Whittall is the star man as Carrick get the better of Academy

Carrick Rugby Club’s 1st XV made it five wins out of seven and consolidated their position in the top three of Qualifying Two with a 29-11 home victory over Academy on Saturday.
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The game itself was heading in the direction of being one of the less memorable witnessed at Tom Simms Memorial Park before two late tries gave Carrick their 18-point winning margin.

Man of the Match was Carrick out-half Luke Whittall whose kicking kept his side in the game. He slotted over five penalties and two conversions in an almost faultless goal-kicking display.

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Whittall put the home side in front with a 10th-minute penalty, but seven minutes later the visitors took the lead thanks to an unconverted pushover try.

Carrick bounced back with three successive Whittall penalties to claim a 12-5 advantage which they held until the break.

If the first half had been lacking in sparkle, most of the second half was downright dull in terms of entertaining rugby. That said, the match continued to be fiercely contested and Carrick extended their lead to 15-5 before the visitors hit back with an unconverted try and a penalty at the end of the third quarter. But with 10 minutes to go Carrick made sure when Aaron McKinney crashed over in the corner and Whittall added the extras.

This was followed by an Andy Kincaid score under the posts with Whittall kicking the conversion.

Saturday’s match was preceded by a minute’s silence in honour of the late Dr Jack Kyle, an old boy of Belfast Royal Academy.

This weekend, Carrick travel to face Holywood.

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