Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 19th December 2015
There was one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Preliminary Round game, as well as several Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxCup and Plate games and two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield games, played during the week in the lead up to a number of 1stxv friendly games played on Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th, Friday 18th and Saturday 19th December 2015.
On Monday 14th December Belfast High School 2ndxv played Rainey Endowed School 2ndxv in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate competition. The Belfast High School team won the game by 11-5. In the same competition Dromore High School hosted Limavady Grammar School in a game the Dromore High School team won by 12-0.
On Wednesday 16th December the postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Preliminary Round game, featuring Carrickfergus Grammar School and Strabane Academy, took place alongside two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2nd xv Cup games and two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate games.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup Dalriada and Lurgan College drew 12-12 while Down High School and Wallace High School drew 3-3 in the same competition. This game is scheduled to be replayed on Thursday 31st December. The Lurgan College v Dalriada replay has to be played on/before Saturday 9th January.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate Sullivan Upper defeated Larne Grammar School by 59-0 while Belfast Royal Academy lost by 33-0 against Omagh Academy in the same competition.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Limavady Grammar School defeated Carrickfergus Grammar School by 31-0. Portadown College travelled to play Foyle and Londonderry College in the same competition and the Portadown team returned home having won the game by 15-5.
Carrickfergus Grammar School hosted Strabane Academy in their postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Preliminary Round game on Wednesday 16th December. At the end of a very closely contested game it was the Carrickfergus Grammar School team that emerged as 10-3 winners.
The game was played in very mild conditions in front of a good crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the North Road venue. The Carrickfergus Grammar School team received the kick off and strong carries from their forwards, with Aaron Stevenson to the fore, clearly set their intentions out. However, the early flow of Carrickfergus GS attacks was stemmed by resolute defence from Strabane Academy. The home team suffered an early setback when a backrow forward had to leave the field of play to receive treatment for a leg injury. Replacement player, Andrew Maxwell, soon made his presence felt with some good work but the Strabane defence made sure he could not find any way through. Despite losing two platers to injury themselves the Strabane Academy team then started to gain some quality possession and it was the turn of the Carrickfergus defence to step up to the mark. Alex Hume, the Strabane Academy 2nd Row was causing problems for the Carrickfergus defence but they successfully thwarted a series of Strabane attacks and their hard work ensured the game continued scoreless in the opening quarter. Midway through the first half things changed when the Carrickfergus Grammar School outhalf, Fionn McCormack, placed a clever kick behind the rushing Strabane Academy defence. His winger, Josh Boys, hacked the ball through to enable Ian Woodside to gather at pace and run in for a try in the corner. Fionn McCormack stepped up to place the difficult conversion over the cross bar, and between the uprights, to give the Carrickfergus Grammar School team a 7-0 lead. The Carrickfergus team continued to attack but, despite the best efforts of players such as Jeremy Addley and Peter Mitchell, found they were unable to add to their lead before halftime. They had one golden opportunity with the last play of the first half but a mixture of good Strabane defence, and some questionable Carrickfergus handling, ensured the home team was unable to add to their 7-0 lead.
The second half proved to be an evenly contested affair with both defences dominating for long periods of time. The Strabane Academy team got some reward for their endeavours when Thomas O’Flaherty reduced the arrears to 7-3, with a well struck penalty, with just ten minutes of the game remaining. However, the Carrickfergus Grammar School team stuck to the task and a successful Fionn McCormack penalty, with just minutes of the game remaining, ensured the 10-3 victory for the Carrickfergus GS team at the end of a game that might have gone either way.
This win sees the Carrickfergus Grammar School team travel to play Royal School, Dungannon in the first round of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup on Saturday 9th January while the gallant losers from Strabane Academy will enter the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy competition on Saturday 23rd January.
In a midweek North Down Derby game, played on Wednesday 16th, Bangor Grammar School travelled to play Regent House. At the end of an extremely closely contested game it was the Bangor Grammar School team that emerged as 29-28 winners when they converted a penalty opportunity. The Regent House team took an early 7-0 lead when Alistair Deering scored a try which was converted by Robbie Johnston. The Bangor Grammar School team responded almost immediately when Connor McKee ran in to touch down close to the Regent House posts. Zack Kerr added the extras to take the scoreboard to 7-7. Then Bangor GS took a 14-7 lead when good work from their pack provided quality possession for the backs. Outhalf, Lewis Brett, sliced through the Regent House defence to run in for a fine try. Zack Kerr successfully converted the try. Regent House responded in a positive manner and, close to the interval, Robbie Johnston ran in for a try, which he converted, to draw the game level at 14-14.
