Beautiful backdrop, perfect weather a good sized crowd and a comptitive match made this a great day for rugby.
The Strikers showed much improved form in the match today. The forwards were comprehensively more physical with better committment in the loose play and managed possession better in contact. Flanker Connor Martyniuk terrorized the Belfast halfbacks with his tackles and relentless pressure on the Belfast halfbacks. The Strikers' improved start was rewarded with an early penalty from which Mo Rahmaty slotted in the three points. Belfast responded with a change in tactics opting to move the ball very rapidly out to their backs, creating overlaps and attacking on the wings with tremendous pace and skilled passing. Their kicks into the corners paid off for Belfast with successive tries. The second half brought more of the same from Belfast who capitalized from our mistakes and missed tackles. In spite of this McRoberts came back with tries from Kapi Vataiki and Adam Webster. The end result: Belfast 34 to McRoberts 17; another loss but an altogether much improved effort.
Adam Webster was again awarded the man of the match award by our hosts but other notably good performances came from Kamal Sidhu, Andy Lam and Connor Martyniuk.
