Instonians played fellow residents Cooke, on Saturday afternoon at Shaws Bridge, in a Kukri Ulster Rugby Championship Division 1 game.

The game was nip & tuck, played between the ’22s’, in the first quarter, before Instonians scored a try through Davey Scott, converted by Andrew Keane.

It was not long before Cooke scored an equalising try by Matthew Elliott, converted by Alan Gourley.

Two unconverted tries by Keane and Matt Kilpatrick, in opposite corners gave Instonians a comfortable 17 – 7 lead at the break.

Gourley kicked a long range penalty for Cooke shortly after resumption to pull the score back to 17 – 10.

Despite the majority of territory and possession, Instonians failed to increase their lead and midway through the second half Cooke struck back, on the break, with a try from Andrew Nelson, converted by Gourley to tie the score.

This time Instonians made territory and possession count to score two uncovered tries with Kilpatrick crossing for his second before Paddy Bell crossed to give Instonians a 10 point lead going into the final minutes.

Cooke never gave up and scored a try by Jason Lyons, converted by Gourley, when they ran a short penalty close to the posts. Instonians held out in the final moments for a 27 – 24 victory.

Report and pictures by Bob Given Photography