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After one of the moist exciting Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup campaigns for many seasons the finalists for the St Patrick’s Day show down are now known.
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Campbell College will face Royal Belfast Academical Institution in the final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup after overcoming Ballyclare High School in the second of the semi-finals played in superb conditions with a great atmosphere at Ravenhill.
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Campbell College dominated the early exchanges and were rewarded with a try in the fifth minute. Strong running by centres Chris Farrell and Christopher Best brought play into Ballyclare territory and No 8 Charles Gallagher bullocked his way over from a scrum after holding off two tacklers. Fullback Rory Scholes added the conversion from a difficult angle to give the Campbell College team a 7-0 lead.This spurred Ballyclare High School into action and after a sustained period of pressure their outhalf, Jonny Holmes, took advantage of some poor Campbell College defence to touch down for a try. Jonny was unable to convert his own score but the deficit had been reduced to 7-5..
Campbell responded well and their captain, John Creighton, pounced on a loose ball to score in the corner. Rory Scholes, again, added the extras to leave the score 14-5. Campbell then extended their lead when Chris Best and Chris Farrell combined once again to create space for Moss Rogers to force his way over in the corner. This time Rory Scholes was off target with his conversion attempt but his team had a 19-5 lead. After a Ballyclare High School player was shown a yellow card for an infringement in a ruck, Rory Scholes stepped up to register a simple penalty to put his team into a 22-5 lead. Just before the break, Jonny Holmes gave the Ballyclare High School team a lifeline when he replied with a penalty of his own to leave the score reading 22-8 at the half time whistle. After the restart the Campbell College team seemed to sense the game was there for the taking. Two tries in 5 minutes after the break put the game out of Ballyclare’s reach. After a succession of rucks close to the Ballyclare line, scrumhalf Glenn Baillie dived over for an unconverted try to put his team into a 27-8 lead. Two minutes later quick hands by the influential John Creighton, assisted by clever play from Chris Best and Chris Farrell allowed Rory Scholes to run in untouched to score an unconverted try and extend his side’s lead to 32-8. Charles Gallagher capped a “Man of the Match” performance when he added his second, and his team’s fifth, try when he broke blind from a scrum to crash over and put his team into a 37-8 lead. Then, with three minutes remaining, substitute Shane Moffett scored another for Campbell. Rob Haldane took over the kicking duties but was unsuccessful with both conversions. It was a delighted Campbell College team that took the plaudits on the final whistle with a performance that saw them safely through to the final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup when they will face Royal Belfast Academical Institution in the St Patrick’s Day decider.
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The second of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ competitions came to a conclusion when Rainey Endowed School met Friends’ School, Lisburn in the final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl at Dungannon Rugby Club.
There was a good crowd in attendance to watch an interesting game played in very blustery conditions. Playing into the wind in the first half, it was the Rainey team that enjoyed the greater amount of possession and territory. A defensive error by the Friends’ midfield after seven minutes of play enabled Damien McMurray and Philip Caulfield to combine to send Matthew Stewart in unopposed for the first try of the game. Martin Connolly was accurate with his conversion kick to put the Rainey Endowed team into a deserved 7-0 lead. The Rainey team continued to enjoy the majority of possession and, despite the best efforts of the Friends’ backrow, the Lisburn boys found it difficult to clear their line. The Rainey “pick and drive” tactic proved effective by tying in the Friends’ defenders around the fringes. The Friends’ team defended successfully until the Rainey Endowed scrum half, Martin Connolly, took advantage of another defensive lapse and crashed over for a try after twenty two minutes of play. Martin converted his try to give his team a comfortable 14-0 lead. Close to the half time whistle, on a rare visit to Rainey Endowed territory, Friends’ School pressure resulted in a penalty following an infringement at a ruck. Paul Anderson was successful with his penalty kick to reduce the deficit to 14-3 at half time. The second half started poorly for the Friends’ team but eventually they started to get some quality possession. The Friends’ backline showed their ability and Paddy Pringle took advantage of good work from Desi Eastwood and Michael Cochrane to scorch in for a try. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful but the deficit had been reduced to 14-8. The Friends’ team attacked at every opportunity with Michael Cochrane, Paddy Pringle and Desi Eastwood all asking questions of the Rainey defence. Jonathan Lees, Luke Steele and Damien McMurray worked hard to ensure the Friends’ team could not turn pressure into points. Midway through the second half, Paul Anderson was successful with another penalty opportunity to reduce the arrears to 14-11. The Friends’ team attacked at every opportunity but it was a case of “too little, too late” as the game came to a close. The Rainey team gained territorial advantage in the last few minutes forcing the Friends’ team to attack from deep positions. The final whistle went leaving the Friends’ School team very disappointed and the Rainey Endowed team delighted with their hard earned win. It was a very proud Rainey Endowed School Captain, Luke Steele, who, at the end of the game, received the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl from the Ulster Branch President, Sir Nigel Hamilton.
