Instonians maintained their top spot in the Kukri Ulster Rugby Championship Division One with a hard fought 3 – 19 win against Coleraine at Rugby Avenue on Saturday afternoon.

Instonians dominated territory and possession but a succession of mistakes and a spirited Coleraine defence kept the mscoreless in the first quarter.

Coleraine eventually broke the siege and progressed upfied to claim a penalty towards the end of the second quarter. However Instonians resumed their attack and finally found the try line when Rory McCurry drove over with minutes to go to half time. Fraser Wright added the conversion to give a score of Coleraine 3 Instonians 7 at the break.

Josh Atkinson added a second mid way through the third quarter, which was again converted by Wright to push the score to 3 – 14 and as the clock ticked on towards full time, substitute hooker Neill Saunters burst through for Instonians third. No conversion this time leaving the final score Coleraine 3 Instonians 19.

The other results in the Kukri Ulster Rugby Championship Division 1 can be seen below.

Ballyclare	13 – 5	CIYMS
Coleraine	3 – 19	Instonians
Cooke	50 – 7	Clogher Valley
Enniskillen	18 – 7	Carrickfergus
Portadown	18 – 17	Dromore

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The results leave Instonians and Ballyclare scrapping it out at the top of the table with Instonians edging it on points difference.

TEAM	P	W	D	L	PTS
Instonians	11	10	0	1	47
Ballyclare	11	10	0	1	47
C.I.Y.M.S	11	6	0	5	29
Dromore	11	5	0	6	28
Carrickfergus	11	5	0	6	24
Cooke	10	5	0	5	23
Enniskillen	11	4	0	7	18
Portadown	11	4	0	7	18
Coleraine	10	3	0	7	17
Clogher Valley	11	2	0	9	9

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GALLERY BELOW

Photo credit – Graham Service Photography

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