Friends School Lisburn Medallion went out of the Medallion Shield on Saturday against a very strong Belfast High School side.
Both sides had met prior to the Christmas break and BHS were dominant and would have been the best side Friends had played this season.
BHS came into this fixture fresh and with a full squad of 24 players were as Friends came after three weeks of continuous Medallion fixtures and carrying injuries from these intense games with a squad of 21 players.
The game started with the impressive BHS outhalf, Joel McBride, son of former Ireland and Ulster Captain Denis McBride charging through the Friends midfield, a previous strenght in the Friends defence but poor communication and forced changes in personnel let BcBride in under the posts and unfortunately this was to happen on three more occasions in quick succession.
Friends had the match of the home side in set play and rucks and their blind side flanker Steven Kay was prominent in these situations and open play but referee decisions seemed to keep Friends advantages out of the game.
Half time came and although BHS had built a lead of 33 – 3 Friends were still showing their spirit in the second half when they made a number of good attacks on BHS line and defended their own line well. It was 15 minutes into the second half before there was a score unfortunately it was by BHS and Friends had a number of their backs injured during this period. A quick restructuring of the backline with a Quarter Final Bowl match next week in mind saw Friend’s Josh Agnew go in for a try which was unconverted.
BHS finished the winners and go on to play RBAI next Saturday, Friends travel to Rainey for their fifth week of continuous competition matches
Teams
BHS:- G Brennan,A Mitchell,A Curry, L McPherson, C Ringland, J Rice, S White, C Elliot, J Creighton (c), J McBride, R Duddy, M Gregg, E rock, D Scott, C McWhirter, M Smyh, R Pickering, R Copeland, D Gillespie, J Clinton, M Mo, P Bothwell, W Strange.
FRIENDS :- G Millen, K Minford, S Price, C Walker, A Nesbitt, P Clarke, J Agnew, T Boyd (c), J Mulholland, M Mercer, R Hall, A Wilson, R Dickson, P Matthews, R McFall, B Glass, S Kay, G Hill, K Mcgrady, A McCord.
