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Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 2nd March 2019
With the half term holidays finished there was a flurry of rugby activity during the week in the lead up to the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield and Plate semi-final games on Saturday 2nd March.
On Monday 25th February the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy took place at the Ballymena Academy playing fields when Dromore High School played Limavady Grammar School. The game, which was played in superb overhead and underfoot conditions in front of a good crowd of supporters, was won by the Dromore High School team by 14-10. Among the crowd of spectators was former Ulster and Ireland player, Chris Henry, who was impressed with the performances of both the Dromore High School and Limavady Grammar School players.
Limavady Grammar School started the brighter of the two sides and, ten minutes into the game, took a 7-0 lead after their prop, John McMichael, crashed over for a try having taken advantage of his fellow forwards keeping possession for a number of phases. James Howe, the impressive Limavady Grammar School No 8, added the conversion kick. Dromore came back into the game and, just before the interval, Josh Patterson made a great break from a midfield scrum to score a try just to the left of the posts. Captain, Rhys Dale, added the conversion to take the scoreboard to 7-7. From the restart the Limavady team forced the Dromore High School team into conceding a penalty. James Howe converted the penalty opportunity to give the Limavady Grammar School team a 10-7 lead at the half time break.
The start of the second half was a cagey affair with both teams failing to keep possession unnecessarily on a number of occasions. However, ten minutes after the restart a great break from centre, Tom Dolaghan, took Dromore High School into the Limavady 22m area. However, Tom lost the ball trying to offload but, from the resulting clearing kick, Aaron Lyttle and Richard Dickson charged the ball down to win a 5 metre scrum. From an efficient carry from Year 12 Number 8, Ben Wilson, Sam Fairley picked the ball up and scored in the corner. A successful touch line conversion from Rhys Dale left the score at 14-10 in favour of the Dromore High School team. Limavady Grammar School dominated the last twenty minutes of the game with players such as James Howe, Joshua Howe, Joe McCartney and John Anderson all asking questions of the Dromore High School defence. However, some great disciplined defence, led by Reuben Turner and Ben Carey, allowed Dromore High School to hold on for a 14-10 win and, with it, the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy.
Following the game Steve Brown, representing the Danske Bank Sponsors, presented the players from both teams with their Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy final medals and the captain of the victorious Dromore High School team, Rhys Dale, with the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy.
Barney McGonigle, representing the Ulster Branch, IRFU, congratulated both teams on reaching the final, congratulated Dromore High School on their victory, thanked the referee, Steven Robb, and his assistants Billy Halliday and Jerome McAllister, for handling the game so well, thanked the Principal, Mr Stephen Black, and the Governors and staff of Ballymena Academy for the use of facilities and hosting the game, and thanked the Danske Bank for their continued sponsorship of the Ulster Schools’ competitions.
Rainey Endowed School 3rdxv played Royal Belfast Academical Institution 5thxv in the 1/4 Final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate. The Rainey Endowed School 3rdxv won the game by 31-12.
On Tuesday 26th February Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4thxv played Campbell College 3rdxv in a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup Quarter-Final game. The Royal Belfast Academical Institution team won the game by 42-17. The Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4thxv will now play the Methodist College, Belfast 3rdxv at home in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup semi-final.
On Wednesday 27th February quite a few Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv and 3rdxv Cup and Plate games took place.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup Semi-Final Campbell College, Belfast played Royal Belfast Academical Institution in a game the Campbell College, Belfast 2ndxv won by 41-20. The Campbell College, Belfast team will now Methodist College, Belfast 2ndxv in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup. This final will take place at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution grounds at Osborne Park on Saturday 9th March.
Ballymena Academy 3rdxv played Royal Belfast Academical Institution 3rdxv in a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup Quarter-Final Game. The Royal Belfast Academical Institution team won the game by 24-5 and will now play away to Methodist College, Belfast 4thxv in the Semi-Final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate Royal School, Armagh 4thxv played Sullivan Upper School 3rdxv in a 1/4 Final Plate qualifier game the Sullivan Upper School team won by 15-12. The Sullivan Upper Schools 3rdxv will now play at home against Belfast Royal Academy 3rdxv in the 3rdxv Plate 1/4 Final. The winners of that game will play Wallace High School 3rdxv at home in the semi-final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate.
Enniskillen Royal Grammar School 3rdxv hosted Down High School 3rdxv in the 1/4 Final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate. The Enniskillen Royal Grammar school team won the game by 12-8 and will now play Rainey Endowed School 3rdxv at home in the semi-final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate.
