Down High Under 16 Select 17-12 Crimson Tide Under 16

A touring under 16 select team dug deep to finish victorious against Crimson Tide Under 16. After an early unsuccessful penalty attempt by John Hyndman, Down played some fine rugby in the home team's half but couldn't find a way past a stubborn defence and they were hit by a sucker punch after 20 minutes when a breakaway by Tide saw them take a 7-0 lead with a converted try. This spurred Down into action and John Gabbie had a try disallowed straight away for a forward pass but minutes later Jamie Parke reduced the arrears to two points with a fine try in the corner. Tide finished the half on the front foot and could have gone further ahead with the last play of the first half but a fantastic last gasp tackle by Sam Leckey halted the surge from Tide.

The same player scored early in the second half to see Down lead 10-7 after good work from John Hyndman and when Jamie Gibson meandered his way through the Tide defence moments later, Down looked home and dry at 17-7 up. But credit to Tide who stuck to their game plan of running rugby and after a period of pressure in the Down 22, Elliott Evans infringed once too often and was yellow carded. The home team then scored with five minutes to go to get to within five points but the Down team managed to hold to record a fine win.