There were four midweek fixtures played on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th October in the lead up to a restricted list of fixtures, due to the half term break, on Saturday 26th October.
Belfast Royal Academy should have hosted Ballymena Academy on Saturday 19th October but put the game back until Wednesday 23rd due to the fact they had received an invitation to play in the prestigious St Joseph’s College, Ipswich, Schools’ Rugby Festival Tournament.
This tournament features schools from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Sixteen schools were involved, including Solihull School, Alma Mater of Conor Joyce, the Ulster and Ireland U20’s Academy player, Millfield, Dulwich College, John Fisher School, RGS High Wycombe, RGS Newcastle, Old Swinford Hospital School, Whitchurch School from Wales, Portsmouth Grammar School, Brighton College, Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, Abingdon College, Bedford School, Stamford School, Belfast Royal Academy and the host school, St Joseph’s College. The highlight of the tournament for the Belfast Royal Academy team was their game against Dulwich College, a team that had not beaten for two seasons. The Academy team was leading the game going into the final seconds of the game but was denied an unlikely victory when the Dulwich College team scored a try to win the game by a point. BRA player, David O’Donnell Anderson, picked up one of the Players of the Festival awards at the end of the tournament.
The BRA team hosted Ballymena Academy at a windy, but sunlit, Roughfort on Wednesday afternoon.
Both teams were missing a number of crucial players and it was the Ballymena Academy team that emerged as 20-3 winners. Marcus Rea missed narrowly with an early penalty attempt into the wind but Michael Wilson gave the home team a 3-0 lead shortly afterwards. Midway through the first half, from a scrum, Ballymena attacked the narrow side and Jonny Rosborough powered over for a try. Andrew Magrath added the conversion to put the Ballymena Academy team into a 7-3 lead. Ballymena continued to apply pressure and Andrew Magrath went close with two more penalty attempts, both of which missed narrowly. Moments before half time, Ballymena recycled the ball quickly through several phases of play and Jonathan McKeown was on hand to score in the corner. Andrew Magrath’s touchline conversion just held up in the strong breeze to leave the score reading 12-3 in favour of the Ballymena Academy team at half time.
In the second half Belfast Royal Academy enjoyed a sustained period of possession during which time Jordan Hylton looked dangerous with the ball in hand. Ballymena defended well during this period of play with Andrew Magrath and Craig Hanna kicking well for the away team. Not for the first time in the game, Jonny Rosborough made a telling line break and, despite a fantastic cover tackle from Jordan Hylton, the supporting Dean Reynolds was on hand to touch down in the corner. Andrew Magrath added a further penalty to leave the final score reading 20-3 in favour of the Ballymena Academy team.
Banbridge Academy travelled to Dublin to play their annual fixture against a physically stronger Dublin CUS team. The Co Down team lost the game by 55-7, having been 29-0 down at half time.
The Banbridge team had good performances from players such as Jonny Campbell, who scored a second half try, Daniel McElderry, who added the conversion, Rory Carson and Ethan Harbinson.
Grosvenor Grammar School toured in Scotland and played two midweek fixtures, the first against Glasgow Academy and the second against a North Berwick xv.
The Grosvenor team defeated the Glasgow Academy team by 15-12 with the Grosvenor Grammar School points coming through tries scored by Sam Purdon, Gareth Anderson and Andrew Toland. This was a gritty performance from the Grosvenor GS players and one that put them in good form for their second game, a day later, against the North Berwick xv.
The Grosvenor team started this game well and took a 7-0 lead with a try from Gareth Lammy, which was converted by Zac Smith. The North Berwick team then scored two converted tries to take a 14-7 lead. Grosvenor then drew level with a converted try from Jamie McMullan. The North Berwick team then went into a 17-14 lead when they converted a penalty opportunity. Zac Smith drew the score level at 17-17 when he converted a penalty with just minutes remaining. The Grosvenor Grammar School team had the final say in this intriguing game when Andrew Johnston scored a last minute try, which Zac Smith converted, to ensure a hard earned 24-17 win for the Grosvenor Grammar School team.
