Ards 1sts played Belfast Harlequins 2nds in the conference league on Saturday, the Quins team seemed to be a who's who of Ulster age grade rugby given the fact that a number contracted Ulster players had been released on Friday to play for Quins 1sts in the AIL.

Undeterred Ards started the match kicking off towards the Comber Road and immediately put Quins under pressure, regaining the ball and running hard lines at the Quins defence.

It took 6minutes for Ards to cross the Quins line when winger Nathan Graham finished a sweeping Ards move for other winger Paul Cox to convert. Ards 7 v Quins 0

Following the restart Ards up kept up the intensity and played the game at a high pace, in attack Ards looked sharp and when Quins did manage to attack the Ards linespeed and tackling was superb.

In the 25th minute Ards second row Gareth McBurney powered over out wide following another sweeping Ards attack which saw full back David Armstrong join the line and chip over the Quins defence only to be checked when doing so, the Ards players played on, regained the ball and recycled to McBurney who crashed over, the conversion was missed. Ards 12 v Quins 0

The remainder of the half was much like the opening 25minutes with Ards on top in most aspects of the game, try scoring chances were missed but Ards extended their lead just before halftime with a well struck penalty by Cox.

Half-time: Ards 15 v 0 Quins

Ards continued their first half dominance in the second half and should have scored a third try when full back Armstrong raced for the Quins try line only to high tackled by the covering Quins centre who was subsequently yellow-carded, one wonders why Ards were only awarded a penalty and not a penalty try?

Rather than kick for goal Ards elected to kick the ball to the corner, from the resulting lineout the Ards No8 gathered a loose ball and crashed over the Quins line only for the referee to blow for an Ards infringement.

This seemed to rally Quins and for almost the first time in the game they had a period of sustained pressure which saw them take play to under the Ards posts, the Ards defence held strong and Ards captain Andrew Foster turned over Quins ball and Ards were awarded a penalty when Quins' frustrations boiled over.

Ards were not finished scoring yet and in the final minutes of the game the Ards forwards took a Quins scrum against the head and the ball was quickly down the blind by Taylor Nutt, linking with Cox who fed fellow winger Graham who ran in to score his second try of the game, Cox converted.

Final score: Ards 22 v Quins 2nds 0