Ballynahinch opened their League campaign with a fine victory over Instonians at a blustery Ballymacarn Park. They made a fast start but were repelled by some strong defence and on fifteen minutes lost Thomas McPhillips to a red card. Instonians capitalised on the numerical advantage by breaking from halfway for a fine score. The home side battled back into the match with Maxwell Buchannan finishing off a fine team move and then moved ahead on half time with a Matty Fitsimons try.

They had conditions in their favour for the second half and went further ahead through skipper Adam Blain after the pack had mauled their way upfield. Halfbacks Jack Fallon and Joshua Woods pinned their opponents back with some excellent tactical kicking and Woods finished off a move started by his own long range break . By this stage the result was no longer in any doubt and when Instonians also lost a player to a red card Ballynahinch cut loose to score the try of the match. It was a real term effort with the forwards mauling the Instonians pack into submission before unleashing the backs where Woods found Owen Hamill cutting an excellent line to score under the posts.

A consolation score from Instonians was the last act of the match and Ballynahinch will travel to Carrick this weekend with confidence having played smart rugby to win comfortably despite the early loss of a key player.