Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 30th November 2013.
There was one midweek fixture played on Wednesday 27th November prior to a full list of fixtures on Saturday 30th November.
Banbridge Academy hosted their near neighbours from Portadown College in a game which saw the Portadown College coach, Andrew Symington, return to his “Alma Mater”.
Andrew was delighted to see his team put on their best performance of the season and return home with an impressive 25-7 victory. The Portadown team took an early 3-0 lead when Niall Davidson converted a penalty opportunity. This became 8-0 when the Portadown team ran in an unconverted try after just ten minutes of the game. The Banbridge Academy team responded with a try from Rory Thompson which was converted by Daniel McElderry to reduce the deficit to 8-7. Just before the half time whistle, the Portadown team scored a second unconverted try to increase their lead to 13-7 at the break.
Five minutes into the second half the Portadown team scored a converted try to see them take a 20-7 lead. The game was sealed by the Portadown College team with their third unconverted try of the game, five minutes from the end, to leave them as comfortable 25-7 winners.
Banbridge Academy recovered, somewhat, from their midweek defeat by Portadown College when they travelled to play Grosvenor Grammar School on Saturday 30th November. The game ended in a 10-10 draw. The Banbridge Academy team took an early 7-0 lead when their 2nd Row forward, Matthew Bell scored a try which Daniel McElderry converted. Both teams went into attack mode but both defences held firm for the remainder of the first half to ensure the Banbridge team turned around with their 7-0 lead intact at the interval.
The second half saw the Grosvenor Grammar School team come back into the game when an excellent break from Shane Johnston was carried on by Sam Purdon who finished with an unconverted try in the corner to reduce the deficit to 7-5. From the restart, the Banbridge team took play deep into Grosvenor GS territory. The visitors were awarded a penalty which was converted by Daniel McElderry to put his Banbridge team into a 10-5 lead. With just ten minutes of the game remaining, the Grosvenor GS team scored an unconverted try through Jonah McDowell following a clever kick from Mark Johnston to draw the scores level at 10-10. There were no further scores despite the best efforts of Banbridge Academy players, Aaron Clarke and Rory Thompson, and Grosvenor Grammar School players, Sam Purdon and Shane Johnston.
Lurgan College hosted a Royal Belfast Academical Institution 3rdxv and won the game by 26-0.
The Lurgan team started well and scored a try through Thomas Neill after just four minutes of the game. Mark McIlwaine added the conversion to give his team a 7-0 lead. The Belfast Inst team responded positively and attacked at every opportunity. However, the Lurgan College defence held firm and the score remained at 7-0 until the break.
The Lurgan College team took control of the game in the second half and scored three tries through Mark McIlwaine, Matthew Laird and Ryan McCann. Mark added two conversions to ensure a 26-0 win for the Lurgan College team.
Belfast Royal Academy hosted Regent House and won the game by 25-17.
Regent House opened the scoring with an unconverted try to take a 5-0 lead. Belfast Royal Academy responded with an unconverted try from Michael Wilson to take the score to 5-5. The Regent House team then scored a converted try to take a 12-5 lead, a lead they held until the interval.
The home team reduced the deficit to 12-11 when Michael Wilson converted two penalty kicks early in the second half. This became 18-12 to Belfast Royal Academy when Ross Bryans scored a try which Michael Wilson converted. Regent House then scored an unconverted try from the restart to reduce the arrears to 18-17. The BRA team left it late to secure their win but, with just a minute remaining, Gareth McAdams picked off the base of a scrum to blast over the Regent House line to touch down for a try. Michael Wilson added the conversion to secoure a hard earned 25-17 win for the Belfast Royal Academy team.
The East Antrim derby game, featuring Carrickfergus Grammar School and Larne Grammar School, ended in a 29-7 win for the Carrickfergus GS team.
Carrickfergus GS welcomed Adam Fittis and Kris Berry back to action for this game. They took an early 7-0 lead when Adam Fittis scored a try which Marc Ellison converted. This became 10-0 when Marc Ellison added a penalty midway through the first half. The Larne Grammar School team responded very positively and scored a converted try, following a quickly taken penalty, to reduce the deficit to 10-7. Just before the interval, the Carrickfergus GS lead was extended to 17-7 when their hard working captain, Joel Bell, scored a try which Marc Ellison converted.
The second half saw the game go from end to end but it was the Carrickfergus GS team that scored an unconverted try from Jake Porter who took advantage of a good exchange of passes involving both forwards and backs before touching down. With time running out, it was David Stewart who scored a try for his Carrickfergus GS team. Marc Ellison added the conversion to secure the 29-7 win for the Carrickfergus Grammar School team.
The Rainey Endowed School team travelled to play Omagh Academy and had to work hard before securing a 24-10 win.
The Omagh Academy team had built up a 10-5 lead by the break with a penalty from Stuart Ballentine and a try from Stewart Allen which Stuart Ballentine converted against an unconverted Rainey ES try from David McClelland.
A better second half performance from the Rainey ES team led to three tries with the Nicholl twin brothers, Andrew scoring one and Rory scoring two! Kieran Lynch converted two of the tries to secure the 24-10 win for the Rainey Endowed School team.
The recent good run of form displayed by the Down High School team continued when they hosted Bangor Grammar School and won the game by 14-3.
Both teams struggled to any positive play together in the first half with the only score coming from a Bangor GS penalty to see the visitors into a 3-0 lead at halftime.
The second half saw the Down High School team play smarter rugby despite not making the most of some chances they created. They did manage to score two tries through Nathan Gibson and Joseph Bingham, both of which were converted by Patrick Wright to secure their 14-3 victory.
Royal School, Dungannon hosted Coleraine Academical Institution and could feel unfortunate to lose the game by 22-12.
