RUGBY: Narrow defeat for Fourths in Forster Cup

They bowed out through a 15-0 defeat in a hard fought encounter in which the scoreline flattered the home side.

Dungannon were the better organised side and dominated scrums and lineouts but Coleraine more than matched them in open play, and in spite of having less ball to work with they were unlucky not to get on the scoreboard.

Dungannon went ahead after 10 minutes through a push over try in the corner following a line out and dominated the first 20 minutes with the visitors defence stretched to the limit. However, the rest of the half belonged to Coleraine as half backs Roulston and Scobie began to create openings, notably two strong running breaks by Blair and Lowe both of which deserved to result in a score.

The start of the second half saw Dungannon's forwards resume their domination and they scored two further push over tries from set pieces in the corner to go 15-0 ahead 15 minutes into the half.

Despite all their efforts Coleraine couldn't get enough territorial advantage to threaten the opposion in the remainder of the half leaving the home side to advance to the next round.

This was a spirited performance in which the pack were on the back foot for much of the match.

There was outstanding defensive work in ruck and maul with Dixon, Lindsay, McDonald and Draycott to the fore and enough opportunities created by the backs to leave the team feeling that a repeat of this kind of performance over the next few weeks can see them climb the league table.