OARFC 4XV v COOKE 3XV

Saturday 3^rd December 2022

McCambley Cup First Round

Omagh Academicals IV XV 38

Cooke III XV 5

Omagh Accies fourth XV welcomed Cooke thirds to The Thomas Mellon Playing Fields on Saturday in the first round of the McCambley Cup. The squad were looking forward to opening their cup campaign after finishing second in phase 1 of the Regional League and came out on top with a convincing victory, which included a hattrick from number eight BJ Wilson.

Omagh were out of the blocks quickly and had worked up a commanding lead in the first half. The Accies struck first with Alexander crashing over, the prop forward rode two tackles as he went over for an unconverted try. Mitchell then grabbed the second try of the day ghosting through a gaping hole in the defence after a half break from Ward who added the conversion.

Cooke replied with an unconverted try of their own and it was certainly a contender for try of the game. The visitors won a scrum in their own half and ended up scoring in the opposite corner with the ball moving through several sets of hands.

The Accies responded emphatically to this wake-up call and scored three tries to finish off the half. Wilson scored his first of the day from a scrum pick 5m out, which was converted by Ward. The next try come courtesy of a clever worked lineout move, Giboney caught the ball at the set piece and delivered off-the-top to Wilson, the number eight drew the defender and released the touchline-hugging Todd who barged over.

Omagh completed the half with a converted try from Wilson. The fours maul made inroads into the Cooke ‘22’ and after a break from Todd, Wilson picked at the side of a ruck and scored under the posts.

Halftime – 31 - 5  

The second half was a much closer affair. Cooke had shored up their leaky defence and both teams cancelled each other out for long periods. As is customary with regional rugby a few scuffles broke out with both sides scrapping for territory, each dealt with swiftly by the referee.

Cooke were reduced to 14 men with the visiting out-half yellow carded for a seatbelt tackle on Jeffrey as he sniped at the side of a ruck.

The Accies completed the days scoring with Wilson crashing over to complete his hattrick, much like his first score Wilson proved unstoppable from the base of a 5m scrum with Ward adding the extras.

A superb victory for the fours in the first round of the cup, the team will be eager for a home draw in the next round. The side are awaiting the finalisation of the phase 2 league fixtures and look to build on what has been a promising first half of the season.

Team (1-18)

K. Alexander(c), P. Todd, M. Black, J. Giboney, R. Harpur, G. Shortt, J. Mitchell, BJ. Wilson, A. Jeffrey, D. Ward, L. Rennick, A. Brady, J. Adams, S. Brown, J. Beattie, S. Knox, S. Lyons, R. Rainey.