The RS Dungannon team had built up a 6-3 lead midway through the first half with two Jack Milligan penalties against one from Callum Smith for the Coleraine AI team. Conor Shiels then opened up the RS Dungannon defence to finish with a try, which Callum Smith converted, to put the Coleraine AI team into a 10-6 lead. Just before half time Jack Milligan was successful with his third penalty of the game to reduce the deficit to 10-9.
Coleraine AI started the second half strongly and scored an unconverted try to increase their lead to 15-9, seven minutes after the restart. Back came the RS Dungannon team and, once again, that man Milligan kicked to penalty to reduce the arrears to 15-12. However, it was the Coleraine AI team that had the final say when Conor Shiels ran in for a try under the RS Dungannon posts. Calum Smith converted the try to leave the final score reading 22-12 in favour of his Coleraine AI team.
Campbell College and Sullivan Upper met in a game at Fox’s Field which saw the Sullivan Upper team eventually emerge as 30-16 winners.
Both teams were short of a number of first choice regular players but this did not inhibit either team from putting on a good display of attacking rugby. Mark Adair opened the scoring for Sullivan Upper, with an early penalty, to give his team a 3-0 lead. The Campbell College team drew level when Jack Owens converted a penalty opportunity two minutes later. Jack then kicked his team into a 6-3 lead when he converted another penalty opportunity fifteen minutes into the game. Eight minutes later, Luke Eddie finished off a flowing Sullivan Upper attack with an unconverted try to put the Sullivan team into an 8-6 lead. This was extended to 13-6 when David McMaster, playing in the Sullivan Upper centre, ran in for an unconverted try. The Campbell College team responded with Jack Harte taking advantage of some good work from his fellow centre, Jack Owens, to finish with an unconverted try which reduced the deficit to 13-11. On the stroke of half time, Dave Cave scrambled over the Campbell College line to score an unconverted try to put his Sullivan Upper team into an 18-11 lead at the interval.
Campbell College came back strongly in the course of the second half with Jack Owens asking questions of the Sullivan Upper defence. However, the Sullivan defence was well organised and defended strongly. On a rare second half visit into the Campbell College 22m area, Dave Cave scored his second unconverted try of the game to increase the Sullivan Upper lead to 23-11 with just ten minutes of the game remaining. Once again, the Campbell College team responded positively with Jack Owens creating the space for Jack Harte to score his second try of the game at reduce the arrears to 23-16. Campbell might rue the fact they spurned a number of potential scoring opportunities at this stage of the game. However, it was the Sullivan Upper team that had the final say in the game when David McMaster scored his second try of the game. Mark Adair added the extras to ensure a well-deserved 30-16 victory for the Sullivan Upper team.
Limavady Grammar School hosted Portora Royal School having not played for two successive weeks.
The home team, despite missing several key players, including prop, Richard Boyd, and fly half, Scott McLean, was still able to record a 27-12 victory. From a line out deep in the opposition half, the ball was moved wide and winger, Ethan Sherrard, crossed the line. The conversion was missed but the Limavady GS team had a 5-0 lead. Limavady continued this great start when their centre, Michael Barr, turned the ball over in mid field. The ball was moved quickly and, No 8, Sam Neilly scored an unconverted try in the corner to give his team a 10-0 lead. The home side continued to dominate the game and, fifteen minutes in, they scored their third try. Another well worked move saw centre, Tom McClelland, score an unconverted try in the corner to increase the Limavady GS lead to 15-0. Limavady finished the first half off with two further tries through second row, Darren Corrigan, and Sam Mackey. One of the tries was converted to give the Limavady team a 27-0 lead at the break.
The second half saw a dip in the Limavady GS performance and the Portora RS team added a quick try just after the restart. Limavady failed to recover from this and poor work at the back of a line out saw the Portora No 8 collect the ball and cross the line for a converted try which reduced the deficit to 27-12. The last stages of the game saw Limavady camped in the opposing half but failing to add to the score line. A pleasing first half from the home side was somewhat overshadowed by a poor second half performance but the Limavady Grammar School team still managed to record a 27-12 victory.
Wallace High School hosted the high flying Methodist College team and could do little to prevent the Methody team recording a fine 22-0 win.
The first half exchanges were fairly evenly matched with just a Josh Bingham penalty, which gave Methody a 3-0 lead, separating the sides.
The second half saw the Methodist College team control the game in terms of both territory and possession. This enabled the Methody team to run in three tries through Ben O’Reilly, James McvCreanor and Conall Boomer. Josh Bingham was successful with two of the conversion kicks which secured the 22-0 victory for the Methodist College team.
Portadown College recorded their second victory of the week when they hosted and defeated Wellington College by 31-0.
Ballyclare High School defeated Dalriada School by 13-7 in a game played at the Rashee Road venue.
Saturday 7th December has been set aside as the IRFU Charitable Trust Day for all schools’ players in the Province.
The players will be asked to donate a minimum of £1-00 to the Charitable Trust, a Trust that does an immense amount of work on behalf of players who have picked up a serious injury. Schools in Ulster have been very supportive of the Charitable Trust in past seasons with impressive amounts of money being raised for this most worthwhile of causes. All schools have been notified regarding the fund raising and it is hoped that schools’ players in Ulster can, once again, dig deep for the IRFU Charitable Trust.
Financial support for the Charitable Trust from our schools has come in many forms but the most significant are through school membership as a “Friend of the Charitable Trust” and through donations in respect of the “Friends of the Charitable Trust Day”.
The Ireland U19 team will play Australia Schools at Ravenhill on Saturday 14th December in a game scheduled to kick off at 2-30pm. This will be the first International game played at the “New” Ravenhill and it is hoped there will be a large attendance at the game to support the Ireland U19 team.
