With two Ulster U19 teams away to Limerick to compete in the U19 Inter Provincial Championship, a number of schools were missing front line players when a full list of schools’ fixtures was played on Saturday 17th September.
The Ulster U19 “A” team travelled to Limerick to play Munster U19 “A”s in a game that turned out to be a very physical encounter. The Ulster team put on a much improved performance when compared to their last outing against Munster but the loss of three players to injury in the course of the game did little to help their cause. Munster started strongly putting pressure on the Ulster defence. The Ulster defence responded positively and the Ulster line remained intact. Ulster came more into the game and began to acquire some good first phase ball which enabled them to take play into the Munster half of the well prepared Thomond Park pitch. Ulster pressurised the home defence but well organised Munster defence, allied to loss of possession by the Ulster team, ensured that the scoreline read 0-0 at halftime. Ulster continued the second half where they left off at halftime by taking play into the Munster half. However, critical turnovers allowed the home team to break out of defence and take play deep into Ulster territory.
Five minutes after the restart the home team was awarded a penalty following an Ulster infringement. Tom Kiersey stepped up to convert the penalty and give the Munster team a 3-0 lead. Ulster continued to attack through Ryan Martin, Mark Gribben and Nathan McClatchey but it was all to no avail. Munster converted their second penalty opportunity of the second half when Tom Kiersey was successful with his kick to put his team into a 6-0 lead with just fifteen minutes left on the clock. Ulster attacked at every opportunity but the Munster defence held firm to record a 6-0 victory at the no-side whistle.
The Ulster U19 “B” team travelled to play their Munster counterparts at Thomond Park confident they could record another win following their earlier success against Leinster U19’s. However, this proved to be a much more difficult encounter with the Ulster team finding themselves playing in a defensive role for much of the game. Darren Sweetnam gave the home team a 3-0 lead when he converted a penalty opportunity after eleven minutes of play. This lead was extended some nine minutes later when the home team took advantage of slack Ulster defence and Conor Gleeson ran in unopposed for a try. Darren Sweetnam converted the try to extend the Munster lead to 10-0. The Ulster team responded very positively and took play deep into Munster territory. Now it was the home team that had to defend but Ulster broke the defence down towards the end of the first half. A good interchange of play involving both forwards and backs saw Matthew Cahoon scramble over for a try in the corner. The conversion attempt was missed but the Ulster team had reduced the arrears to 10-5. Ulster started the second half strongly and had the opportunity to put more points on the board when they were awarded a penalty ten minutes after the restart. The kick was missed and this seemed to give the home team a great boost. Both teams attacked at every opportunity but it was the Munster team that got the only score of the second half when Darren Sweetnam was successful with a penalty kick to give his team a 13-5 lead with just a few minutes remaining. Despite their best intentions to attack it was a case of too little too late for the very determined Ulster team who were very disappointed to have lost the game by 13-5 when the final whistle sounded.
There were quite a few school fixtures played on Saturday 17th September.
Limavady Grammar School hosted close rivals, Foyle and Londonderry College, at the Ballyquin Road venue.
The game began with both teams easily matched with both teams attacking at every opportunity in the course of the first half. Despite the attacking impetus displayed by both teams the game remained scoreless until the halftime whistle. When the second half began the Limavady team took control of more and more possession and finally opened the scoring through good work by Thomas MacAuley and Adam Miller. These two players combined to set up their captain, Stuart Hull, to run the ball into the corner for the first try of the game. Robert Lamberton converted this try to make it 7:0 to Limavady. The next try came from great back play from Limavady which enabled Aaron Rainey to run into the corner and take advantage of some poor defence to set the ball under the posts. Once again Robert Lamberton added the extras to extend the Limavady Grammar School lead to 14-0. A lapse in concentration in the Limavady defence allowed Foyle to score a try through Derek Leeson. Kyle Henderson converted the try to leave the score board reading 14-7 with just five minutes to go. In the end it was the Limavady team that took the plaudits when the final whistle sounded with their 14-7 victory.
Ballymena Academy hosted last year’s Schools’ Cup finalists, Royal Belfast Academical Institution, on a bright and sunny Saturday morning.
