The first Saturday of the new term sees twelve teams compete in the second round of the 2011 Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup campaign. Wellington College, having come safely through their hard earned win against Lurgan College in Round 1, will be joined by eleven other teams who have come in at the Round 2 entry level. There have been some very intriguing games thrown up by the 2nd Round Draw and all teams will be hoping they can get their games played after the disappointment of losing out on games due to the extreme weather conditions prior to Christmas.
Carrickfergus Grammar School prepared for their cup campaign by travelling to Portugal and Spain at the end of last term. The Carrickfergus team worked hard prepared well at their base in Portugal. They recorded a handsome victory against Spanish opposition and feel confident about the visit of their near neighbours and close rivals from Belfast High School on Saturday. They will hope that all pre-Christmas injury worries will have cleared up. The Carrickfergus Grammar School team will look to players such as Marc Gordon, Andrew Fulton, Jonathan Moore, Josh Brown and Matthew Elliott to replicate the form they displayed on tour to see them through this interesting encounter. The Belfast High School team recorded a very positive recent victory against Portora Royal School, a team that the Carrickfergus squad defeated earlier in the season. This was one of the few victories recorded by the Belfast High School team in the course of the season so far. Players such as Jake Toan, Robbie Fryars, Aaron Blair, Matthew Boyd and Ryan McGonigle stood out in the game against Portora Royal School and took a huge psychological lift from the result. If they can carry the good form displayed against the Portora team into their visit to Carrickfergus, it will make for an interesting game. Carrickfergus Grammar School will see themselves as favourites to progress into the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 3 draw but they will need to be at their best if they are to withstand the Belfast High School challenge.
Royal School, Dungannon is a notoriously difficult venue to travel to on any Schools’ Cup Saturday. They have a well-deserved reputation of always being difficult to beat at home in the Schools’ Cup and the current squad will feel they will want to add to that reputation. The Antrim Grammar School squad will be the visitors on Saturday and will provide an examination of the RS Dungannon credentials. The Antrim team will see Supreet Jayaprakash, Jake McClay, Aiden Howe, Callum McCrenaghan and Nathan Allen as key performers when they meet the Dungannon team. Aiden will have the unenviable task of playing against Peter Nelson, one of the most talented schoolboy players in Ireland. On his day, Peter has the ability to open up any defence. The Antrim team will need to monitor him closely. Peter receives great support from Andrew Clingan, Derek Martin, Jacob McCammon, Frankie Yeun and Gary Wong. If the RS Dungannon team plays as well as they did on their recent successful tour to Italy, the Antrim Grammar School team could be in for a torrid time.
Portadown College will see themselves as favourites to win their game against the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 1 winners from Wellington College. The Portadown team has had an inconsistent season so far but have a lot of talented players available to them. Adam McMaster, Thomas Halliday, David and Michael Busby and Matthew Troughton are players in a Portadown backline that the Wellington team will need to monitor. This game could be won and lost in the back row encounters. The Portadsown team has players such as Josh McCullough and Matthew McCracken that will contest for every ball while the Wellington team rely heavily on the skills and determination of Gareth McCaughey. He provides inspirational leadership for his Wellington colleagues and gets great support from Kyle Walker, Adam Webb, Kyle Agnew and David Marshall. The Portadown team should win this game but if they in any way underestimate the ability of and commitment of the Wellington team, there could be a shock result on the cards.
Omagh Academy is another team that enjoy causing Schools’ Cup shocks on their home ground at the Campsie playing fields. Many schools have travelled to Omagh over the years in the Schools’ Cup only to come away with nothing in terms of a result. The current Omagh Academy team lacks nothing in commitment and effort and with players such as Harry Gibson, Gary Sherrard, Ashley McIlwaine, Dean Barr, Matthew Deazley and Adam Longwell available for selection when they host the Rainey Endowed team on Saturday; this game has all the elements to be a classic Schools’ Cup encounter. The Rainey team may have a significant advantage in that they have managed to get games played in recent weeks. Good wins against Foyle and Londonderry College and Limavady Grammar School have given the Rainey team a renewed confidence in their ability. Experienced players such as Jamie Burrows, Damien McMurray, Luke Steele and Martin Connolly have been well supported by younger players such as Aaron Murphy, Matthew Stewart and Michael Dawson. This combination of youth and experience has helped the Rainey Endowed team to develop into one of the most improved teams in Ulster. They defeated the Omagh team earlier in the season and, despite having to travel to Omagh, I would expect a similar result in this Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 game.
Portora Royal School, after an encouraging start to the season, has found it difficult to win games in recent months. Like a lot of school teams, they have lost out on fixtures but the Portora squad has also had an unfortunate run of injuries with which to contend. The loss of their captain, Adam Farrell, during the warm up prior to their recent game against Belfast High School, has not helped their cause. On a positive note the return of the talented Rory Gibson will be a major boost when they host Larne Grammar School in the Schools’ Cup on Saturday. Other key players for the Portora team include Jonny Magwood, the speedster at full back, as well as Phil Dickie, Alex McCurry, Adam Baxter and Nik Doherty. If they can produce an injury free team for this Schools’ Cup game, the Portora team will see their home advantage as key to a win. The Larne Grammar School team has struggled to find consistency in the course of the season but has a sufficiently talented squad available for the trip to Enniskillen. Billy Brown, Ethan Kerr and Calum Paton combine to form an effective back row unit while Ross Williamson, as captain, provides inspirational leadership. They will travel with confidence knowing they have won two recent games against Cambridge House as well as Carrickfergus Grammar School. The Larne team will travel in the knowledge that recent results suggest they have the ability to win this game. They will have to work very hard to do so!
