SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW 2ND XV SCHOOLS’ CUP 2010/2011 2ND ROUND DRAW, 2ND XV SCHOOLS’ PLATE 2010/2011 1ST ROUND DRAW, Northern Bank Schools’ Cup Fourth Round to be played on Sat 5 Feb 2011, Northern Bank Schools’ Bowl Quarter Final Draw to be played on Sat 5 Feb 2011 and an editorial review of this weekends games, also links to picture galleries from last week.
2ND XV SCHOOLS’ CUP 2010/2011
2ND ROUND DRAW
1. FRIENDS’ SCHOOL vs ROYAL SCHOOL ARMAGH
2. REGENT HOUSE SCHOOL vs SULLIVAN UPPER SCHOOL
3. COLERAINE ACADEMICAL INST. vs BELFAST ROYAL ACADEMY
4. PORTADOWN COLLEGE vs ROYAL BELFAST ACADEMICAL INST.
5. CAMPBELL COLLEGE vs FOYLE & LONDONDERRY COLLEGE
6. BALLYCLARE HIGH SCHOOL vs LARNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
7. BELFAST HIGH SCHOOL /
CARRICKFERGUS GRAMMAR SCHOOL vs BALLYMENA ACADEMY
8. LURGAN COLLEGE / CAMBRIDGE HOUSE SCHOOL vs METHODIST COLLEGE, BELFAST
2ND XV SCHOOLS’ PLATE 2010/2011
1ST ROUND DRAW
1. OMAGH ACADEMY vs ANTRIM GRAMMAR SCHOOL
2. LURGAN COLLEGE /
CAMBRIDGE HOUSE SCHOOL vs BYE
3. BELFAST HIGH SCHOOL /
CARRICKFERGUS GRAMMAR SCHOOL vs GROSVENOR GRAMMAR SCHOOL
4. BANBRIDGE ACADEMY vs PORTORA ROYAL SCHOOL
5. ROYAL SCHOOL DUNGANNON vs DOWN HIGH SCHOOL
6. RAINEY ENDOWED SCHOOL vs WALLACE HIGH SCHOOL
7. BYE vs DALRIADA SCHOOL
8. LIMAVADY GRAMMAR SCHOOL vs BANGOR GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Northern Bank Schools’ Cup Fourth Round To be played on
Saturday 5 February 2011
1. R.B.A.I. v Dalriada 10.30 am
2. Bangor Grammar v B.R.A. 10.30 am
3. Down High School v Ballyclare HS 11.00 am
4. Belfast HS v Sullivan Upper 10.30 am
5. Wallace HS v M.C.B. 11.00 am
6. R.S.A. v Ballymena Academy 11.00 am
7. Coleraine A.I. v Grosvenor Grammar 11.00 am
8. Regent House v C.C.B 11.00 am
Northern Bank Schools’ BowlQuarter Final Draw to be played on
Saturday 5 February 2011
1. Royal School Dungannon v Banbridge Acad 10.30 am
2. Foyle and L’derry College v Limavady Grammar 10.30 am
3. Rainey Endowed v Portadown College 11.00 am
4. Larne Grammar v Friends School, Lisburn 10.30 am
Click Here for 37 photos of Bangor Medallion v Larne GS Medallion – pictures courtesy of Ken Best
There are eight Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 4 games as well as four Quarter-Final Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl and the Semi-Finals of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy scheduled for Saturday 5th February. With the top eight seeded team entering the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup at this stage, the draw for the 4th Round has thrown together a number of interesting encounters
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Royal Belfast Academical Institution defeated Wallace High School in their last outing, a game they won without the services of Zach Welshman, Michael Mairs and Gareth Lawlor. This was a good win for the Belfast Inst team who used the game as an opportunity to give some of their extended squad members game time. The Belfast Inst team host a rejuvenated Dalriada team who had an impressive win in their 3rd Round game at Portadown College. The Ballymoney team seemed to have made a good recovery following their recent defeat by Friends’ School. However, the win at Portadown came at a cost when they lost the services of their 2nd Row forward, David Campbell, to injury. They will hope to have David fully fit for the trip to Osbourne Park. Roger Bonnar, Rhys McAuley, Jonny Laughlin and Andy Marks played leading roles in the victory against Portadown. They will need to do so once again on Saturday if they are to have any chance of halting the recent good form displayed by a very confident Belfast Inst team. The home team will look to the experience of players such as Paddy Bell, Zach Welshman, Nathan Dugan, Kevin McLean, Matthew McGuigan and Michael Kilpatrick to see them through this tricky encounter. They should not take the challenge provided by a very good Dalriada side lightly. If they do they could be on the wrong end of a shock result.
