Late on Tuesday afternoon, Cooke and Queens II faced off in the McCrea Cup Final, at Kingspan Stadium. To say that conditions were challenging was an understatement. It was grey and gloomy, and the rain only varied in intensity, throughout the game. A biting cold wind sucked the heat out of players, officials, spectators and this photographer!

The Cooke pack started in dominant form. From a lineout maul Ben Pentland dived over for a try, and a 5-0 lead after 7 minutes.

Though Cooke had territory and possession, they couldn’t make it count. Queens had opportunities but for long periods play literally became bogged down between the Queens 22 and 10 metre lines.

Another lineout maul provided a 2nd try . . .