Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 16th October 2021
A number of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup Section 3 games took place on Wednesday 13th October.
In the North West, Foyle and Londonderry College played their near neighbours from Strabane Academy in a Section 3 game the Foyle College team won by 54-7.
The Foyle and Londonderry College team scored eight tries through Cahir McKay and Robert Rankin, both of whom scored two, with Andrew Donnell, Ben Houston, Jack Craig and Sam Polin each scoring one. Robert Rankin capped a fine personal performance when he added the extras to seven of the tries.
The Strabane Academy points came from Tom Logue, who scored a try, and Samuel Orr who kicked the conversion.
Portadown College hosted Friends’ School, Lisburn in a Section 3 Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup game. The strong Portadown College U16 team, having defeated Lurgan College in their first Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup game, won this game by 22-5.
Jamie Jackson scored two tries for the Portadown College team while Taylor Sloan touched down for one. John Speers added two conversions as well as a penalty.
The young Friends’ School, Lisburn team scored an unconverted try with Angus Crawford getting the touch down.
In another Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup Section 3 game Belfast High School played Regent House School in a game the Regent House School team won by 43-0.
The Regent House School team scored seven tries with Mason McFarland touching down twice and Zeki Kaya, Hayden Hamilton, Shay Duckett, Ben Burke and Nathan Neill each scoring one try. Matthew McBride was successful with four of his conversion kicks.
In a friendly game Ballyclare High School played a “Select” xv against Carrickfergus Grammar School and won the game by 36-5. Jamie Purdy, Rory Nugent with two, Reece Kennedy, Neal McCrea, and Steve Hutchinson were the Ballyclare High School try scorers to which Joel Flynn added three conversions.
Ellis Branagh scored the consolation try for a very spirited Carrickfergus Grammar School team.
Larne Grammar School played a Belfast Royal Academy “Select” xv in a game the Belfast Royal Academy team won by 38-14.
The Larne Grammar School team showed great commitment throughout the game and had their captain, Scott Alexander, as well as Year 12 player, Adam Carson, to thank for their tries. Robin Wynn was successful with both of his conversion kicks.
The Belfast Royal Academy team scored six tries with Ryan O’Hara scoring a brace and Josh Manson, Jack Coyle, Joshua McLaughlin and Ethan Pavlovic each scoring one. Ryan O’Hara capped a fine personal performance with four successful conversions.
On Saturday 16th October two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup matches took place as well as quite a number of school 1stxv friendly games.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup competition Enniskillen Royal Grammar School played the Royal School, Armagh team in a Section 2 Group Stage game. This game proved to be another closely contested Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup game which the Royal School, Armagh team won by 28-24.
The Enniskillen Royal Grammar School points came through tries from Eamon Greene, James Morrison, Andrew Kerr and Jake Woods. Tadhg Hambly was successful with two conversions.
The Royal School, Armagh team scored four converted tries through Archie Johnston, Nilli Tuitilupu, Joshua Wilson and James Rafferty with Josh Lowry adding the conversions.
In a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup Section 1 game Wallace High School lost by 26-12 against a rampant Sullivan Upper School team.,
Lewis Stevenson scored a converted try for the Wallace High School team with William Sproule running in for an unconverted try.
The Sullivan Upper team had Timothy Bell, Alex Dunlop and Jake Thompson, with two, to thank for their tries. Ryan Drain added the extras to three of the tries.
Players such as Elliot Grey, Joe Davidson and Charlie Brown contributed a lot throughout the game for the Sullivan Upper School U16 team.
At 1stxv level Ballyclare High School played Coleraine Grammar School and won the closely contested game by 17-15.
James Spence and Tom McAllister, with two, were the Ballyclare High School try scorers to which Callum Cochrane added one conversion.
Despite missing a number of key players the Coleraine Grammar School team put in a very workmanlike performance. Paddy Irwin, in the Coleraine Grammar School backrow, put in an impressive performance throughout the game. His hard work paved the way for tries from Nathan Ogborne and Cian McCullagh. Jordan McAuley was successful with one conversion as well as a penalty.
Banbridge Academy played Limavady Grammar School in a game the Limavady Grammar School team recorded a hard earned 7-3 victory.
The Limavady Grammar School team took an early 7-0 lead when Joe Caldwell stormed over for a try which was converted by Benjamin Howe. Midway through the first half Ryan Matthews converted a penalty opportunity for the Banbridge Academy team to reduce their deficit to 7-3.
The second half of the game proved to be a “Nip and Tuck” affair. Despite having the majority of the possession the Banbridge team could not make any real impression on the Limavady Grammar School defence despite the best intentions of players such as Dylan Stewart and Marcus McNeill.
The no side whistle blew and it was the Limavady Grammar School team that was able to celebrate their 7-3 win.
