Saints produce an incredible fightback in a five-point thriller!
The St Ninian’s Senior Rugby team produced a tremendous performance against Castle Rushen 2nds at home, narrowly losing 21–26 in a thrilling contest played in difficult, wet conditions.
The Saints are competing in the second tier this season alongside Castle Rushen 2nds, QEII 2nds, Ramsey Grammar School 2nds and Ballakermeen. Following last week’s 30–0 defeat against Ramsey Grammar School, the team were determined to respond positively. Despite the result, there had been plenty of encouragement to take from that fixture, with the Saints trailing by just 3–0 at half-time before Ramsey introduced a number of first-team players in the second half.
The game started slowly for St Ninian’s, with a number of penalties conceding valuable territory and possession. Castle Rushen capitalised on these opportunities to establish a 19–0 lead.
However, just before half-time, the Saints finally found space out wide. Ronin Murray powered over the line for a well-earned try, with Josh Corran adding an excellent drop-kicked conversion to reduce the deficit to 19–7 at the break.
The second half saw a completely different St Ninian’s side take to the pitch. The Saints started brightly, with captain Dylan Addy leading from the front, supported by powerful carries from Ollie Kent and Ronin Murray. Thomas Lamb and Ffinlo Thomas added fresh energy from the bench, while Rowan Coulter produced some big tackles as the Saints began to build momentum.
Following sustained pressure inside the Castle Rushen 22, the visitors conceded a penalty directly in front of the posts. Quick-thinking Josh Corran took it quickly and powered over the line before converting his own try, bringing the Saints back into contention at 19–14.
What followed was a period of outstanding defensive effort from St Ninian’s. Jacob Smith was superb under the high ball, confidently dealing with everything Castle Rushen threw his way, while Joel Prentice and Evan O’Dea put in huge defensive shifts, making tackle after tackle.
With only minutes remaining, Corran produced another moment of quality, kicking from around 10 yards inside his own half to find touch inside the Castle Rushen 22. From the resulting lineout, Theo Quayle secured possession before Murray carried the ball forward.
The Castle Rushen defence initially stood firm, but the Saints continued to press. Eventually, Corran found a gap and crossed in the corner to bring the scores level at 19–19.
The resulting conversion was extremely difficult from out wide, but Corran showed tremendous composure to slot it over and put St Ninian’s ahead at 21–19 with just a minute remaining.
Unfortunately, Castle Rushen were not finished. They regained possession from the restart, moved the ball quickly out wide and scored with virtually the last play of the match to snatch a 26–21 victory.
Despite the heartbreaking finish, the Saints can take enormous pride in their performance. Fighting back from 19–0 down demonstrated tremendous character, resilience and determination, while the effort and teamwork shown throughout the second half were outstanding.
A special mention goes to Josh Corran for his individual contribution, but this was ultimately a fantastic team effort in extremely challenging conditions.
The Saints will look to build on this performance when they welcome QEII 2nds next week.