Ballymena deny Lansdowne three-in-a-row

Ballymena 14 Lansdowne 11

Lansdowne narrowly missed out on a third successive win as reigning champions Ballymena claimed a 14-11 victory at Eaton Park, with Namibian right wing Dirkie Strydom kicking two crucial second half penalties.

Fresh from their 50-10 Ulster First Trust Cup romp over Harlequins, Ballymena went to work early on their relegation-threatened opponents.

Full-back Matt Waterhouse was on the end of a flowing backline move for the home side’s only try on 18 minutes, with out-half Ian Humphreys missing the conversion attempt to the right.

Former Leinster back row Liam Toland had crossed for the opener for the visitors, but two penalties from scrum-half Shane Whelan, the second in first half injury time, were to be their final scoring acts of an afternoon dominated by the packs.

Whelan, who dropped the winning conversion over against Clontarf last time out, scored on 34 and 41 minutes to hand an 11-8 half time lead to Lansdowne.

But Strydom kept the Braid men in the play-off hunt, seeing them two points adrift of fourth-placed Buccs with kicks on 52 and 68 minutes.