By Daniel Noble
ARDS Rugby head coach Palmer Eccles believes his team needs to take it one week at a time after marking a return to Ulster Championship 1 with a long-awaited victory over Bangor.
The Black Knights would have been licking their lips at the prospect of forcing an unexpected result against their neighbours on day one of the new season, in what was a first competitive meeting between the sides since 2014.
The 12-year wait to beat their biggest rivals was as good an incentive as any for the two clubs, and the competitive nature showed in the turnout of several hundred supporters.
Ards made a fast start, earning an early penalty, which was kicked into the visitors’ 22 for a lineout, before a number of phases ended with Mason McFarland scoring the first try.
Bangor responded quickly, going one better with a converted try, snatching the lead at 7-5, only for their hosts to regain the advantage through a Rory Christie score and Joel DePledge conversion.
From there, the two sides continued to trade blows, each responding to every opposition
score, until they entered the half-time break locked together at 19-19.
The early stages of the second half belonged to Bangor, after Ards were disrupted by a Blake Lilburn injury and Tom Arthur Donnan yellow card, and the visitors took full advantage with a penalty try.
Still, the home side refused to relent, forcing Bangor’s Ryan Young to carry the ball over his own line, earning a five-metre, which eventually led to an Angus Christie quick tap score and yet another DePledge conversion.
With nothing between the sides at 26-26, the latter stages of the game were certainly not lacking in of drama.
Not only did the final quarter of play last a whopping 30 minutes, it also saw Ards edge ahead through a 40-metre penalty and survive being pinned back in their own 22, before prop Matthew Kane won the penalty that was kicked out to secure the win.
Ards will hold the derby bragging rights for the entirety of the 2026/27 season, with the sides not due to meet again until the closing match of the campaign.
They will hope to have more to shout about between now and then, but Eccles could not have asked for a better start.
“It’s a tough league,” he said. “We’ve just been promoted and every game is going to be
massive, but all the hard work in pre-season paid off with five points to start.
“Returning to Championship 1 with a win is brilliant, but doing it against our biggest rivals makes it all the better.
“We’ve only played three competitive games against Bangor in 26 years. There’s been a massive gap between them and us, so turning them over on Saturday was a massive result.”
Despite the ideal result on opening day however, Eccles wants his players to keep their feet firmly on the ground.
“Saturday was tight. Bangor are a really good side and we came out on the right side of it, but we have Limavady away next, which is a tough place to go,” he added.
“We said at the start of the season, we’re one of the two new teams in the division. We just
want to take each week as it comes, be competitive in each match and not look too far ahead.”
