Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 16th January 2016
There was one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield game, as well as one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2nd xv Cup game and a series of Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup and Plate games played midweek in the lead up to a list of Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield games and 1stxv games played on Saturday 16th January.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield replay game on Tuesday 12th January Friends’ School, Lisburn defeated Cambridge House Grammar School by 15-11.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2nd xv Cup Down High School and Regent House played a game on Wednesday 13th January from which the Down High School team emerged as 30-5 winners.
On the same afternoon Methodist College, Belfast 3rdxv defeated the Royal Belfast Academical Institution 5thxv by 45-8 in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate Ballyclare High School 3rdxv defeated the Methodist College, Belfast 5thxv by 46-19. Meanwhile Belfast Royal Academy 4thxv lost by 54-0 against the Ballyclare Secondary School 1stxv.
Bangor Grammar School hosted the Belfast Metropolitan College team in a midweek friendly game. The Bangor Grammar School team used an extended squad for this game and continued their recent run of good form winning the game, which was shortened, by 43-5. Zack Kerr had a fine game for the Bangor Grammar School team and he finished off with four tries and four successful conversions. Jamie Fulton, Lewis Brett and Chris Goldthorpe each scored one try apiece in the course of the comprehensive Bangor Grammar School victory.
The weather conditions prevalent on Saturday 16th January impacted on quite a number of scheduled games. In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield the games involving Royal School, Armagh and Down High and Limavady Grammar and Larne Grammar School were postponed. These games have been re-scheduled to be played on Tuesday 19th January. The Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield game, involving Ballymena Academy and Friends’ School, Lisburn was postponed as well. The Portora Royal School Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield game against Banbridge Academy and the Rainey Endowed School game against Regent House were also postponed.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup the Ballymena Academy v Bangor Grammar School game, scheduled for Saturday 16th January, was postponed.
The following 1stxv games, scheduled for Saturday 16th January, were cancelled because of the weather conditions:- Limavady Grammar School v Sligo Grammar School, Cambridge House Grammar School v Omagh Academy, Portora Royal School v Carrickfergus Grammar School, Wallace High School v Blackrock College, Belfast Royal Academy v Portadown College, Dalriada v Friends’ School, Lisburn, Regent House v Down High School, Campbell College, Belfast v St Andrew’s College, Dublin and Royal School, Dungannon v Banbridge Academy.
Despite the difficult weather conditions a number of Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup, 3rdxv Cup and Medallion Shield and Trophy games were played on Saturday 16th January.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup replay Dalriada travelled to play Lurgan College and came away with a 24-12 victory. The Dalriada team will now play the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team in the next round.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup Sullivan Upper 3rdxv defeated the Royal Belfast Academical Institution 3rdxv by 17-10. Meanwhile, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4thxv defeated the Campbell College 3rdxv by 34-5 in the same competition.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy Preliminary Round Antrim Grammar School travelled to play Strabane Academy and came away with a 45-5 victory.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Portadown College defeated Dalriada School by 8-0. The Portadown College team captain, Dylan Nelson, scored a try and kicked a penalty for the Portadown College team. Bangor Grammar School hosted the Royal School, Dungannon Medallion team in their Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield game. The Royal School, Dungannon team won the game by 12-5. The Dungannon win was based on a great team performance with their pack dominating play for long periods of the game. The Royal School, Dungannon points came from two Joshua Clarke tries, one of which was converted by Luke McMullan.
Three 1stxv friendly games did manage to survive the weather conditions on Saturday 16th January.
Sullivan Upper entertained the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team in a game the Belfast Inst team won by 22-7. The Belfast Inst had built up a 10-7 lead at the end of a closely contested first half. The visitors went on to secure their win with a dominant second half performance.
Michael Lowry gave the Belfast Inst team a 3-0 lead when he was successful with an early penalty kick opportunity. Mark Keane then ran in for a try, which Michael Lowry converted, to extend the Belfast Inst lead to 10-0. The Sullivan Upper team then came back strongly and took the game to the Belfast Inst team. Their enterprising approach saw them spend a lot of time in the opposition 22m area. The Sullivan Upper team turned down a potential scoring opportunity from a penalty. They opted to keep the ball in hand and got rewarded for their positive approach when Michael Houston scrambled over the whitewash for a try. Rory Kilpatrick added the conversion to leave the score board reading 10-7 in favour of the Belfast Inst team at the halftime break.
The second half saw the Belfast Inst team control both territory and possession for longer periods of time. Charley Fryers rumbled over for a try, which was converted by James Hume, to put the Belfast Inst team into as 17-7 lead. The 22-7 victory for the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team was secured when Neil Saulters touched down for an unconverted try in the final few minutes of the game.
Grosvenor Grammar School hosted the Rainey Endowed School team in a closely contested game that the Grosvenor GS team won by 8-7. The Rainey ES team had taken a 7-0 lead in the first half when Lorcan Quinn ran in for a try which he converted.
As conditions worsened in the second half the Rainey Endowed team seemed to somewhat fall off the pace off the game. The Grosvenor Grammar School team scored a try through Jack Mahon and converted a penalty through Daniel Martin to take an 8-7 lead. The Rainey Endowed team turned down the opportunity of kicking a penalty in the final minutes of the game. They opted to keep the ball in play but determined Grosvenor Grammar School defence turned the ball over which secured their hard earned 8-7 victory.
Methodist College, Belfast played the Christian Brother’s College team from Monkstown in Dublin and recorded a good 24-7. The Methody team scored four tries, in the course of the game, two of which were converted. Zach Jordan capped a fine personal performance with two tries while Alex Cairns and Mattie Loane ran in for one try each. Paul Kerr was successful with two conversions for the Methodist College team.