The opening quarter of the second half saw the Bangor GS team take control of the game. Captain, Evan Willard-McMillan, and Lewis Brett each scored a try, one of which was converted by Zack Kerr, to put the visitors into a 26-14 lead. A moment of controversy in the course of the game saw the touch judge’s appraisal of a successful conversion attempt being over-ruled! Regent House seemed to be undaunted despite going two scores down heading into the final quarter of the game. They took advantage of the Bangor Grammar School team appearing to take their feet off the pedal. Regent scored two converted tries to take a 28-26 lead with just three minutes of the game remaining. The first of these tries came from Ryan McCarroll with Alistair Deering touching down for the second-also his second of the game. Robbie Johnston was successful with both conversions. The Bangor team was now throwing everything at the Regent team but the Regent House team was resolute in their defensive efforts. However, in the final minute of the game, the Regent House team was penalised just inside the Bangor Grammar School half. The Bangor No 8, Matthew Agnew, was keen to get on with the game and took a quick penalty. He was stopped by the Regent House defence that had not retreated the full ten metres. The Regent House team was penalised and marched a further ten metres back. The Bangor GS kicker, Zack Kerr, was off the pitch at this stage of the game having an injured foot tended to. Up stepped full back, Jamie Fulton, who displayed a cool head and successfully converted the penalty kick to secure a hard earned 29-28 for his Bangor Grammar School team at the end of this feisty encounter.
On Thursday 17th December Portadown College travelled to play Friends’ School, Lisburn in another closely contested game. The Portadown College team returned home having won the game by 8-7. The Friends’ School team started the match strongly and controlled most of the early exchanges. However, despite controlling the possession and having territorial advantage, the Friends’ School attack was unable to breach the Portadown defence. Having survived the early onslaught it was then the turn of the Portadown College team to go into attack mode. They had opportunities to score tries but they failed to do so. However, their pressure forced the Friends’ School team into conceding a penalty, which Michael Orr converted, to give the Portadown College team a 3-0 lead at the break.
The Portadown College team started the second half where they left off in the first-on the attack. They came close to scoring on a number of occasions but the Friends’ School defence managed to thwart their attempts. Indeed, it was the Friends’ School team that scored the first try of the game when Curtis Dundas displayed great pace to touch down for a fine individual try. David Stewart added the conversion to give the Friends’ School team a 7-3 lead. This setback seemed to have a positive effect on the Portadown College team. They raised their game and presented their winger, Peter McKeeman, with the opportunity to finish off a flowing move. Peter touched down for an unconverted try which was sufficient for the Portadown College team to secure their 8-7 victory.
Methodist College finished off a successful training camp at the Brown’s Sports Complex on the Algarve with a game against the Portugal U19/U20 Development squad. The Methodist College team won the game by 24-19. Aaron Kilpatrick, Thomas Gallagher and Josh Jordan each scored one try in the course of the game. The remaining points came from the boot of Paul Kerr, who was successful with two penalty kicks, while Jonny Jordan was successful with one.
There were three friendly games played on Friday 18th December. Ballyclare High School hosted an in form Coleraine Grammar School team in a game the Coleraine GS team won by 28-5. The Coleraine GS team had built up an 11-0 lead by the interval with a try from Ally Telfer and two penalties from Matthew Norris.
The second half saw the Coleraine Grammar School team extend their lead to 28-0 with a second try from Ally Telfer as well as tries from Christi Hamilton and Hugo Mawhinney. Matthew Norris was successful with one conversion kick. In the closing stages of the game the Ballyclare High School did manage to peg one score back when Adam McConkey took advantage of a well-organised driven maul to touch down for an unconverted try. This was just reward for a Ballyclare High School player who had performed impressively throughout the game. The final whistle then sounded and it was the Coleraine Grammar School team that celebrated their 28-5 victory.
The platform for the Coleraine Grammar School success was laid by the performance of their pack with players such as Jake King, Hugo Mawhinney and George McKeag getting through an immense amount of work in the course of the game.