Both teams took to the field without their Interprovincial representatives which allowed the coaches the opportunity to look at their extended squads. RBAI opened the scoring with a penalty in the first minute and ten minutes later Darren Geddis was successful with his attempt to bring the scores level again at 3-3.The Belfast school dominated possession in the first half with their pack making ground through strong running and quick recycling of the ball at the breakdown. After twenty five minutes, the Belfast Inst pressure resulted in an overlap and, when the ball was moved wide, the RBAI winger touched down in the corner. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful and the score remained at 8 – 3 until the final minute of the first half. RBAI had a player sin-binned and, from the resulting penalty, Ballymena kicked to the corner. The home team moved the ball from the line-out and great work by Peter Gillespie and Jordan Foster left space for debutant Chris Fowler to power over in the corner. Darren Geddis missed the conversion to leave the score reading 8-8 at half time. Ballymena started the second half strongly and threatened the Belfast Inst line on several occasions in the first fifteen minutes. They were finally rewarded for their pressure when Chris Fowler scored his second try of the morning. Darren Geddis couldn’t add the extras but was successful moments later after his excellent break allowed Johnny McClelland to score below the posts. With the score now reading 20 – 8 in favour of the Ballymena Academy team, RBAI rallied in the final fifteen minutes and, during this period, Ballymena Academy had two players yellow-carded for infringements at the ruck. Inst scored an unconverted try with 8 minutes to go, but Ballymena added another try when Darren Geddis collected his own chip to touch down.The final play of the morning saw Belfast Inst power over between the posts and the successful conversion left the final score reading 25 – 20 to Ballymena Academy.
Coleraine AI travelled to Omagh with eight 1st team players missing and started with ten players from last year’s Medallion squad.
Coleraine AI started the better of the two teams and came close to opening the scoring when 2nd row, Nick Logan, was stopped just short of the Omagh line. It was Omagh Academy who scored against the run of play after ten minutes. Their outhalf put in a cross field kick and the ball bounced up into the arms of debutant winger, David Long, for him to touch down in the corner and give his team a 5-0 lead. Coleraine AI responded positively and looked impressive going through several phases of play only for the last pass to be dropped with the Omagh Academy line at their mercy. Centre Joel Stanbridge and outhalf Jonny Crowe impressing with some good line breaks. However, once again Coleraine AI failed to deal with a kick which landed on half way and bounced into the hands of Danny Johnston who sprinted in for another try. Ashley McIlwaine was successful with his conversion to give his team a 12-0 lead. Coleraine AI again came back strongly and finished the half well with their props, John McLean and Phillip Linegan, dominating the scrums. There scoreline remained at 12-0 in favour of the home team until the halftime whistle. After the restart the Coleraine AI full back fielded the ball in his 22m area and went on to beat a number of Omagh defenders. He raced to the half way line where he was tackled and from the ensuing ruck Peter Kidd fed Mark Gordon who broke into the Omagh 22. Once again the ball was transferred quickly to Joel Stanbridge who scored close to the posts. Peter Kidd converted to reduce the arrears to 12-7. ColeraineAI continued to dominate territory but again inexperience led to the wrong decisions being taken and scoring opportunities were squandered. Coleraine AI did manage to score again when Mark Gordon turned over Omagh Academy possession on the half way line. Joe Livingstone took the ball on and set up another quick ruck just short of Omagh 22m line. The ball was recycled and No 8, Kelly Brown was just held up short of line. Omagh Academy were awarded the 5m scrum but the Coleraine AI pack put pressure on and ball squirted out. Mark Gordon pounced on it to score a try which Peter Kidd converted to secure a 14-12 win for his Coleraine AI team.
Dalriada and Rainey met in their annual game for the Arthur Topping Memorial Cup.
Dalriada opened strongly and, after poor Rainey tackling, opened the scoring with a converted try to lead 7-0. Rainey took their time to settle and Dalriada continued to dominate the early stages. The Rainey pack, led by Jack McCalmont, gradually began to get on top and after a fine burst by Jonathan Lees Rainey flanker, Thomas Booth, went over in the corner. The conversion was missed to leave the score 7-5. Rainey now began to get the upper hand and, after sustained pressure, Martin Connolly kicked a penalty to give Rainey a 7-8 lead. The Rainey half backs, Oisin Quinn and Martin Connolly, were now dictating play and with Damien Devlin providing a good supply of lineout ball they finished the half on the front foot. The visitors started the second half on the attack with centres Stephen Fullerton and David McClelland causing problems for the Dalriada defence. Martin Connolly extended Rainey’s lead with another penalty to leave the scoreboard reading 7-11. Rainey continued to dominate possession and territory and the young members of the pack, Sam Hawe and Matthew McCready, were enjoying their superiority. Martin Connolly kicked his third penalty after fine work by Chris Moffett on the wing to increase the Rainey lead to 7-14. Up front, Gary Monaghan and Jonathan Kyle provided the Rainey backs with good ball and the backs used this intelligently enabling full back, Ryan Brown, to put his winger, Jamie Noble, in at the corner after a slick movement. Martin Connolly converted this try to leave the score at 7-21 in favour of the Magherafelt team. At this stage the game changed dramatically. Rainey fell into the trap, switching off and thinking the game was won. To their credit Dalriada came back and quickly scored a converted try to close the gap to 14-21. From the kick off they scored again to leave the score 19-21 with 5 minutes to play. Rainey were looking really uneasy and Dalriada took full advantage to score a fourth try to regain the lead 24-21. With only minutes remaining Rainey looked ‘dead on their feet’ but got a penalty which they kicked deep into Dalriada territory. From the resultant lineout they produced a lovely back movement which sent Jamie Noble over in the corner for his second try and what turned out to be the match winning try. The conversion was missed and the whistle went to give Rainey a deserved 24-26 win. Rainey showed a lot of potential in this game and also learned a valuable lesson in not switching off. However, they displayed great character in the final minutes to come back and win. Dalriada showed a super fighting spirit and will be pleased with the way they came back from being 14 points down but at the end of the game it was the Rainey team that celebrated with their 26-24 win.
