Schools will be hoping for a break in the current weather conditions if there is to be any chance of playing games on Saturday 11th December.
The big game of the day is the encounter at the Carolan Road venue featuring Wellington College and Lurgan College in the 1st Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup competition. Both teams will see this game as vital in terms of their season so far. The winners will progress through to the draw for the 2nd Round of the Schools’ Cup while the losers will go into the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy Round 1 draw. The Wellington team has played eleven games in the course of the season, winning six of those games. Gareth McCaughey has been their top scorer playing as a very committed and skilful No 8. He has been ably assisted by players such as Kyle Agnew, Lee Graham, Danny Mowbray and David Marshall. Conor Mackay and Freddie Birt are other Wellington players that, on their day, can be match winners! The Lurgan team has a number of players that will deserve the respect of the Wellington team. Greg Lyness, the half back pairing of Steven Buckley and Josh McKay as well as Nicky Moore are all hard working players that will not be put off by the challenge of the Wellington team. These players will hope to inspire the Lurgan College team in their desire to make it through to the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 draw.
Methodist College will host their long standing rivals from Cork, the famous Christian Brother’s College team. This has been a fixture that over many years has been eagerly anticipated by the players, coaches and supporters of both schools. The Methody team has enjoyed great success against opposition from schools in Leinster and Munster in the course of the current season. They will need to be at their best if they are to continue that success against a CBC team coached by ex-Irish Schools’ coach, Peter Melia. The Methody pack, with James Harrison, Dan Kerr, Oliver McCollum, Ryan Annett and Peter Logan all playing well, will be expected to produce the quality ball that will allow them to unleash their talented back division. Matthew McFall, Peter Colhoun and Marc Gribben have the ability to cause problems for any defence. The CBC defence will have to monitor these players closely.
Royal Royal Belfast Academical Institution will see the visit of St Michael’s College as an opportunity to continue their recent run of good results against opposition from Dublin. The Belfast Inst team has already claimed a notable result when they defeated Blackrock College earlier in the season. Kevin McLean, Nathan Dougan, Michael Kilpatrick, Zach Welshman and their Inst team mates will be doing their utmost to replicate that excellent result against St Michael’s College on Saturday. They will, however, need to be aware of the talents of players such as Luke McGrath and Mark Corballis in the St Michael’s College backline.
RS Dungannon will be in a very confident mood when they travel to play Regent House on Saturday. The Dungannon boys displayed their true potential when they recently defeated Bangor Grammar School. Derek Martin and Andrew Clingan are vital performers in the RS Dungannon pack while Peter Nelson has the key to unlocking opposition defences. Gary Wong and Jacob McCammon provide excellent back up for Peter. The Regent House team has key performers as well. Steven Colwell, Willie Mayne, Nathan Burns and Oisin McClelland will hope they can overcome the lack of consistency that has plagued the Regent team this season if they are to prevent the RS Dungannon team from claiming another win against a Co Down team.
Ballyclare High School remains the only undefeated team in Ulster Schools’ rugby. They will expect to continue with this excellent run of form when they host the Belfast High School team on Saturday. The performances of the Ballyclare pack, in the course of the season, have laid the foundations for the success of the team. The Ballyclare High School hooker, Marc Logan, as well as No 8, Jonny Darling, have been their most consistent performers in a well organised pack. Jonny Holmes at out half and Peter Kennedy on the wing have excelled with the quality of the ball provided by the pack. The Belfast High School team has a number of talented performers in their ranks. Jake Toan, Ryan McGonigle, Matthew Huntley and their High School team mates will need to raise their game quite considerably if they are to get anything positive, in terms of a result, from this game.
The Grosvenor Grammar School team played well in the Graham Trophy competition they hosted recently. The Grosvenor team shared the Trophy having drawn in the final of the competition against Banbridge Academy. Mark Foster, Scott Irvine and Peter Davidson were the stand out players on that occasion. They will need to replicate those good performances if they are to compete with the RS Armagh on Saturday at the Cameronian Road venue. Neil Faloon, Harry Boyd, Stuart Hooks, Robbie Magowan and Timmy McNeice bring a wealth of experience to the RS Armagh team. With players like these available to play, the RS Armagh team will see themselves as favourites to win this interesting encounter.
Rainey Endowed School has proved to be one of the most improved teams in local schools’ rugby with their recent performances. This was displayed when they travelled on tour to the North East of England two weeks ago and promptly dispatched the local Royal Grammar School team by 36-0. Luke Steele, Jamie Burrows, Martin Connolly and their Rainey team mates played some excellent rugby in the course of that game. They will hope to replicate that performance when they host the Carrickfergus Grammar School team on Saturday. Having taught in Carrickfergus Grammar School, Rainey Endowed School coach, Chris Campbell, will be well aware of the challenge provided by the Carrickfergus team. Andrew Fulton, Jonathan Moore, Ryan Hamilton and Josh Brown have all impressed with their recent performances for the Carrickfergus Grammar School team. They will have to impress once again if their team is to take anything from their visit to Magherafelt.
