Students hold their nerve as McMaster kick holds off Rock
THOUGH they made rather heavy weather of it, Queen’s University got the desired result at the Dub against Blackrock College.
Their 18-12 win made it three wins from five for the students who have been much improved this season under head coach Derek Suffern and though they stayed in fourth, a gap of six points has now opened up between themselves and fifthplaced UL Bohemians who they face next on Saturday.
Whether Queen’s can now push on to try and break in to the top three remains to be seen — they are four points back from Cashel — but they will certainly need to be better.
After taking a 15-0 lead early in the second half through Andy McGrath’s try — Gary Dillon had already crossed in the opening 40 minutes — they then managed to get Curtis Pollock and Alexander Clarke both yellow carded.
Reduced to 13 men, it was no surprise that Rock staged a comeback and it took Richie McMaster’s penalty to steady the ship for the win.
In 2B, Rainey Old Boys made it two wins from their last two games to escape bottom spot and rise to eighth after beating Skerries 37-30 at Hatrick Park.
It also brought Rainey their first try bonus after Andrew Donaghy, Jason Bloomfield, Paddy McGowan, Scott McLean and Stephen Rutledge all touched down.
Belfast Harlequins won for the first time since opening day as they came out the right side of a dramatic 25-24 scoreline at Wanderers to move up to sixth. Dungannon lost 36-12 at Corinthians and slipped to seventh.
Omagh won a tense Ulster derby at North West rivals City of Derry in 2C. Tries from Luke Hanson, Adam Longwell and Neil Brown saw the Accies prevail 19-10. Bangor fell from second to fourth after being hammered 27-0 at Tullamore.
2A: QUB 18 Blackrock 12
2B: Corinthians 36 Gannon 12, Rainey 37 Skerries 30, Wanderers 24 Quins 25
2C: City of Derry 10 Omagh 19, Tullamore 27 Bangor 0.