By 
IF Carlsberg did Saturday’s, then Omagh Accies head coach, Stewart McCain would gladly drink that particular insipid lager from now until kingdom come if he could have weekend’s like last on a regular basis.
That’s because not only did his club side earn an impressive bonus point home win over Ulster Championship 1 title chasers, Portadown, but earlier that day, while doing his day job as PE teacher and rugby coach at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, he watched his young charges earn a narrow one point away win over Omagh Academy, where he had been a pupil, in the last-16 of the Danske Bank Schools’ Bowl.
“It’s been a good one, not often you get two wins on a Saturday, so it’s good!,” he beamed after a Saturday to remember.
His weekend started positively, with ERGS earning a 13-14 victory at Campsie Playing Fields to oust their Omagh Academy first XV counterparts, coached by Accies player Ryan Mitchell, in the Bowl.
As a coach, he was delighted that his players followed the game-plan he devised for them and that it led to success thanks to three penalties from the accurate boot of Sam Paton at the start of the second half. Omagh responded well and narrowed the gap with a Ryan Mitchell try but when Jake Irwin crossed the whitewash almost immediately to increase the visitors lead to 14-5, the Academy’s challenge suddenly became all the tougher.
But they bounced back once more, with Sam Harper knocking over a penalty before Harry McIlwaine dotted down with a late try in the corner. Unfortunately for Mitchell and his players, the difficult conversion from the touchline missed and their dreams of a quarter-final berth disappeared, while ERGS have earned a last-eight home clash with Banbridge Academy.
“The message to the guys [at half-time] was to not panic, keep doing the same things and then the opportunities will come. It came a wee bit different than we thought with two soft penalties, which were real bonus penalties for us,” he observed.
“Omagh dug in really well and they were brilliant defensively in the first half, then in the second half they came back at us really hard.
“It was really pleasing because we managed the game really well. It was a really close game, a classic cup, knockout, derby game. A lot of the boys put everything into it from both sides, they were really committed defensively and overall it was a really good game of rugby.”
After enjoying that success, the Omagh man then savoured a 24-5 home win for the Accies over Portadown, which came courtesy of tries from Reece Braden, captain Matthew Clyde, Matty Eccles and Atina Toeoaana, while Conor Watherson Spencer kicked two conversions in challenging conditions.
Once again, he was delighted to see one of his sides show patience, resilience and a clinical edge when opportunities presented themselves.
“We started OK. We made a few mistakes early on and didn’t take a few chances unfortunately, but it was kind of the same story [as the school game] – be patient and you’ll get chances and when they do we have to be clinical. And we took those chances really, really well,” he observed.
“There was a wee spell at the start of the second half – we were 12-0 up and they brought it back to 12-5. We looked a little under pressure for a 10 minute spell but then we held them up over our line and I think that was a bit of a turning point and we kicked on.
“It was such a pleasing performance because there were times we had to dig in, defend really well. We were on our line at times, but we stayed calm, we shut them out quite a bit and then we moved the ball quite well, we were quite accurate with our catch pass and scored a few lovely tries. We were very pleased to get the bonus point.
“I think we managed the game well, we played with good tempo, our breakdown was good, our set piece was pretty solid, so it was a pleasing day.”
The Accies win over Portadown, a trick they repeated two weeks after ousting the same opposition from the Towns Cup, McCain feels, is a sign of his ideas taking route within the team and the players developing as the season progresses.
“We’re definitely moving the ball better than we had been, we’re taking more risks,” he beamed. “We look like we know a little bit more about how we’re trying to play and the boys are really enjoying it and ultimately when you get some wins, everything’s rosier, everyone’s happier, so it’s great that away. We are progressing, you can see progress, so that’s very pleasing.