The Bangor Grammar School team has not played since they defeated Friends’ School in the 3rd Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup earlier in January. On that occasion the hard work of players such as Gareth Irvine, Luke Dornan and Darren Kelly in the Bangor Grammar School pack, paved the way for the Bangor backs to cut loose on occasions. Craig Harper, his brother Phillip, Stuart McCloskey and Daniel Kennedy caused difficulties for the Friends’ School defence with the pace and power of their running. The Bangor team will host Belfast Royal Academy in the Round 4 encounter on Saturday. The BRA team has recorded some impressive results this season including a recent 16-16 draw against Castleknock College from Dublin. They did, however, suffer something of a set-back in a recent game against Ballymena Academy. They played that game without the services of Ryan Clarke and lost the services of Stuart Olding with a shoulder injury. They will hope to have the services of these vital players available for the Schools’ Cup game at Bangor. There is a good deal of skill in the ranks of the BRA team. Eoin Devlin and Matthew Robinson have caused problems for opposition defences all season while Robbie Jamison and Jake Kane are deadly accurate with the boot. David Campbell has been a revelation with his work rate in recent games. The BRA team will have to be at their best if they are to progress to the Quarter-Final stage of the Schools’ Cup.
Down High School will have taken great of confidence from their win against Foyle and Londonderry College in the previous round. Stuart Orr, their Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ U19 prop, made a brief return to action in the course of that game. His return gave his team mates a considerable boost against the Foyle and Londonderry College team. If Stuart can make it through the entire game against Ballyclare High School, it will have a major impact on the entire squad. John Donnan, Tommy McConnell, Matthew McKeown and Patrick Calvert impressed with their performances in the Down High School pack while Aaron Cairns and Justin Rea made good use of the possession supplied by their pack. They will face a major test of their credentials when the Ballyclare High School arrives on Saturday. The Ballyclare team has lost only one game against an Ulster Schools’ team while they ran Leinster Schools’ Cup favourites, Clongowes Wood College, very close in a recent encounter. Jonny Darling, Paddy Reid and Peter McMechan form a very competent back row trio who work well fellow forwards, Marc Logan and Kirk Johnston. The Ballyclare High School backline has Jonny Holmes dictating the patterns of play from his outhalf position. Their ability to play positively with the ball in hand has seen their outside backs such as Jonny Douglas, Eddie McKee, Andrew Butler and Peter Ferguson score regularly in the course of the season. Down High School will need to monitor these players closely on Saturday!
The Belfast High School team has won two Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup games “on the road” They will be delighted to be playing their 4th Round Schools’ Cup game against Sullivan Upper at home and will see themselves as favourites to go through to a Quarter-Final spot. The Belfast High School pack has laid the foundations for their success so far. Jake Toan, Aaron Blair and Adam Gibney form a very destructive front row unit while Chris Taylor and Ryan McKay can be relied upon to win lineout possession. Henry Atkinson, Ethan Clarke and Ryan McGonigle get through a lot of work as a backrow unit, causing problems for opposition teams at the break down. Robbie Fryers, Adam White and Ryan Elliott form a dynamic midfield trio who have the ability to ask questions of opposition defences. The Sullivan Upper team, despite inconsistencies in their performances this season, won away from home in their 3rd Round game against Rainey Endowed School. They will have taken a great deal of confidence from that performance. Players such as Harry Eves, Oliver Loughead, Ryan Loughead, Michael Scott, Ross Adair and Rory Foye will hope they can take that confidence into their clash with Belfast High School on Saturday. If they can, the High School team will need to be on their guard!
Wallace High School will hope for an improvement in their recent performances when they entertain the perennial Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup favourites, Methodist College on Saturday. The Wallace team suffered a first half mauling by the Belfast Inst team in their last outing. A few well-chosen words from the coaching staff at the interval put a halt to the problems and the Lisburn team put on a more polished performance in the second half. They will need players such as David Scott, Chris Taylor, Cal McIlwaine, Jordan Heatley, James McCallen and Peter Weir to perform to the best of their considerable ability for the duration of the game if they are to have any hope of turning over an in-form Methodist College team on Saturday. The Methody team travelled to Colston’s College in Bristol in a recent game and came away with a win. Not many schools’ teams have ever done that! The Methody team has a talented front row unit in James Harrison, Dan Kerr and Oliver McCollum. Their lineout wins a constant supply of quality ball and they have a very dynamic break away unit with Rory Winters and Peter Logan putting in some outstanding performances in recent games. Matthew McFaul, Mark Gribben and Peter Colqhoun are Methody backs that make good use of the quality possession supplied by the pack. This game has all the hallmarks of being a great Schools’ Cup encounter!