Cambridge House had a successful pre-Christmas tour to Rome and will hope that the good form they displayed in their tour games can be carried forward into their Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 clash at home against Grosvenor Grammar School. The Cambridge House team has come close to causing some major upsets in their games prior to Christmas. They travelled to Rome in a positive mood and despite losing their first game narrowly, went on to record a comprehensive win in their second game. Kristoffer Steele picked up a “Man of the Match” Award in the first game as did Jordan Robinson in the second game. Matthew Harkness was top try scorer on tour and his work in the back row with Mark Paine is crucial to the Cambridge House team. Andrew Hood and Timmy Small are other experienced Cambridge House players that the team will need to watch closely. The Grosvenor team has key players in Marc Foster, Scott Irvine and Peter Davidson. These players as well as their Grosvenor team mates will provide a severe test of the Cambridge House credentials. They have been instrumental in a number of the Grosvenor Grammar successes this season, including an impressive win against Sullivan Upper and the sharing of the IH Graham Trophy at their own tournament. Cambridge House will see themselves as favourites but this should a close game and it might take a replay to sort the result out.
The draw for the 3rd Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup as well as the 1st Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy will take place after the Round 2 games have finished on Saturday morning.
As well as the six Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 fixtures, there are number of friendly games scheduled for Saturday 8th January.
Bangor Grammar School will be hoping to improve on their recent results when they host Foyle and Londonderry College. The Co Down team has a number of talented players, including Gareth Irvine, Daniel Kennedy, Craig Harper and Karl Lamont, from which to choose. Their recent form has not been good and they will be keen to get back to winning ways when they host the Foyle and Londonderry College tea. The Foyle team lost their last outing against Rainey Endowed School but had good performances in that game from Chris Campbell, Neil Burns, Graeme McCarter, Jordan Cairns and Connor Cummings. The Foyle team could see this as a game they can win particularly if the Bangor Grammar School does not improve on the inconsistent form they have displayed in recent games.
The Limavady Grammar School team had a long lay-off until they lost to the Rainey Endowed team during the Christmas holiday period. The team started that game strongly with players such as Conor Crampsie, Nathan Barr, Shay McIntosh and Ryan McCool causing problems for the Rainey team in the opening exchanges. However, they were unable to maintain the intensity of the opening quarter for the duration of the game. They will have to play for a full 70 minutes when they entertain RS Armagh on Saturday. The RS Armagh lost narrowly to Methodist College in their last game but had good performances from Stuart Hooks, Neil Faloon, Timmy McNeice, Thomas Johnston and Harry Boyd. The Armagh squad will be keen to get back to winning ways and will see their visit to play Limavady as an opportunity to do so.
Campbell College will host a Rockwell College team that will see themselves as one of the favourites to lift the Munster Schools’ Senior Cup later in the season. The Campbell College team is littered with representative players at Ulster Schools’ level. They can now add Irish Schools’ caps to that list with Rory Scholes, Chris Farrell and John Creighton all featuring in the recent game against England Schools’ U18’s. The Rockwell efforts will be built around the endeavours of the Irish Schools’ player, Sean McCarthy. However, the Campbell College team should have too much talent on view and will see themselves as favourites to win this long standing encounter.
Down High School will probably be without their representative tight head prop, Stuart Orr, when they play Banbridge Academy on Saturday. However, the Down High School team can still call upon the talents of John Donnan and Matthew McKeown in their pack to combine with the skills of Aaron Cairns and Justin Rea in their backs. The Banbridge team will look for big performances from Tom Jess, Chrissy Craig, Hugo Harbinson and Michael Runciman if they are to take anything positive from their trip to Downpatrick.
Regent House had a successful pre-Christmas tour to Portugal and Spain where they recorded two impressive victories against local opposition. Players such as Steven Colwell, Stephen Deering, Jonny Quigg and Ryan Doherty all played leading roles in the tour matches. They will have to do so again when the Regent House team hosts the Ballyclare High School team on Saturday. The Ballyclare squad appears to have few, if any, weaknesses and players such as Jonny Holmes, Jonny Darling, Jonny Douglas, Andrew Butler, Peter Ferguson and Kirk Johnston will be expecting to have added to the growing Ballyclare High School reputation once the final whistle sounds in Newtownards on Saturday.
Methodist College defeated the Spanish U18 team on their recent tour to Spain and Portugal. They came home to defeat the RS Armagh team and on Saturday will receive another major test of their credentials when they host that most famous of rugby schools, Blackrock College. The Methodist College team has not lost against any of the teams they have played from Leinster or Munster this season. This fixture is one of the most eagerly anticipated non cup clashes on the rugby calendar of both schools. Players, Parents, Principals and Coaches of both schools see it as one of the games of the season. The Pirrie Park arena will be laden with representative players from both provinces. For Methody, Rory Harrison, Dan Kerr and Oliver McCollum form an all Ulster Schools’ front row while Rory Winters and Peter Logan are vital members of a hard working back row. Ryan Annett is a very effective 2nd Row forward whose imporesses in all aspects of the game. Matthew McFaul, Mark Gribben and Peter Colqhoun make best use of the quality ball supplied by the pack. The Blackrock team will look to players such as speedy winger, Mark Roche, full back Conor McEllin and prop Alan Boland to perform well if they are to have any chance of stopping the success of the Methody team against Leinster opposition.
Spectators will be made most welcome at all the games which are scheduled to kick off at 10-30 am. However, checks should be made with the host schools, particularly those hosting Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Round 2 games, as to precisely what times the games are kicking off.
