It’s always nice to visit my old club, but it is particularly pleasant to do so on a warm, sunny, afternoon in May, especially as the (now) immaculately kept pitches overlooking Larne Lough give the clubhouse a view the envy of many.

Larne Rugby Club entertained Canadian outfit Bruce County Barbarians, from Ontario, in one of those end of season matches that can either be a walkover or surprisingly entertaining!

As Larne started to rack up the points in the first half, with Ryan McAllister and Philip Andrews amongst the scorers, it appeared it was going to be a walkover with the Canadians well off the pace and somewhat bemused by the ferocity of the Larne tackling.

However, half time came round and with the break came a change in tempo from the visitors who upped their game considerably and started to break through the Larne defence for a couple of tries of their own.

Larne always managed to keep them at arms length on the scoreboard but that didn’t matter, as a surprisingly good game had broken out.

After an hour the teams decided to take a break and with refreshments brought on to the field by the portly Larne Treasurer it was decided they would play on for another twenty minutes.

Larne pulled further ahead in the closing stages but the Barbarians did score the try of the game with their prop dummying the Larne defence, and the photographer, to stroll over untouched at the end. Unfortunately he was just off with the conversion!

Pictures below: