cleared to touch the final whistle sounded to secure a fine 27 - 26 win for the visitors.
This was a very physical battle and sets the standard for the remainder of the tour with the Down High boys moving on to Victoria for their second match on Tuesday.
The match was played in very hot conditions and both sides rotated their squads extensively throughout the match. Down High settled quickly and opened the scoring after 10 minutes when outhalf Justin Rea cut through to scored an unconverted try.
This was shortly followed by a try by Jason Patterson in the right hand corner after some swift handling by the backline, Rea adding the conversion to give the tourists a 12-0 lead. The Down High forwards were on top at this stage with and from a driving maul Patrick Gifford forced his way over to extend the lead to 17-0. This seemed to spur the Loggers into life and they began to impose their physical advantage and they reduced the deficit just before half time with a converted try by their USA U19 international full back to leave the score 17-7 at the interval.
Down High began the second positively with Matthew McKeown finishing in the corner. Rea added the conversion to take the score to 24 - 7. There then followed a 12 minute period of sustained Loggers pressure as the visitors began to wilt in the heat. The home team ran and carried superbly scoring three tries and two conversions to take a 26 - 24 lead as the game moved into the dying minutes. One final drive from the Down High took play deep into the Loggers half resulting in a penalty being awarded to the visitors when Washington infringed at a ruck. There were only seconds remaining on the clock when Justin Rea struck the successful kick and when Down High secured the restart and cleared to touch the final whistle sounded to secure a fine 27 - 26 win for the visitors.
This was a very physical battle and sets the standard for the remainder of the tour with the Down High boys moving on to Victoria for their second match on Tuesday.
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