Character the key as Accies produce late show against Bruff

OMAGH…….17
BRUFF………15

OMAGH Accies head coach Glenn Kyle was quick to praise his side’s ‘character’ after they earned a vital 17-15 home win over Bruff with a thrilling late show at Thomas Mellon Playing Fields on Saturday.

With defeat seemingly staring them in the face, his young side mounted one last incursion into Bruff territory and with the last play of the game, off another solid scrum, they broke left with old-stager Mervyn Edgar proving he still has plenty of life left in his legs yet by producing a timely off-load to the hugely impressive Robbie Sproule, who powered over under the posts. That tied the game up at 15-15 and with the last action of the game, Kyle Beattie knocked over the winning conversion, much to Kyle’s delight.

“I was fearing the worse [when Bruff took a 10-15 lead with time running out] because the lads haven’t shown that type of character yet,” Kyle acknowledged.

“Today [Saturday] is a massive step for this young team, they did show they can play for 80 minutes. Our last two minutes was fantastic.

“The boys really stepped up, we were winning most of our scrums, which was very pleasing. But must of all the way the lads kept going, kept going and trusted in their systems to get the win. There’s nothing more satisfying than that. It was fantastic.”

Bruff opened the scoring with a try in the corner to go 5-0 up before the Accies, who were forced into a reshuffle to the starting XV just before kick-off – Scott Ballantine was injured during the warm-up, which meant Oscar Nelson had to come into the side and Neil Brown was moved to the centre – bounced back with a Beattie penalty.

A short time later, the home side took the lead when Brown jumped onto an interception and sprinted home for a try converted by Beattie.

Unfortunately the errors that have blighted the Accies’ early season performances then returned and a fumble at a key point allowed the visitors to respond in kind for a 10-12 half-time lead.

After the break, the game became bogged down in midfield for a time and when Jamie Sproule was yellow carded for persistent infringements it looked as though the Accies faced an uphill task.

However, Bruff could only manage to add an extra three points at that stage and when they were reduced to 14 men a short time later the Accies sensed blood.

They attacked and with only two minutes left, won a try in the right corner of the pitch close to the Bruff line and from there mounted the match-winning play.

“We showed a lot of character in that game to comeback,” Kyle beamed.

“It was one of those games that we had to knuckle down in the last couple of minutes to get a try, a fantastic try.

“They were a good team, we can’t take anything away from Bruff, they’re a good, hard team who came up here with a full squad. They were up for it and we knew they weren’t going to be a push over. This is All-Ireland League rugby, so they are a good side. We had to pull it out in the end.

“In general the boys showed great tenacity and character. We’re getting a wee bit more trust in each other and we’re starting to