Bangor Grammar School played Regent House School in a North Down Schools’ Derby game and won the game by 19-0. Ben Teggart, Josh Walker and Shay Ritchie each scored a try for the Bangor Grammar School team with Callum Campbell adding two conversions.
Belfast High School hosted Foyle and Londonderry College in a game the Foyle College team won by 31-7.
Cameron Banford scored the try and kicked the conversion for the Belfast High School team.
The Foyle and Londonderry College team scored five tries through James McKillopp, who touched down twice, Josh Milling, James Gamble and Adam Killeen. Adam Killeen added three successful conversions as well.
Belfast Royal Academy played Rainey Endowed School at Roughfort in a game the Belfast Royal Academy team won by 36-5.
The Belfast Royal Academy points came through tries from Liam Davis and Henry George, both of whom scored two, with Scott Baxter and Callum Savage touching down for one try each. Ryan O’Hare added three conversions with Henry George adding one.
The Rainey Endowed School team had Jayden Shiels to thank for scoring their unconverted try.
Campbell College, Belfast played Ballymena Academy and won the game by 45-8.
The Campbell College, Belfast team scored seven tries in the course of the game and five of the tries were converted.
Matthew Booth, Shaun Longstaff and Oliver Topping each scored a brace of tries with Zac Solomon touching down for the seventh. Peter Caves was successful with five of his conversion kicks.
The Ballymena Academy points came through an unconverted try from Thomas Mc Master and a successful penalty kick from Tristan Ferguson.
Dromore High School played Down High School in a game which the Dromore High School team won by 47-0.
Ethan Mount, Reuben Copes, Jonny Scott, Tom Gillespie and “Man of the Match”, Nathan Hook with a hattrick, were the Dromore High School try scorers. Nathan was also successful with six of his conversion kicks.
Friends’ School, Lisburn hosted Omagh Academy in a game the Omagh Academy team won by 49-0.
Despite the best efforts of players such as Ben McBurney, Finlay Crawford, Tom Rowlatt-McCormick and Sam Netherton, there was little the Friends’ School team could do to prevent the powerful Omagh Academy team from controlling large parts of the game.
Joshua Kyle, Reece Braden and Conrad Hale each scored a try in the first half of the game and, with Andrew Johnston adding the conversions, the Omagh Academy team took a 21-0 lead into the break.
It was a case of more of the same in the second half. Reece Braden scored his second try as did Conrad Hale. Carl Logan, and his twin brother, Darragh, then got in on the try scoring act with one try each. Four more Andrew Johnston conversions secured the 49-0 win for the Omagh Academy team.
Larne Grammar School played Carrickfergus Grammar School and won the East Antrim “Derby” game by 49-0.
Cian Ferguson and Jayden Martlew each scored a brace of tries for the Larne Grammar School team which Aaron Johnston, Robin Wynn and Tom Maybin running in for one try apiece. Robin Wynn capped a fine personal performance by successfully converting all seven tries.
Lurgan College played Cambridge House Grammar School and won the hard fought game by 26-12.
The Lurgan College team had built up a 14-5 lead by the interval with tries from Peter Bird and Angus Cunningham both of which were converted by Peter.
In response the Cambridge House Grammar School team scored an unconverted try through Joshua Dobbin.
The second half saw the Lurgan College team stamp their authority on the game and they scored two more tries through Ross McIlwaine and Angus Cunningham. Angus converted his try to secure the 26 points for the Lurgan College team.
Dan Chestnutt scored a second half try for the Cambridge House team to which he added the conversion.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution hosted Methodist College, Belfast in a fixture billed as being the “Match of the Day” at schoolboy level.
The Methodist College, Belfast team emerged as 29-0 winners and, by doing so, have thereby maintained their undefeated start to the season.
The Methodist College team scored five tries with Joe Dickson, Jake Bowden, Lorcan Hanratty, Jacob Kelly and Josh Stevens all touching down. Ben McFarlane was successful with two of his conversion kicks.
Wallace High School entertained Sullivan Upper School and won the exciting game by 19-15.
Zac Carey, Harry Wright and Adam McLean scored the Wallace High School tries with one conversion each coming from Charlie Beattie and Matthew Halliday.
Sullivan Upper School scored their points through a Patrick McFerran penalty, a penalty try and an unconverted try from their impressive No 8, Rory Carson.
In recent weeks some schools have played fixtures at U12 level. Recently, Wallace High School and Methodist College, Belfast played small sided games and on Friday 15th September more than 120 boys from both Ballymena Academy and Belfast Royal Academy took part in an afternoon of gamify rugby based fun games.
All the players involved from both schools really enjoyed the rugby experience and they are all looking forward to their next games which are scheduled to take place in the near future.
Among the Ballymena Academy teams playing in these rugby fun events were the Chiefs, Bears, Eagles and Barbarians.