The semi-final replay of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Subsidiary Shield involving Wallace High School and Bangor Grammar School took place at a rain sodden Ballymacormick Road on Saturday morning.
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The second game was almost as close as the first with both sets of forwards working hard in the opening exchanges to gain dominance. After a lot of overnight rain, the pitch was quite soft and the conditions suited the bigger Wallace High School pack. A constant feature of the first half, which was dominated by the visiting team, was the emphasis of keeping the ball tight amongst their forwards. On numerous occasions they pressurised the Bangor line only to be thwarted by some excellent well organised and disciplined defence by the home team. This ensured there were no scores in the first period of play despite the Wallace team dominating territory as well as possession. The second half kicked off with the wind slightly behind the Bangor team. An encouraging team talk by the Bangor coaches saw a much more attack minded Bangor team take the game to the Wallace side by displaying a desire to play open attacking rugby. After a few minutes a penalty was awarded to Bangor, and with the kick being successfully converted by Stuart McCloskey, Bangor had taken a 3-0 lead. Encouraged by this kick, the Bangor backline increased the pressure on the Wallace team by continuing to play open attacking rugby and keeping the ball away from the strong Wallace forwards as much as possible. Strong defence by the visiting team enabled them to weather the Bangor pressure and with fifteen minutes left, a series of pick and drives close to the Bangor line saw 5th form replacement player, Zack McCall cross the whitewash for an unconverted try to put the Wallace team into a 5-3 lead. Not to be outdone, Bangor returned to the attack in an effort to regain the lead. Strong defence from the Wallace team kept the Bangor side scoreless until they were awarded a penalty after frequent infringements by the Wallace pack and a stern warning from the referee. Much to the relief of the Bangor team and supporters, Stuart McCloskey calmly slotted over the kick to put Bangor back into the lead with the scoreboard reading 6-5.Try as they might the Wallace High School attack was thwarted by determined Bangor Grammar School defence which ensured the Wallace pressure never really threatened the Bangor line again. When the referee blew the whistle for the no side the Bangor players and supporters celebrated a long overdue return to Ravenhill to play in the final of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Subsidiary Shield against Ballymena Academy on March 24th.
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The semi-finals of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield took place on Saturday 12th March. Limavady Grammar School met Royal Belfast Academical Institution at Ballymena Academy.
