Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 25th February 2017
There was one postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate quarter-final game and one postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate semi-final game played on Monday 20th February, one postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate quarter-final game played on Tuesday 21st February, one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup semi-final game and the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy Final played on Wednesday 21st February in the lead up to two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-finals, two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate semi-finals, one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy replay the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl final played on Saturday 25th February .
Om Monday 20th in the postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate quarter-final game Limavady Grammar School hosted Belfast Royal Academy. The Belfast Royal Academy team won the game by 39-10 and will now play Banbridge Academy in the semi-final on Saturday 25th.
On the same evening at the Meadowbank Arena in Magherafelt the Rainey Endowed School 2ndxv hosted Ballyclare High School 2ndxv in their postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate semi-final game. The Rainey Endowed School team had taken a 5-0 lead in the first half through an unconverted try from Michael McIvor. The Ballyclare High School team mounted a second half revival and tries from Josh Cowan, Ben Catherwood and Rory Dorman, with one conversion from Owen Hutchinson, secured a 17-5 victory. The Ballyclare High School team will now meet the Dalriada School 2ndxv in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Plate final on March 8th. This game will be played at Rainey Endowed School with a 3-30pm kick off
On Tuesday 21st March the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate quarter-final game between Cambridge House Grammar School and Campbell College, Belfast ended with a 28-5 victory for the Campbell College team. The Campbell College team will now host Sullivan Upper in the semi-final on Saturday 25th February.
Rainey Endowed School Medallion and Grosvenor Grammar School Medallion met in a postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy semi-final on Tuesday 21st. This game finished as a 5-5 draw and the replay will take place on Saturday 25th February. This means the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy final, which was to have been played at Roughfort on Saturday 25th will now be played on Wednesday March 1st.
On Wednesday 22nd February Methodist College hosted Wallace High School in the semi-final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2ndxv Cup. Methodist College won the game by 31-7 and will now play Royal Belfast Academical Institution in the final on Saturday March 4th. Venue TBC
On the same afternoon the first of this season’s Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ finals took place when Banbridge Academy and Foyle and Londonderry College took part in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy final hosted by the Royal School, Dungannon. Foyle and Londonderry College, despite having been 11-5 behind at the interval, went on to win the game by 15-11. Banbridge Academy opened the scoring with a penalty from Tom Flanagan to give the Co Down team a 3-0 lead. This became 8-0 when their hard working prop, John Wilson, ran in for an unconverted try midway through the first half. The Foyle College team then responded with an unconverted try from Ultan Clancy to reduce their deficit to 8-5. On the stroke of halftime Tom Flanagan was successful with his second penalty of the game to see his team into the break with their 11-5 advantage.
The second half saw the Foyle College team dominate proceedings for large periods of time. Matthew Alford ran in for a try, which Killene Thornton converted, to put the Foyle team into a 12-11 lead. Further pressure from the Foyle College attack forced the Banbridge Academy team into conceding a penalty. Killene Thornton converted the penalty to secure the 15-11 victory for the Foyle and Londonderry College team.
After the game was finished Graffin Parke, Senior Vice President of the Ulster Branch, IRFU, congratulated both teams for reaching the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy, thanked the referee, and his team, for the manner in which they controlled the game, thanked the Danske Bank, in the presence of Lisa Hughes, a local Danske Bank Manager, for their continued sponsorship of Ulster Schools’ Rugby and thanked the Royal School, Dungannon for hosting the game. The Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy finalist medals were then presented by Graffin Parke and Lisa Hughes to all the players involved in the game. Thomas Cole, the Foyle and Londonderry College team captain, was then presented with the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy.
Both teams paid tribute to the Head Groundsman and his staff at the Royal School, Dungannon for the way in which the WK Armstrong pitch had been prepared in advance of the final. It was described as being a fantastic pitch on which to play the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy final.
There were two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-finals, two Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate semi-finals, one Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy semi-final replay and the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl final played on Saturday 25th February.
The Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-finals took place at neutral venues with Bangor Grammar School and Royal School, Armagh playing at the Queen’s University Arena and Portadown College playing Friends’ School, Lisburn at Banbridge Rugby Club.
Royal School, Armagh defeated Bangor Grammar School by 36-0 in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-final played at the Queen’s University Arena while Friends’ School, Lisburn defeated Portadown College by 39-10 in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield semi-final played at Banbridge RFC. All the schools involved would like to thank both Queen’s University and Banbridge Rugby Club for the use of their excellent facilities and hosting these Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield sem-final games.
Royal School, Armagh will now play Friends’ School, Lisburn in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield at the Kingspan Stadium on Tuesday March 7th at 2-30pm.
Campbell College hosted Sullivan Upper in the semi-final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate. The Sullivan Upper School Medallion team won the game by 17-12 and will now face the Belfast Royal Academy Medallion team who travelled to Banbridge Academy and won their Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate semi-final by 12-0. The Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate is scheduled to be played on Saturday March 11th. Venue TBC
In the replay of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy semi-final Grosvenor Grammar School defeated Rainey Endowed School by 24-14. The Grosvenor Grammar School team will now play Ballyclare Secondary School in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Plate at Ballymena Rugby Club at 7-00pm on Wednesday 1st March.
Having hosted the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy final on Wednesday another good crowd turned up at the Royal School, Dungannon to watch the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School team play Down High School in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl. Once again the ground staff at the Royal School had worked hard to produce an excellent surface upon which to play the game. The game was played at a great pace with both teams willing to move the ball at every opportunity. The Enniskillen Royal Grammar School won the game by 31-3 but the Down High School made a great contribution to a game that was a great advertisement for Schools’ Medallion Rugby in Ulster.
After the game Richard Clingan, a Vice–Principal at the Royal School, Dungannon and Honorary Secretary of the Ulster Schools’ Committee, congratulated all the players for displaying such a high standard of play throughout the game, thanked the referee and his assistants for the manner in which they contributed to the fast pace of the game, thanked the RS Dungannon ground staff for all their hard work in preparing such an excellent playing surface and thanked the Danske Bank for their continued sponsorship of Ulster Schools’ Rugby. Richard then presented Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ finalists medals to the players from both teams before presenting the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School captain, Robbie Mills, with the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl.
Carrickfergus Grammar School and Cambridge House Grammar School looked towards next season when both schools fielded U17 teams and played out a 3 x 20 minutes training game which was greatly enjoyed by the large number of players involved.
