There is a full list of fixtures scheduled to be played on Saturday 20th November. The Royal School, Dungannon team made the Belfast Inst team work hard for their win last weekend. The Dungannon team find themselves at home to Bangor Grammar School on Saturday and will set out to improve their win/loss ratio against one of the surprise packages of Ulster Schools’ Rugby this season. The Dungannon team has had an horrendous injury list to cope with but with one or two players back from injury they will hope to be close to full strength when they entertain Bangor Grammar School. Peter Nelson is the key player for the Dungannon team but if he can receive support from team mates such as Andrew Cliongan, Gary Wong, Mark Wright and Jacob McCammon the Dungannon team is capable of putting on a good performance against the talented Bangor Grammar School team. The Bangor team made Ballyclare High School work hard for their win last weekend with the Harper brothers, Craig and Peter, looking effective with the ball in hand. Gareth Irvine was the pick of the Bangor Grammar School forwards against the Ballyclare team. The Dungannon team will be aware of the need to monitor these players closely throughout this game.
Ballyclare High School remain undefeated in the course of the season so far. They were well in control of their game against Bangor Grammar School in the first half but fell off the pace somewhat in the second half, allowing the Bangor team to come back at them. They entertain Foyle and Londonderry College on Saturday and will not wish to be guilty of the same offence on Saturday. The Ballyclare team has scored a lot of tries this season with both forwards and backs getting in on the act. Peter Ferguson, Jonny Holmes and Jonny Darling were key players at Bangor. They will need to be at their best on Saturday. The Foyle team lost heavily against Belfast Royal Academy last time out. They will be keen to rediscover the form that saw them inflict a recent defeat on Belfast Inst. Ian Vance, Neil Burs, Chris Campbell and their Foyle team mates will see the Ballyclare High School as one that could get them back to winning ways.
Regent House lost their last game against close rivals, Sullivan Upper. They host another set of close rivals on Saturday, the Down High school team. Both teams are intent on playing an attacking brand of rugby with the Regent team relying heavily on the strong running of Steven Colwell, Nathan Burns and Stephen Deering. Willie Mayne is a hard working forward who enjoys the physicality of the game. His battle with Matthew McKeown, in the Down High School back row, could be one of the keys to the outcome of this game. Down High School have impressive backs such as Aaron Cairns and Justin Rea to call upon. If they can get some quality ball, this could be an interesting game to watch.
Portora Royal School will hope to have a number of injured players available for selection when they travel to play the impressive Castleknock College team in Dublin. Rory Gibson, Adam Baxter, Nik Doherty and Alix McCurry would be welcome additions to the Portora squad for this game. They can expect to face a very physical Castleknock College pack, a pack that made the Methodist College pack work hard in their Pirrie Park encounter last weekend. If the Portora team can match up to the Castleknock pack they have the potential to cause problems with players such as Jonny Magwood and Robert Connors willing to run the ball at every opportunity.
Omagh Academy put on a brave performance in their last outing against Limavady Grammar School but it was not enough to get a win. Gary Sherrard, Harry Gibson and Ashley McIlwaine all impressed with their committed performances in that game. Much more of the same will be required on Saturday if the Omagh team is to get anything out of their home game against Wallace High School. The Wallace team travelled to play RS Armagh in their last game and came away with a win. They will expect a similar outcome on Saturday and with players such as David Scott, Cal McIlwaine, Dean Irvine and Jordan Heatley all playing well at the minute, the Wallace team has every right to feel optimistic regarding the outcome of this encounter.
The Methodist College team is in a rich vein of form at the minute having recorded a number of excellent recent victories against schools from Ulster, Leinster and Munster. They will expect to keep this good run going when they host Coleraine AI on Saturday. The Methody pack is very strong and well led by their captain, Dan Kerr. Ryan Annett wins a lot of line out ball and their front row of James Harrison, Oliver McCollum and Dan Kerr gives little away at scrum time. Matthew McFaul and Marc Gribben ensure that the ball produced is used effectively by the Methody backs. The Coleraine AI team lost to Campbell College on their last visit to Belfast. A much better performance from Paddy Farrell, Michael Poskitt, Stephen Best and their Coleraine AI team mates will be required if they are to get anything positive from their trip to Pirrie Park.