Having won the toss the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team elected to kick off and won a scrum following an error from the Limavady pack. This mistake gave the Belfast Inst team the initiative and, after seven minutes play the Belfast Inst full-back slotted over a straightforward penalty kick to give his side a 3-0 lead. The Limavady Grammar School team seemed to be very nervous and weak defence was capitalised upon by the Belfasat Inst left wing, who evaded several tackles before linking with his full-back who touched down under the posts. The full-back added the simple conversion to take his tally to 10 points and give his team a 10-0 lead. This score seemed to spur the Limavady team into action and they began to dominate possession and territory. After going through several phases, Limavady were awarded with a penalty that out-half Michael Barr kicked into touch. The line-out was won and the Limavady pack engineered a fantastic rolling maul, marching their opponents over the line from 25 yards out and touching down for an unconverted try to take the half time score to 10—5 in favour of the Belfast Inst team. The Limavady Grammar School team began the second period of play in emphatic fashion. After Michael Barr kicked a penalty into the RBAI “22”, Limavady again set up their dynamic rolling maul. However, they were stopped just a few metres short of the Belfast Inst line. Limavady threw everything into attacking the Belfast Inst line and were rewarded for their endeavour when their hooker, Stephen Kennedy, bullocked his way over the whitewash to score a try. The conversion attempt was missed but the scoreline was now sitting at 10-10 and the excitement was mounting. A sense of deja vu descended on the crowd when Limavady registered the winning try. Again a Michael Barr penalty was kicked into touch and the rolling maul was set up. Things were looking ominous for the Belfast Inst defence but, to their credit, they competed well and stopped Limavady just short of the line. The Limavady pack started to pick around the fringes and were doing extremely well to retain possession under severe pressure. In fact they thought they were over after a “pick and go” from Sam Mackey. However, he was met by resolute defence but they did manage to register their third try shortly after this. From the next phase of play, Richard Boyd barged his way over the Belfast Inst line to touch down for another unconverted try to put his team into a 15-10 lead. With only minutes remaining the Belfast Inst team threw everything at Limavady but the Limavady defence stood firm, eventually turning the ball over and clearing the danger. The referee blew his no side whistle which set of scenes of celebration among the large contingent of Limavady Grammar School players and supporters who will see the Limavady Grammar School Medallion contest their first ever Medallion Shield Final against Sullivan Upper on Tuesday 22nd March at Ravenhill.
In the second Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-final, Sullivan Upper defeated Campbell College by 8-0 in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic supporters at a packed Pirrie Park.
MORE SHOTS HERE FROM CATHERINE HALL
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The fourth game of the 2010/11 Nutty Krust U19 Tournament took place at a rain soaked Portadown RFC on Wednesday evening. The teams involved were Dundalk U19’s and Instonian’s U 19’s.
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This game was the inaugural appearance of both these clubs since the Nutty Krust tournament became an age grade competition. Despite the difficult overhead conditions both teams set out to provide an entertaining spectacle for supporters from both clubs. The Dundalk visitors started strongly and asked questions of the Instonian’s team. The Belfast boys thwarted the initial waves of attack and then started to put their own stamp on the game. Midway through the first half Mark Gribben kicked his team into a 3-0 lead when he converted a penalty opportunity. Four minutes later he doubled the score with another penalty kick following a Dundalk infringement at a ruck. Just on the stroke of half time Mark took full advantage of quick thinking from his scrum half to outwit the Dundalk defence and touch down under the posts for a try. Mark converted the try to see his team into a 13-0 half time lead. With the wind in their backs in the second half and rallied by a half time talk from their captain, Conor Beattie, the Dundalk team started in a very determined fashion. They pressurised the Instonian’s defence into giving away a penalty in front of the posts. Ultan Murphy calmly struck the ball over the bar to reduce the arrears to 13-3. Both teams were intent on attacking at every opportunity and both defences had to be well organised. Midway through the second half Mark Gribben made a great break deep into Dundalk territory. He cleverly off loaded the ball to the supporting William Loane who was delighted to run the ball in from twenty metres. The conversion was missed but the Belfast team had opened up an 18-3 lead. The Dundalk team was not overawed and took play deep intro Instonian’s territory. Clever play, involving Conor Beattie and his back row colleagues, presented their hard working scrum half, Padraig Conroy, with a try scoring opportunity. He did not disappoint and finished the score off with great aplomb. The try was converted by Ultan Murphy to take the score to 18-10. Towards the end of the game the overhead conditions deteriorated but both teams still attempted to play positive rugby. The Dundalk team finished strongly but could find no way through a very well disciplined Instonian’s defence which ensured the Belfast team celebrated their hard earned 18-10 victory at the no-side whistle. The Instonian’s team move into the second round with a game against Armagh/Monaghan on April 12th. At the post match function the Dundalk captain, Conor Beattie, was presented with his “Man of the Match” award by the Chairman of the Ulster Branch Youth Committee, Bobby Stewart.
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