Seahorses U17’s   29   –  Malone U17’s   7
20 February 2013 at Shaws Bridge
At the 3rd attempt the U17 Seahorses managed to get their friendly with Malone played under floodlights on the 1st XV pitch on Wednesday night 20 Feb..
It turned out to be a very entertaining game with great commitment from both sides and very well referred by Terry Cooke who kept the game flowing.
The U17 Seahorses struck first when Sean Shuttleworth barged over following good continuity between forwards and backs to give us a 5-0 lead.
Malone responded well with some powerful runs from a couple of their forwards in particular. The pressure told on the Seahorse defence and we were now 7-5 behind.
It remained a very close contest for the rest of the half with both teams attacking but defences remaining strong. Close to half time however a flowing back line movement from the Seahorses resulted in full back Michael Ramsey crossing in the corner to restore the lead at 10-7.
Michael had created two more try scoring opportunities in the 1st half but each time his final pass to right wing CJ was wayward. This can be easily rectified at our next coaching sessions.
The half-time score of 10-7 was about right but you did sense that the Seahorses were getting the upper hand with the set pieces working well and prominent displays in the loose from captain Fergal Green ,  prop Sean Shutteworth , 2nd row Connor Wallace and no 8 Andrew Neilson. Special mention however must go to blindside Stephen Gartland who was playing his 1st ever game of rugby and he had a superb debut with a couple of powerful runs in open play.
In the 2nd half the pressure told with 3 further tries from the Seahorses without reply. Reuben Clarke started it off with a great solo break away try converted by Andrew Keane to make it 17-7.
Then after a great flowing move involving forwards and backs , winger Tommy Luke had a very good finish in the corner.
The final score was a fine finish from Andrew Keane after a great back line movement from deep. Andrew converted his own try to make the final score 29-7.
This was an 8 out of 10 performance and stands the Seahorses in good stead for the group cup games in March.
Finally thanks to Malone for a well contested game with both sides giving 100% effort and good defence on both sides and thanks to the ref who had a very good game.