The Coleraine team has lost heavily in their recent games. It will take a big performance from Paddy Farrell, Michael Poskitt, Stephen Best and the rest of their Coleraine team mates if they are to get back to winning ways when they host Bangor Grammar School on Saturday. The Bangor team has hit an inconsistent run in recent games but with players such as Gareth Irvine, Daniel Kennedy, Craig Harper and Karl Lamont all playing well, the Bangor team will fancy their chances of a win in Coleraine.
Banbridge Academy will need to call upon the experience of players such as Michael Runciman, Chrissy Craig, Andrew McConnell, Tom Jess and Bradley Martin when they host Belfast Royal Academy on Saturday. The Belfast Royal Academy team is laden with talented players such as Ryan Clarke, Matthew Robinson, Eoin Devlin, Stuart Olding and Robbie Jamison. They are a team that likes to play with the ball in hand but can adopt a pragmatic approach when conditions dictate. They will see themselves to gain a victory when they travel to Banbridge on Saturday.
The Larne Grammar School team will be buoyed by their recent East Antrim “Derby” victory against Carrickfergus Grammar at the end of November. They will host a Cambridge House team on Saturday that could see themselves as favourites to come away from this game as winners.. Billy Brown, Houston Saunderson, Aaron McBride and their team mates will have to be at their very best if they are to do stop the Cambridge House team. Timmy Small, Mathew Harkness, Mark Payne and Andrew Cundell form the basis of a very committed Cambridge House team. The Larne team will need to monitor these players closely.
The Omagh Academy team made a much vaunted Wallace High School team work hard for a win when the two teams met recently. Ashley McIlwaine, Harry Gibson, Jonny Sproule, Mark Deazley and their Omagh Academy team mates will have to make the Portadown College team work as hard if they are to get anything from this game when the two sides meet at the Campsie venue on Saturday. The Portadown team will hope that players such as Adam McMaster, Matthew and David Busby, Josh McCullough and Thomas Halliday can raise their game if they are to get anything positive from this interesting encounter on Saturday.
Sullivan Upper lost out on the opportunity to redeem themselves, following their recent defeat at the hands of Portadown College, when their game was cancelled last week end. The visit of Down High School on Saturday will present another opportunity, albeit a very difficult one. Harry Eves, Oliver Loughead, Ryan Loughead, Charlie Preece, Michael Scott and Ross Adair are all very talented Sullivan players who seem to have lacked consistency in the course of the season. The Down team is a very well balanced team with Stuart Orr, John Donnan and Matthew McKeown forming the basis of a very strong pack. Aaron Cairns and Justin Rea dictate their patterns in the backs and they are proving to be a very difficult team to beat. They will expect to win at Sullivan!
Friends’ School will host their close neighbours, Wallace High School, on Saturday. The Wallace team will see themselves as clear favourites to win the game when they cross the Magheralave Road for the game. With players such as Cal McIlwaine, Jordan Heatley, Daniel Henry, Chris Taylor, David Scott and Nathan McClatchey in the ranks of the Wallace High School squad, they appear to have justifiable cause for their optimism. The Friends’ team has not been at full strength for recent games. They will hope to have Jonny MacCorkell, Rory McIvor and Jamie Robinson available for this game. If the Friends’ pack can get parity with their Wallace neighbours the Friends’ back division , with players such as Michael Cochrane, Paddy Pringle, Desi Eastwood and Paul Anderson on board, could cause difficulties for the Wallace High School defence.
Campbell College and Methodist College hope to play a re-arranged fixture at the Belfast Harlequin’s RFC Grounds at Deramore Park on Wednesday 8th December with a 4-00pm kick off. This is an eagerly anticipated clash of two of the biggest rugby playing schools in Ulster, Both teams provided the majority of players to representative teams earlier in the season and this game throws up some interesting potential clashes, especially in the back row battle, Campbell have players such as Jon Francios Bester and Charles Gallagher to call upon while the Methody team will look to Gareth Gracey and Rory Winters to counteract the challenge offered by the Campbell loose forwards. If played, this could be one of the “non-cup” matches of the season.
Ballymena Academy hope to head off on a short tour that will include a game against St Mary’s College in Dublin before heading on to the Enfield Hotel in Johnstown. Here the Ballymena Academy squad will use the rugby facilities on offer to continue in their preparations for their defence of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup which they won last season.
Despite lack of games last Saturday and question marks over the fixtures scheduled for Saturday 11th, schools are reminded that this week has been set aside as the IRFU Charitable Trust week for schools. All money raised for this most worthwhile of causes should be forwarded as soon as possible to Mr John Wilson, Principal, Larne Grammar School, 4-6 Lower Cairncastle Road, Larne, BT40 1PQ.
Supporters will welcome at all these games but should check with the host schools to prior to departure for the games as to whether or not the games are on.