Royal School, Armagh has built up a great Schools’ Cup tradition over recent seasons. The current batch of players will be keen to add to that tradition when they host the current holders of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup, Ballymema Academy, on Saturday. Both teams are brimming with representative players who will see this game as an opportunity to develop further their growing reputations. Stuart Hooks, Robbie Magowan and Harry Boyd will see this game as an opportunity for the RS Armagh team to cause an upset. Timmy McNeice, James Hanna and Daniel Reaney will be doing their utmost to assist. The Ballymena team will look to experienced players such as Sam McNabney, Timmy Patton, Peter Wallace, John Andrews, Nicholas Sterling and Calum Patterson to see them through this difficult encounter. In Caleb Morrison, the Ballymena team has a real match winner. The RS Armagh team will need to monitor him closely for the entire game if they are to get anything in terms of a positive result from this potentially classic Schools’ Cup encounter.
Coleraine AI, having won their previous Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup game at RS Dungannon, will see themselves as favourites to defeat Grosvenor Grammar School when the two sides meet at the Castlerock Road venue on Saturday. Paddy Farrell and Michael Poskitt, the Coleraine AI half backs, orchestrated their win against the RS Dungannon team in the 3rd Round game. If their pack can get a supply of ball against the Grosvenor Grammar School team, they will expect to do the same on Saturday. The home team has players of the calibre of Stuart McCaffery and Alan Clarke, playing outside their half backs, that thrive upon the opportunities created for them. However, as Cambridge House and Banbridge Academy can testify, getting ball from the Grosvenor Grammar School pack can be difficult. The Grosvenor Grammar School front row is a very well organised unit with their hooker, Stuart Smyth, having scored four tries in his two Schools’ Cup games so far. Matthew Cahoon and Matthew Harland can be relied upon to supply good line out ball and the back row unit of Isaac Thompson, Ryan McKnight and Connor Sinclair is certain to be causing problems at the breakdown. The Grosvenor backs have the ability to make good use of the ball supplied by their pack and the Coleraine AI team will need to monitor Grosvenor players such as Martyn Irwin and Paul Kennedy. On his day, Scott Irvine is a fine kicker who will punish any Coleraine AI indiscretions. This will be another very intriguing encounter.
The Regent House team counted themselves as fortunate to come away from Limavady Grammar School with a hard earned victory after their 3rd Round clash last Saturday. They had their prop forward, Steven Deering, to thank for their win when he scored two second half tries in that game. Steven will be delighted to repeat that performance when his team entertains a very talented Campbell College team on Saturday. Regent will hope that experienced forwards such as Willie Mayne, Jamie McKnight and Matthew Ramsey can inhibit the Campbell College supply of ball otherwise it could be a difficult game for the Newtownards boys. The Campbell College back division if filled with talented players. Glenn Bailie, John Creighton, Chris Farrell, Chris Best, Rory Scholes, Mark Best and Rob Haldane bring a wealth of representative honours to the team. Up front, players such as Seb McBrien, James Cooke, Charlie Gallagher and Jan Francois Bester bring a lot of experience to the Campbell College pack. If the Regent team is to take anything positive from this game they will have to ensure they monitor closely the performance of all these Campbell College players for the entire game.
The Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl Quarter-Final draw has brought together the eight teams that lost in the 3rd Round of the Schools’ Cup. Once again, there are a number of intriguing encounters that have been drawn together.
RS Dungannon will host Banbridge Academy in a game that the RS Dungannon team will feel they can win. If Peter Nelson can produce the good form he has displayed in recent games, it will be a major boost to his team mates. The RS Dungannon team has a number of other talented players available to play. Derek Martin, Andrew Clingan, Peter Cashel, Gary Wong, Frankie Yeun and Jacob McCammon are all players capable of turning any game in their favour. The Banbridge team will hope for an improved performance after an under par showing against Grosvenor Grammar School in the 3rd Round of the Schools’ Cup. Chrissy Craig, Hugo Harbinson, Christopher Watt and Michael Runciman are talented backs who rely on their forwards to produce quality ball for them to use. Harry Russell, Andrew McConnell, Tom Jess and Kallan Martin will have to ensure they do if the Banbridge Academy team is to create any sort of impression in this game.
