City of Derry RFC V Banbridge
Saturday 27th August 2011@ Judges Road, Kick-off; 3pm
City of Derry Rugby Club start their new season this Saturday at home to Banbridge in the Ulster Senior League with a 3pm Kick-off. The game will be preceded by City of Derry 2nd XV playing their Banbridge counterparts in the Second XV League at 1.30pm. It will make for a busy day at Judges Road where the Annual George Tees Cup will also be competed for by ten teams from the Minor Leagues.
Derry will be hoping to continue their upward spiral of success that has been prevalent for the last three seasons since Bevan Lynch was appointed Head Coach and Mark Nicholl his assistant. The Club has enjoyed the most successful spell ever in their history following relegation from the All Ireland League four years ago. Derry has won two Ulster Qualifying League titles along with promotion to All Ireland League Division 3 for last season when they were crowned champions on the last day. This successful team has also won the Ulster Junior and Towns Cups along with a famous victory over Armagh in the All Ireland Junior Cup.
City of Derry will play their rugby this season in All Ireland League Division 2A and a massive test awaits this young but successful group of players. Derry have had some outstanding results last season against Dungannon, Ballynahinch, Ballymena and Belfast Harlequins who all will all be playing in AIL Division 1B this coming campaign. The feeling among the coaching staff at Derry is if they were capable of competing against the top teams in Ulster who are now at a higher level then Derry should be capable of competing in AIL 2.
Banbridge had an outstanding season last year winning their last sequence of games and defeating Seapoint by 17pts to 15pts on the last day of the regular season to setup a playoff against Old Crescent in Limerick for promotion with Derry to AIL 2A. They went down narrowly to Crescent by 16pts to 15pts but that victory against Seapoint helped Derry be crowned AIL Division 3 Champions.
Derry played Banbridge twice last season winning on both occasions, Derry won away in the Ulster League by 50pts to 7pts and the overcame the Bann in the AIL last October at Judges Road by 36pts to 16pts. Both clubs will be keen to play a competitive fixture to see where they are with respect to fitness and organisation. Derry and Banbridge will be fielding some new additions to their squads on Saturday and the home supporters will get a chance to see their new players for the first time.
The George Tees Cup will commence at 12.30pm with ten teams that include Armoy, Ballyshannon, Ballymoney, Clogher Valley, Innishowen, Omagh, Rainey, UUC, City of Derry and a Peter Tees’ XV. University are the current holders of the trophy and they will be going for their fourth success in a row. It is hoped to play the George Tees Cup Final at 5pm following the senior game.
City of Derry Team V Banbridge: Chris Shields, Stephen Duffy, Sam Duffy, Bob McKillop, Philip Brady, Stephen Corr, Richard Baird, Stephen Ferguson, Andrew Semple, Richard McCarter, Josh Lewis, Adam Bratton, David Funston, Ryan Campbell, Peter Henderson . Replacements; from; Sam McAuley, Robin Craig, Chris Cooper, Simon Logue, Adam Parke.