On Saturday 2nd March there were two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Semi-Final games as well as two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate Semi-Final games and the finals of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl and Trophy competitions.
Ballymena Academy played Sullivan Upper School at the Belfast Royal Academy playing fields at Roughfort in a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Semi-Final game the Ballymena Academy Medallion team won by 19-3.
Both schools would like to thank Belfast Royal Academy, and especially their Head Groundsman, Anton Gawe, for the use of facilities and hosting the game.
Campbell College, Belfast played Methodist College, Belfast at CIYMS RFC in a Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Semi-Final game the Methodist College, Belfast Medallion team won by 44-5.
Both schools would like to thank CIYMS RFC for the use of facilities and hosting the game.
The Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield final, featuring Ballymena Academy and Methodist College, Belfast will take place at the Kingspan Stadium on Tuesday 12th March at 2-30pm.
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate Semi-Finals Rainey Endowed School defeated Belfast Royal Academy by 15-12 and Grosvenor Grammar School defeated Wallace High School by 12-7.
Rainey Endowed School and Grosvenor Grammar School will play in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate on Saturday 16th March. This Danke Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate Final will be played at the Belfast Royal Academy playing fields at Roughfort.
The final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl took place at the Royal School, Dungannon playing fields when Omagh Academy played Down High School in a game the Omagh Academy Medallion team won by 17-11.
Richard Clingan, representing the Ulster Branch Schools’ Committee, congratulated both teams on reaching the final, congratulated Omagh Academy on their victory, thanked the referee, Trevor Bradfield, and his assistants, Chris Little and Simon Urquhart, for handling the game so well. Richard thanked the Principal, Governors and staff of Royal School, Dungannon for the use of facilities and hosting the game, and thanked the Danske Bank for their continued sponsorship of the Ulster Schools’ Rugby competitions. Lorraine Peden, representing the Danske Bank, and Richard Clingan then presented the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl medals to both teams and the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl to the captain of the victorious Omagh Academy team.
The final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy took place at the Rainey Endowed School playing fields when Foyle and Londonderry College played Enniskillen Royal Grammar School in a game the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School Medallion team won by 15-5.
Following the game, Stan Huey, representing the Ulster Branch, IRFU, and a former President of the Ulster Branch, congratulated both teams on reaching the final, congratulated Enniskillen Royal Grammar School on their victory, thanked the referee, Barry O’Hara, and his assistants, Mark Taylor and Kirker Dalton, for handling the game so well. Stan Huey thanked the Principal, Governors and staff of Rainey Endowed School, especially Chris Campbell, for the use of facilities and hosting the game, and thanked the Danske Bank for their continued sponsorship of the Ulster Schools’ Rugby competitions. Terry O’ Doherty, representing the Danske Bank, and Stan Huey then presented the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy medals to both teams and the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy to the captain of the victorious Enniskillen Royal Grammar School team.
Many Year, 8, 9 and 10 players were involved in tournaments at Clongowes Wood College, Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Coleraine Grammar School on Saturday 2nd March.
The Coleraine Grammar School tournament attracted entries from schools in Ulster and Leinster with over 450 players participating on the day. Despite the difficult weather conditions the standard of rugby was very high.
In the A Tournament Methodist College, Belfast A team were the winners with Campbell College, Belfast A team finishing as runners up. The Plate winners were from the Limavady Grammar School A team with the Willow Park B team finishing as runners up.
In the B Tournament Willow Park C team were the winners with Royal Belfast Academical Institution B team finishing as runners up. Campbell College, Belfast B team were the B Plate winners with Willow Park D team finishing as runners up.
Ballymena Academy, Methodist College, Belfast, Campbell College, Belfast and Royal Belfast Academical Institution Year 9 teams took part in the Clongowes Wood College U13 John Sullivan Tournament. The Ballymena Academy team drew with St Michael’s College and Clongowes Wood College and defeated Castleknock College in the group games. They defeated Crescent Comprehensive College before losing to Christian Brother’s College, Cork in the final of the Shield competition where they finished as Runners-Up. The Ballymena Academy team was the only school from Ulster to finish in the top 2 of their initial group games.
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution team defeated King’s Hospital School to win the Bowl competition.
There was one 1stxv friendly fixture played when Cambridge House Grammar School played the Ballymena RFC U18 team.
The Cambridge House Grammar School team won the game by 38-0 with their points coming through tries from Rhys Ervine, Kane McIlroy, Andrew Wilson, Ethan Crawford, Josh Mark and Tom Wharry. Rory McCandless was successful with four of his conversion kicks.