Belfast Royal Academy travelled to play Royal School, Armagh and following an entertaining game, it was the BRA team that emerged as 35-19 winners. The Royal School, Armagh team was short of a number of regular players due to unavailability and both teams put on a great display of attacking rugby. The Belfast Royal Academy points came through tries from Jay McCrum, who scored twice, Bradley Luney, Timothy Robinson and Conor McAuley, Michael Wilson was successful with all five conversions.
Christopher Jennings scored two tries for the Royal School, Armagh team with Peter Wilson touching down for one. Ian Hamilton added two conversions.
Larne Grammar School hosted Belfast Metropolitan College in a closely contested game the Belfast Met team won by 19-17. John Hyndman, Aaron Wilson and Micah Stevenson all scored tries for the Larne Grammar School team with Barry McFaul kicking one conversion. Towards the end of the game the Larne GS team shipped a number of injuries to key players which will impact on preparation for their forthcoming Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup campaign.
On Saturday 18th December four friendly 1stxv games were played.
Ballymena Academy hosted Down High School in a game which saw both teams playing without a number of first choice players. The Ballymena Academy team won the game by 42-10. The game was played on a very windy, but dry, morning at the Galgorm Road venue. The home team showed several changes due to unavailability but welcomed Andrew Hogg and Josh McAuley into the pack for their first starts of the season.
Ballymena opened the scoring for the morning when a quickly tapped free kick was moved to Jonathan McKeown who found a gap to score below the posts. Bruce Houston added the conversion for an early 7-0 lead. Five minutes later Jonathan McKeown broke through again and off-loaded to winger Conor Cosgrove who finished between the sticks allowing another straightforward conversion for Bruce Houston to extend the Ballymena Academy lead to 14-0. Down High School then enjoyed an extended period where they dominated territory and possession. A Ballymena infringement at the breakdown allowed Charley Power to reduce the deficit to 14-3 with a successful penalty. Moments later Ballymena failed to clear from their own line and, from a five-metre scrum, Zac Ward showed great strength and determination to muscle over for a try. Paddy Browne was successful with the conversion to make the score 14-10. Ballymena Academy had the last say before the interval when strong runs from Alexander Clarke, who, along with Jonny McKeown and Marcus Rea had an outstanding game, and Angus Kernohan, allowed Michael Stronge an easy touchdown. Bruce Houston added the extras to give his team a 21-10 lead at the interval.
Down High School lost a number of key players to bumps and bruises at halftime. Zack Ward, team captain, William Martin, Clayton Milligan and Paddy Browne were unable to resume play for the second half. The second half became a stop-start affair with Down High suffering several more injuries and Ballymena Academy also making changes. Ballymena scored early in the second half when Jonathan McKeown rampaged over from close range. Bruce Houston’s conversion made the score 28 – 10. Ballymena scored two more tries, both excellent individual finishes, when Ryan McKee and Alan Small showed their pace and finishing ability from long range. Bruce Houston slotted both conversions and the game finished with the score reading 42-10 to Ballymena Academy.
Despite losing a large number of key players to injury in the course of the game the Down High School players displayed great commitment and determination throughout the game but the Ballymena Academy players emerged as worthy winners at the final whistle.
Omagh Academy 1st XV returned to action after several matches fell victim to the weather over recent weeks. Portora Royal School was the opposition at the blustery Campsie playing fields. The Academy started the stronger and put the pressure on early in the game. The strong winds allowed Danny Ritchie and Kyle Beattie to kick well for position and enable their team to build attacks inside the Portora 22m area. Omagh’s pressure was rewarded with two early penalties but Kyle Beattie was just off target with both with the wind pushing his second just to the right of the upright. Portora grew into the game and enjoyed some possession of their own forcing the home side into conceding a penalty within range of the posts. The windy conditions again blew the ball wide and honours remained even moving towards half time. Portora continued to press and ill-discipline allowed them to kick deep into the Omagh 22m. The resultant lineout, the last play of the first half, was won and driven over the line for the Portora hooker to score. The conversion was missed, on the stroke of half time, but the Portora Royal School team had a 5-0 lead at the break.
