There was a close encounter played out at Chamber’s Park in Portadown when the Portadown College team played Royal School, Dungannon in the 3rd Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
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The home team started strongly denying the RS Dungannon team of any worthwhile possession. The Portadown College team scored the first try of the game when quik thinking from outhalf, Ryan Calvert, created an opportunity for his fellow backs to display their handling skills. His colleagues did not disappoint enabling the Portadown College winger, Matthew Troughton, to run in for a try. The conversion was missed but the Portadown College team had a 5-0 lead. The Portadown College team was awarded a scrum from the restart which provided the platform for David Busby to create the space his fullback, Andrew Steele, to attack the Dungannon line. Andrew scored a well worked try under the posts and with Michael Busby adding the conversion, the Portadown team had a 12-0 lead after just ten minutes of play. The RS Dungannon team built their way back into the game applying pressure on a resolute Portadown College defence. However, RS Dungannon could only come away with a Jack Milligan penalty from their possession to reduce the arrears to 12-3. Just before the interval the Portadown College pack lost their influential prop, Alex Forbes, to a shoulder injury. With the halftime score reading 12-3 it was the Portadown College team that started the second half strongly. However, on many occasions they found themselves attacking from deep following many probing kicks from the RS Dungannon outhalf, Jack Milligan. Having won turnover ball it was now the turn of the RS Dungannon team to dominate possession with Andrew Clingan and Stephen Rogers getting through a lot of good work. Eventually, Andrew was driven over for a try which was converted by Jack Milligan to further reduce the arrears to 12-10. Further pressure from Dungannon saw them score another try with Stephen Rogers getting the touchdown. The try was not converted but the RS Dungannon team now had a 15-12 lead. This sparked the Portadown College team back into life and, with just ten minutes of the game remaining, David Busby pounced on a loose ball, got up and ran past a number of RS Dungannon players. The ball went to ground and David ran through to regain possession and run in to score a wonderful try. The try was converted by his brother Michael to enable the Portadown team to take a 19-15 lead with just minutes remaining. The final few minutes of the game saw Portadawn College hanging on but Dungannon were awarded a lineout five metres from the Portadown College line. They won possession and, with a hugh effort, drove the ball over the Portadown College line to enable Willie Graham to touchdown for the final try of the game. The conversion was missed, the final whistle sounded and it was the RS Dungannon team that celebrated their hard earned 20-19 victory, a result ensuring their participation in the 4th Round draw for the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
Special InTouch TV highlights & interviews to follow from this game
