The University of Ulster, Coleraine continued their winning form when they travelled to Belfast High School Former Pupils RFC on Saturday and left with not only a win but also a bonus point after a comprehensive 42-0 victory.
It was the visitors who registered the first points of the game when High School were penalised for foul play at the ruck and Lee Murphy stepped up to score the penalty to make it 3-0. Both sides looked to build platforms to work off but it was UUC who capitalised and quick rucking by the student pack allowed the backs to unleash Sam Hall down the left wing who skipped through several tackles to score in the corner. Murphy missed the difficult conversion. UCC continued to strangle High School of possession or forced them to make a mistake when they did have it.
UUC looked like scoring off every phase of play they put together and quick thinking by Michael Dunleavy down the blind side, broke the gain line before off loading to Peter Smith who dived over to score the student’s second try. Murphy missed the touchline conversion. High School started to put some phases together and forced UUC back towards their own line but ended up handing possession back over to the students courtesy of a lineout which they won allowing Andrew Winder to release his backline and again Sam Hall dodged several tackles to score his second of the game. Gareth Millar missed the conversion to leave the score at 18-0.
With the half time approaching the students rumbled towards the High School line but had to settle for a 5 metre scrum after a High School knock on. From the resultant uncontested scrum, Andrew Winder attacked the High School defence and broke the defensive line to score under the posts and secure the student’s bonus point. Murphy converted the simple conversion. The half time score was 25-o in favour of UUC.
The second half started with UUC piling all the pressure on High School and a great backline move allowed Matthew Hill to carve an opening before offloading one handed to an onrushing Sam Hall who made no mistake in going over for his third try of the game. Millar missed the difficult touchline conversion. From the resultant kick-off, Peter Smith collected and broke several tackle before sprinting clear and with only the full back to beat, offloaded to John Dillon who sprinted in from the 22 to add another try to the UUC score. Murphy added the conversion to make it 37-0.
High School having been reduced to 13 men due to injury continued to battle on but UUC attacked their way to the High School line and a ruck on the 22 allowed Murphy to pick and go blind before offloading to Smith who went over for his second and the final score of the game. Millar missed the conversion and the referee called proceedings to an end with UUC finishing victorious with a 42-0 win.
UUC welcome Banbridge 2XV to Cromore for their final conference league match of the season this Saturday looking to further add to their winning run.