Omagh Academy began the second half in a determined manner with winger, Taine Lagan, retaining Kyle Beattie’s kick off and setting his team on the front foot. Taine himself came close to scoring with a superb line break but he was bundled into touch by a covering Portora RS defender. Both teams had periods of possession but errors, as well as continued ill- discipline at the breakdown areas, thwarted any clear cut scoring opportunities. Midway through the second half the Omagh team was glad to welcome back one of their players returning after a lay-off, flanker Jonny Anderson. His return to play lifted his team mates and immediately made an impact on the pitch. Jonny, along with other forward subs Glenn McKinley and Timmy McKeown, added to the physicality which saw the home side regain control of the ball and set about the Portora line. With the added pressure the Portora RS discipline seemed to wane. Kyle Beattie kicked for the corner and a trademark catch and drive, following a lineout, ended with team captain, Matthew Clyde, guiding the ball over the Portora RS line to touch down for a try. Kyle Beattie struck the conversion attempt sweetly into the teeth of the wind but the ball fell agonisingly short of the cross bar.
The home side came close to snatching the victory as they set up camp in the Portora 22m area in the final five minutes of the game. However, the Portora Royal School defence held firm and the match finished 5-5, a scoreline that was, overall, a fair reflection off the game.
Both Sullivan Upper and Rainey Endowed School were missing a number of key players when the teams met in Holywood in a game the ever improving Rainey Endowed team won by 28-17. At the end of a closely contested first half the Rainey Endowed team had built up a 7-3 lead. Despite losing two players, due to a clash of heads, the Rainey ES team took a 7-0 lead when Lorcan Quinn touched down for a try which he converted. The Sullivan Upper team then made good use of the strong wind to take play into the Rainey “red” Zone. Pressure on the Rainey ES defence yielded a penalty for the home team. Rory Kilpatrick stepped up to slot the penalty and reduce the deficit to 7-3, a scoreline which remained in place until the interval.
The Sullivan Upper team stunned the Rainey ES team in the early stages of the second. Chris Jordan displayed great pace and panache to run in for a try. Rory Kilpatrick added the extras to put the Sullivan Upper team into a 10-7 lead. The Rainey team responded immediately and Anton Lupari scored a try, which Lorcan Quinn converted, to see the Rainey team into a 14-10 lead. Cameron Stewart then intercepted a Sullivan Upper pass and finished off with a try under the posts. Lorcan Quinn was successful with the conversion to increase the Rainey ES lead to 21-10. The Rainey team stayed in attack mode and Anton Lupari touched down for his second try of the game. Lorcan Quinn added the conversion to give his Rainey Endowed School team a 28-10 lead. The Sullivan Upper team remained true to the attacking intentions they displayed throughout the game. This paid off when Luke Coulter scored a try, which Rory Kilpatrick converted, to reduce the deficit to 28-17. The final few minutes saw the Sullivan Upper team throw everything at the Rainey defence. However, the Rainey Endowed School held on and celebrated their 28-17 victory at the final whistle.
The “Match of the Day” took place at Osborne Park when the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team hosted Wallace High School in an eagerly anticipated clash that was a re-run of last season’s Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup final. This time it was the Wallace High School that emerged victorious after a close fought game the Wallace team won by 6-5.
The Belfast Inst team had opportunities to score tries in the first half but the Wallace HS defence was in top form and refused to let anything through. That was until James Hume broke through, following a set play, to touch down for an unconverted try which put the Belfast Inst team into a 5-0 lead. The Wallace High School team responded in a positive fashion. Pressure on the Belfast Inst defence saw the home team concede a penalty. Jonny Stewart stepped up to convert the penalty to reduce the deficit to 5-3 at the end of the first half.
Further pressure from the Wallace High School team forced the Belfast Inst team into conceding another penalty in the opening exchanges of the second half. Jonny Stewart stepped up to confidently convert the kick and give his team a 6-5 lead. The windy conditions caused problems for both teams but it was the Wallace High School team that was under pressure from the Belfast Inst team in the final quarter of the game. The Royal Belfast Academical Institution pack, with Callum Reid, Neil Saulters and Charlie Fryers to the fore, attacked with wave after wave of thrusts at the Wallace High School line. However, they were thwarted by a Wallace High School team that was resolute in their determination that nothing should pass-and nothing did pass! The final whistle sounded and the Wallace High School team celebrated their hard-earned, but ultimately, well-deserved 6-5 victory.