Foyle and Londonderry College will host Limavady Grammar School in the Quarter-Final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl competition, just a fortnight after defeating their North West rivals in a friendly game. In the course of that game the Limavady team lost the experience of players such as Nathan Barr, Conor Crampsie and Shay McIntosh to injury. With these players back to full fitness the Limavady Grammar School team will hope to provide a greater challenge for the Foyle and Londonderry College team. The Foyle team has won the two previous encounters against Limavady Grammar School this season. The Limavady team will be going all out to ensure it is not “three in a row”! The Foyle and Londonderry College team can call upon the experience of players such as Ian Vance, Graeme McCarter, Kyle Henderson, Connor Cummings and Tom Burns. They will expect to make it a hat trick of wins this season, if all these players can play to their potential, against a young Limavady Grammar School team.
The Portadown College team was disappointed to lose as heavily as they did against Dalriada in their 3rd Round Schools’ Cup encounter. The Co-Armagh boys now travel to play Rainey Endowed School, a team that could be seen as possibly one of the most improved in Ulster Schools’ rugby this season. The Portadown team is a talented team with players such as Josh McCullough, Nathan Montgomery, Adam McMaster, Thomas Halliday, David Busby, Matthew Busby and Neal Irwin in their ranks. They will have to be at their best if they are to overcome the challenge of a Rainey team that was devastated to lose so narrowly against Sullivan Upper in their 3rd Round encounter. Luke Steele, playing at No 8, is a very demanding captain. He will expect much from players such as Damien McMurray, Martin Connolly, Aaron Murphy, Fintan Quinn and James Kelso. The Rainey team is a mixture of youth and experience that see themselves as potential winners of the Ulster Schools’ Bowl competition. The Portadown team will do well to stop the Rainey team reaching the next stage!
Larne Grammar School travelled to Enniskillen where they defeated the Portora Royal School team in the 2nd Round of the Schools’ Cup. Losing at home in the 3rd Round to Belfast High School was a devastating blow to the Larne team who will be determined there will be no repeat in the Schools’ Bowl competition when they host the Friends’ School team on Saturday. The Larne team will have learnt lessons following their defeat on Saturday and will see themselves as favourites to win against the Friends’ team. The Larne team has a hard working pack where the back row trio of Billy Brown, Ross Williamson and Eric Kerr can be relied upon to win ball at the breakdown. Michael Eastop is a fine line out jumper in their 2nd Row while the front row of John Eland, Robbie McAlister and Mark Robinson works hard at scrum time. Robert McKinley and Aaron McBride form a competitive half back pairing that asked many questions of the Belfast High School defence in their Cup match. Philip Andrews is a fine place kicker who will convert any penalty opportunities that come his way. The Friends’ team lost out to Bangor Grammar School in a very physical Schools’ Cup Round 3 encounter. They picked up a number of injuries in that game that could impact upon selection for the trip to Larne. The Lisburn team is a talented team but will need to be at full strength if they are to take anything from the game on Saturday.
There are two semi-final games in the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy competition scheduled for Saturday 5th February.
Portora Royal School, having travelled to and defeated Antrim Grammar School in the Quarter-Final, will see themselves as favourites to defeat Wellington College when the Belfast team travels to the Enniskillen venue on Saturday. The Portora back division caused problems for the Antrim team that had difficulty in dealing with the pace of full back, Jonny Magwood, the strength of centre, James Ferguson and the guile of scrum half, Rory Gibson. Robert Connors played an impressive game in the No 10 slot and was very accurate with his kicking skills. The Portora pack has stand out players such as Adam Farrell, Graham Rutherford, Neill Allen and Rodney Blair available for the visit of Wellington College. They will provide a good test for the Wellington pack. The Wellington team will hope to match the efforts of the Portora team. A big onus will fall on the broad shoulders of players such as Gareth McCaughey, Lee Graham, David Marshall, Jonny Glover, Steven Marshall and Adam Webb to ensure that they do!
Omagh Academy will host Carrickfergus Grammar School in the second semi-final of the Ulster Schools’ Bowl. The performance of the Omagh pack in the Quarter-Final tie against Cambridge House ensured sufficient possession for the Omagh team to win that game comfortably. A repeat performance from Gary Sherrard, Adam Longwell, Benji Knox and their Omagh Academy team mates should be sufficient to see them through to the Final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy. The Carrickfergus team will need to replicate the good form they displayed on their recent tour to Spain and Portugal if they are to challenge the Omagh team for a spot in the Final of the Ulster Schools’ Trophy competition.
Supporters are encouraged to attend any of these games to see some of the next generation of potential Ulster players in action. They will be made welcome but should check with host schools, prior to departure, to establish kick off times.
