Royal School, Armagh knew they had a major task on their hands when they hosted the current holders of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup, Ballymena Academy.
In a very physical confrontation both teams were evenly matched with both defences cancelling out the opposition attacks. Ballymena Academy took the lead midway through the first half when Caleb Morrison was successful with a penalty opportunity following an Armagh infringement at the breakdown. Harry Boyd equalised for the RS Armagh team shortly afterwards when he converted a penalty opportunity of his own to take the half time score to 3-3.
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The second half was another tense affair with both sets of forwards displaying great commitment at the set pieces and breakdown. The RS Armagh pack had their second row pairing of Peter Johnston and Peter Hanna to thank for winning some crucial lineout ball while Sam McNabney, Timmy Patton and Peter Wallace got through a lot of hard work for the Ballymena team. The only score of the second half came from the trusty boot of Harry Boyd who converted a penalty kick to give his RS Armagh team a 6-3 lead. The home team maintained this lead until the final whistle ensuring their progress into the draw for the Quarter-Final draw of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
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