Friends’ School travelled to play Cambridge House with a very inexperienced team.
Cambridge House were missing a number of players on representative duty but, fifteen minutes into the game, took a 3-0 leads when they converted a penalty opportunity. This lead was extended to 8-0 when they scored an unconverted try just before the break. The second half was fairly evenly contested until the final five minutes when Cambridge House scored two unconverted tries to leave them as deserved 18-0 winners. Despite losing the game there were good performances from Peter Ferguson, Kyle Andrews and captain, Matthew Patterson, for the Friends’ team.
Regent House entertained Portora Royal School and ran out convincing 39-0 winners. The home team scored three unconverted first half tries through their hooker, Philip Patton, after ten minutes, Flanker Stephen Adams after fifteen minutes and Wingerm Jonny Adams just before the halftime whistle to give them a 15-0 lead. The Regent team continued to dominate the game in the course of the second half. Just after the restart Jonny Baird, the Regent No8 scored a try which Nathan Burns converted to increase their lead to 22-0. Ten minutes later a storming run from Jamie McKnight was rewarded with a try which was converted by Alan Sinnamon. In the final ten minutes of the game Aaron Culbert and Steven Deering scored for their Regent team to leave the Newtownards team as deserved winners.
Campbell College hosted Ballyclare High School at Foxe’s Field in another game which saw both teams short of first team regulars due to representative involvement.
The first half of the game saw the Ballyclare team play with the wind in their backs. This enabled the visitors to make good use of the wind to gain valuable territory. However, good Campbell College defence kept their line intact until the home team lost possession in the opposition half. This enabled the Ballyclare High School winger, James Greer to set off on a 70m dash for the line. He scrambled over to score an unconverted try in the corner to give his team a 5-0 lead. The only other score of the first half was a Jack Irvine penalty which he converted to give his Ballyclare High School team an 8-0 halftime lead. The second period of play saw the Campbell College team dominate the game in terms of both territory and possession. They spent most of the second period encamped in the Ballyclare High School 22m area. However, all the home team could manage was one second half penalty which saw the Ballyclare High School team claim an 8-3 win.
Wallace High School travelled to play Castleknock College in Dublin with a mixture of both Senior and Junior teams.
The players, parents and staff watched the Ireland v Australia RWC game on a “Big Screen” in Castleknock College before playing their games. The Wallace High School 1stXV was without a number of players due to Inter Provincial commitments but the team still put on a good performance. Wallace High School scored a try through Chris Knowles as well as a conversion and penalty from James McCallan. The Castleknock team scored two tries and kicked a game winning penalty with only minutes remaining. Despite losing by 13-10 the Wallace High School players all enjoyed their day to Castleknock where they were very well hosted.
Banbridge Academy hosted Royal School, Armagh in a midweek fixture.
Despite good performances from players such as Blair McDonald, David McKeown, Chrissy Watt and Carl Sterling, the Co Down team was unable to match the pace and power of the Armagh players who won the game by 34-0. Players such as Daniel Reaney, Daniel Morton, Matthew Clarke and Andrew Black stood out for the Royal School, Armagh team.
Royal School, Dungannon travelled to play Larne Grammar School and met a very determined Larne Grammar School team. The home team had Ryan McAllister to thank for their 10-0 halftime lead. Ryan showed great skill and determination to score two unconverted tries during the first half of the game. The Dungannon team responded positively in the course of the second half of the game. They ran in three tries, one of which was converted, to run out 17-10 winners of this exciting game. There was disappointment from the home team having lost the game after their excellent first half performance as well as a “man of the match” performance from Kris Rea.
Carrickfergus Grammar School hosted near neighbours and close rivals, Belfast High School, in an East Antrim derby.
The visitors ran out as reasonably comfortable winners with two tries from their pacey centre, Jordan Garford, and one try from full back, Jake Hutchinson. Robbie Reid added one conversion to see the Belfast High School team emerge as deserved 17-0 winners.