Lurgan College hosted Down High School on Saturday 26th October and made the visitors work hard for their 17-3 win.
The Down High School team scored two first half tries, one of which was converted, to take a 12-0 lead at the interval.
The second half saw the Lurgan team reduce the arrears to 12-3 when Ryan Mooney converted a penalty kick. However, the Down High School team scored an unconverted try to secure their 17-3 win.
Wallace High School turned on their attacking style of play when they defeated Ballyclare High School by 46-0 at the Clonevin Park venue.
Scrum half, Jonny Stewart, put on a “Man of the Match” performance for the Lisburn team in the course of the game. The Wallace High School tries came from Jacob Stockdale, Philip Hylands, Andrew Cardosi, all of whom touched down twice, Ben Pentland and Jonny Stewart. Ryan Moore kicked one conversion and Andrew Cardosi was successful with two.
The Ballyclare team showed occasional glimpses of their attacking ability when James Beattie and Matthew McDowell managed to get some quality possession into their hands.
The Rainey Endowed School team travelled to play Limavady Grammar School and won the game by 20-10.
The Limavady Grammar School team took a 5-0 lead when they scored an unconverted try. Kieran Lynch then kicked a penalty for the Rainey team to leave the hosts with a 5-3 lead at the interval.
The Rainey team took an 8-5 lead early in the second half when Eunan Shaw scampered over the Limavady GS line to touch down for an unconverted try. This was extended to 13-5 when Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ player, Conal Murphy touched down for an unconverted try. The Limavady Grammar School team scored an unconverted try to reduce the arrears to 13-10. The game finished with the Rainey Endowed team scoring a try through Mark Rooney, with Kieran Lynch adding the conversion, to secure a well-deserved 20-10 win for the Rainey Endowed School team.
A depleted Banbridge Academy team travelled to play Coleraine Academical Institution and came away on the wrong end of a 55-0 scoreline.
The Coleraine AI team scored nine tries, five of which were converted. Ryan Gillan and Alross Alejo, both scored first half tries with Mark Gordon and Jonny Crowe touching down twice. Alross Alejo scored his second try of the game in the second half while Mark Gordon and Jonny Crowe completed their hat tricks with another try each in the course of second half. Conor Shiels, Jonny Crowe and Mark Gordon were successful in converting five of the nine tries between them.
In a re-enactment of last season’s Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup final, Methodist College hosted their cross town rivals from Royal Belfast Academical Institution and recorded an impressive 23-7 victory.
The Methody team had taken a 10-0 lead at the interval. This lead was extended to 18-0 early in the second half and, could have been more, but for the excellent defensive qualities displayed by the Belfast Inst team. The Inst team scored a try through Ian Jones, which Robert Little converted, to reduce the arrears to 18-7. However, with the last play of the game, the Methodist College team scored an unconverted try to ensure a well-deserved 23-7 victory.
Royal School, Armagh hosted Omagh Academy and defeated the Co Tyrone team by 43-12.
The Armagh team had built up a 17-7 lead by half time with tries from Jack Sleator, James Johnston and James Ervine. Mervyn Brown converted one of the tries. In response, the Omagh Academy team scored a try through Lloyd Kane which was converted by Stuart McIlwaine.
The second half saw the RS Armagh team score four more tries through Matthew McSorley, Neil Lutton, Mervyn Brown and David Agnew. Mervyn Brown added three more conversions. The Omagh Academy team scored one consolation try in the second half through Stuart McIlwaine.
The game featuring Portora Royal School and Foyle and Londonderry College had to be abandoned early in the second half due to an injury sustained by the referee. At this stage, the Portora RS team had built up an 18-3 lead.
The IRFU National Talent ID Camp, featuring players from the Clubs’ U18 stream, Schools’ U18 stream and U19 players will take place at Campbell College from Thursday 31st October-Saturday 2nd November. The end of camp games will take place at Campbell College at 11-00am on Saturday 2nd November.
Ulster Schools’ Round up Saturday 26th October