Grosvenor Grammar School will host Larne Grammar School at the Cameronian Drive venue on Saturday. Both teams have struggled for consistency in the course of the season but both teams will see the game on Saturday as a game they can win. The Grosvenor team has a very strong pack with Mark Foster playing a leading role within that pack. Scott Irvine and Peter Davidson are talented backs who, given a good amount of quality ball, can ask questions of opposition defences. They will hope for quality ball on Saturday. The Larne Grammar School team will hope to replicate some of the good form they displayed on their recent tour to Canada. Billy Brown, Aaron McBride, Houston Saunderson and their Larne team mates will hope to take something out of their visit to play the Grosvenor Grammar School team.
The Carrickfergus Grammar School team deserved their victory against Portora RS last weekend. They had Jonny Moore, Andrew Fulton and Matthew Elliott to thank for steering them through to a rare victory in that game. They will face a greater challenge on Saturday when they host an in form Dalriada team. The Dalriada team has gone from strength to strength in recent games and will hope to have Ben Henderson available for their trip to Carrickfergus. Roger Bonnar, Jonny McLaughlin and Andrew Skelton are among a plethora of talented Dalriada players that the Ballymoney team can count on. The Carrickfergus Grammar School defence will have to monitor them closely if they are to take anything positive from this game.
Belfast Royal Academy responded in a positive manner to their recent defeat at Bangor Grammar School with an excellent display of attacking rugby when they faced Foyle and Londonderry College in their last game. Ryan Clarke was the hero of the day with a hat trick of tries while players such as Stuart Olding, Matthew Robinson, Andrew McClements and Robbie Jamison contributed to the BRA result with fine individual performances. If they can produce a similar performance at home to Rainey Endowed School on Saturday, the Belfast Royal Academy team should see themselves emerging victorious from this encounter. The Rainey Endowed team made Ballymena Academy work hard for a win last weekend and players such as Martin Connolly, Jamie Burrows, Damien McMurray and Philip Caulfield will lack nothing in terms of commitment when they face the BRA team on Saturday. The Rainey team will have taken the positives from their performance against Ballymena Academy and will give the Belfast Royal Academy team a good test.
Belfast High School drew with Banbridge Academy in their last outing and will hope to take the positives from that game into their encounter against Ballymena academy on Saturday when the two teams meet at the Shore Road venue. The High School team will look to the experience of players such as Jake Toan, Ryan McGonigle and Ryan Elliott to see them through this game against the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup holders. The Ballymena Academy team will see themselves as favourites to win this game and if Caleb Morrison, John Andrew, Sam McNabney and Timmy Patton can all play to their full potential, they should!
One of the most eagerly anticipated clashes of the Ulster Schools’ domestic season takes place on Saturday Campbell College and Royal Belfast Academical Institution meet at Fox’s Field. Both teams can call upon the experience of an array of Ulster Schools’ representative talent and this game will attract the “Match of the Day” title. Campbell College seem to have got back to winning ways with impressive recent high scoring wins against Coleraine AI and Grosvenor Grammar School. Chris Best, Rob Haldane, Glenn Bailie and Chris Farrell are players that can cause problems for the best of defences. The Inst team will need to pay attention to these players! The Belfast Inst team has the ability to open up defences as well. Kevin McLean, Nathan Dugan, Andrew Roulston and Matthew Keane can be match winners in their own right. If Michael Kilpatrick, Paddy Bell, Zach Welshman and the rest of the Inst pack can produce a constant supply of quality ball for their back division to work with, this could be a very interesting game!
The Yellow Door Restaurant sponsored Friends’ School senior squad will play two tour games in Scotland as well as watch the Scotland v South Africa Autumn Series International at Murrayfield. The Lisburn boys will play games against Fettes College and Perth RFC teams on Thursday and Saturday. Coaches, Stephen Robinson and Norman Gamble will hope that this short tour will provide an impetus for the players as the school season approaches with some difficult fixtures leading up to Schools’ Cup time.
Lurgan College host Antrim Grammar School and will hope to reverse the result of their most recent meeting. Josh McKay, Greg Lyness and Stephen Buckley will hope to get sufficient ball for the Lurgan College back division to ask questions of the Antrim Grammar School defence. The Antrim team will see Supreet Jayaprakash, Aiden Howe, Calum McClenaghan and Ryan Bailie as key players as they attempt to get another positive result against the Lurgan College team.
Supporters will be made welcome at all these games but should contact the schools prior to the games to establish kick off times. The games are scheduled to kick off at 10-30am but there could be some variation to this.
