Once again, a number of games fell victim to the prevailing weather conditions affecting the Province. However, quite a few games did take place on Saturday 15th December.
Wellington College hosted a Banbridge Academy team that has struggled to get positive results in the course of the season so far.
However, they emerged from Wellington with a very positive 17-5 win. Rory Thompson opened the scoring for the Banbridge Academy team will a well taken try after ten minutes. Paddy Hayes converted the try to give his team a 7-0 lead. The Banbridge team continued to dominate possession and scored their second try of the game when Gareth Liggett scored a try five minutes later. The try was not converted but the Banbridge Academy team now had a 12-0 lead, a lead they maintained until the interval.
The Wellington College team reduced the arrears to 12-5 after the restart when Kier Henderson scored an unconverted try early in the second half. With Ethan Harbinson winning a lot of turnover ball the Banbridge Academy full back, Daniel McElderry, took full advantage to run in for a try. The conversion was missed but the Banbridge Academy team had done enough to finish the game as deserved 17-5 winners.
Royal School, Dungannon hosted Down High School and emerged as 16-3 winners from the game.
The RS Dungannon team controlled the game from the beginning and continually asked questions of the Down High School defence. The RS Dungannon captain, Jacob McCammond, recently converted from the centre to a No 8, impressed with his leadership as well as his ability in the lineout and at the breakdown. He was ably assisted by the hard working David Leyburn and it was a combination of the work of these two players that presented the quick ball which Matthew Montgomery, the RS Dungannon centre, used to score the only try of the game. Jack Milligan converted the try to give the RS Dungannon team a 7-0 lead after just seven minutes of the game. The Down High School responded well with their impressive full back, Ryan Smyth, running the ball at every opportunity. Ryan took play deep into RS Dungannon territory and, following an infringement at the breakdown, the Down High School team was awarded a penalty. Paddy Wright converted the penalty to reduce the arrears to 7-3. The Dungannon team now took control of the game with Jack Milligan, playing only his second game as a scrum half, putting his team into positions of strength. Jack converted a penalty opportunity before the interval to give his team a 10-3 half time lead.
The home team continued to dominate proceedings in the second half and came close to scoring tries on a number of occasions, only to be denied by good Down High School defence. David Buckley thought he had scored a try only to knock the ball on close to the line. Paddy Wright and Luca Rea tried to run their team out of defence but could rarely get out of their 22m area. Jack Milligan was successful with two second half penalty kicks to ensure the RS Dungannon 16-3 win.
Portadown College hosted Friends’ School, Lisburn and emerged from the game as impressive 42-0 winners.
The Friends’ team had difficulty in handling the power and pace of the Portadown team. The home team raced into a 20-0 half time lead with tries from Matthew Goodland, Thomas Troughton, Toby Clarke and Jordan Elliott.
The Portadown College team continued to dominate proceedings in the second half with Niall Davidson displaying great skills in the outhalf position. He was ably assisted by Ben Matchett and Jonny Burns. The Portadown College team scored four second half tries, one of which Niall Davidson converted, to leave them as deserved 42-0 winners.
Belfast Royal Academy deservedly won their game at Roughfort against Royal School, Armagh by 10-8.
The home team took a 3-0 lead when Daniel McFadden converted a penalty opportunity following an Armagh infringement at a scrum. The RS Armagh team responded positively and scored an unconverted try through Daniel Ewart, as well as an Alistair Wright penalty, to give them an 8-3 lead at the interval.
The Belfast Royal Academy team raised their game in the second half and controlled possession for long periods of time. They scored a try through the hard working Stuart Martin. Daniel McFadden was successful with the touchline conversion to give his team a 10-8 lead. Despite the best efforts of RS Armagh players, such as James Johnston, Michael Rolston and Conor Wright, there were no further scores. This ensured a Belfast Royal Academy 18-8 win at the no side whistle.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution travelled to play Portora Royal School and came away with a convincing 43-17 win.
The Belfast Inst team stormed into a 31-10 lead at the interval and went on to score two more tries in the second half.
The Belfast Inst tries came from Philip Wright, Marty Little, who scored twice, Nathan Brown, Ed McCann and James Magee. Nathan Brown was successful with five conversions as well as a penalty. The Portora RS points came from two Robert Connors tries as well as one conversion. James Stevenson kicked one conversion as well as a penalty.
Ballyclare High School took an extended squad of players to Coleraine Academical Institution and came away with a 33-19 win.
The game was a scrappy affair with both teams making regular changes to personnel. The Coleraine AI team took a 7-0 lead when Conor Shiels broke through some poor Ballyclare HS defence to touch down under the posts. Conor converted the try. This became 12-0 when Peter Kidd scored an unconverted try. The Ballyclare HS team responded immediately and scored an unconverted try through Paddy Reid who maintained his recent impressive try scoring ability.
Both teams made changes at this stage and the visitors scored further tries through James McKee, who took advantage of good work from 1stxv debutant Paddy Mooney. The Ballyclare team converted a penalty try to give themselves a 19-12 lead. Back came Coleraine with an Alro Alejo try which Conor Shiels converted try to take the score to 19-19.
Ballyclare High School dominated the final third of the game but could score only two tries through Michael Kirk and Jordan McKinstry. Both tries were converted to ensure a 33-19 Ballyclare High School win.
Ballyclare High School blooded a number of young players to 1stxv rugby in the course of this game. Paddy Mooney, Matthew McDowell and Harry Reid, younger brother of Paddy, all impressed with their performances. Mark Gordon and Oliver McDowell displayed good skills for the Coleraine AI team.
Dalriada had a convincing 40-0 home win against a Larne Grammar School team that travelled short of a number of key players.
The Larne Grammar School team had taken a lot of positives out of their recent Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 1 win against Cambridge House. Unfortunately, they were unable to replicate that performance when they travelled to play Dalriada. Despite the best efforts of players such as Conor Connolly and Ethan Kerr the Larne team could do little to prevent the Dalriada team from recording a comfortable victory.
Belfast High School found it difficult to maintain their recent run of good results when they lost narrowly by 19-16 at home to Limavady Grammar School.
The Limavady Grammar School team was short of a number of key players but had still enough strength in depth to help them register a well-deserved win. The Limavady Grammar School team scored an early try through Rory Squires which Jack McCool converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead. The Belfast High School team reduced the arrears to 7-3 when they converted a penalty opportunity. Limavady increased their lead when Tom McClelland took advantage of good work from his inside backs to score an unconverted try in the corner. The Limavady Grammar School team maintained their 12-3 until just before the interval when the High School outhalf kicked another penalty to take the score to 12-6.
Limavady Grammar School dominated proceedings for most of the second half and scored a third try through Rory Squires, following good play involving both forwards and backs. Jack McCool converted the try to see his team into a 19-6 lead. The Belfast High School team fought back valiantly and scored a converted try as well as a penalty in the final quarter of the game. However, the Limavady Grammar School team held on to record a hard earned 19-16 win.
Carrickfergus Grammar School and Antrim Grammar School played out a training game with both teams using extended squads.
The Carrickfergus Grammar School team had good performances from Chris Berry, Reece Berry, Christian Robinson, Joel Bell, Adam Fittis and Karl McLean, all of whom scored tries. For Antrim Grammar School, Sam McCombe and Mark Strange stood out with their endeavour throughout the morning.
The game involving Rainey Endowed School and Sullivan Upper was cancelled due to flooded pitches with the game involving Foyle and Londonderry College being cancelled as well. Regent House and Grosvenor Grammar School have postponed their game until Wednesday 19th December.
