“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” – Muhammad Ali
There were some games played around the New Year period in the lead up to a good list of fixtures on Saturday 5th January.
Banbridge Academy hosted Rainey Endowed School in a closely contested game which the Magherafelt boys won by 19-15.
The Rainey Endowed team took the initiative from the kick-off, attacking the Banbridge Academy line at every opportunity. This enterprising approach paid off when Eunan Shaw scored a try following good work from his captain, Michael Dawson. Arran Murphy converted the try to put the Rainey team into a 7-0 lead. The Rainey team continued to pressurise but fine defence by the Banbridge team prevented a number of potential scores. Banbridge had periods of attack and their pack put Rainey on the back foot on a number occasions. However, Rainey extended their lead when, after a fine back move, outhalf Kieran Lynch put Arran Murphy clear. Arran beat two defenders to score close to the posts. He converted his try to take the score to 14-0. Banbridge kicked a penalty through their full back, Daniel McElderry, just before the interval to reduce the arrears to 14-3 at the break.
The second half was a scrappy affair with Rainey continuing to press but they made far too many errors and were unable to gain any fluency in their play. Michael Dawson and Jonathan Lees worked very hard, impressing in what was a poor second half. Rainey scored a third try when Scott Campbell took a quick penalty and fed Eunan Shaw who put Matthew Stewart in for the score and take a 19-3 lead. The Banbridge Academy team mounted something of a comeback in the closing stages of the game. They scored two tries in the last five minutes of the game. Rory Carson scored the first try which was converted by Daniel McElderry to take the score to 19-10. Then the Banbridge Academy 2nd Row forward, Richard McNeill, went over for an unconverted try to leave the final score reading 19-15 in favour of the Rainey Endowed team.
Despite losing the game, the Banbridge Academy team can take some comfort from the fact they started the game with seven Year 12 players on their team, against a formidable Rainey Endowed side.
Wallace High School travelled to play Ballymena Academy and the Lisburn boys were delighted to return home with a deserved 13-7 victory.
The Wallace High School controlled the game for large periods of the first half. However, a strong Ballymena Academy defence restricted the Wallace team to two Ryan Moore penalties to give them a 6-0 lead at the interval.
The second half saw the Ballymena Academy team take a 7-6 lead when Oliver Simpson took advantage of some slack defence to run in for a try. Andrew Magrath converted the try. The Wallace High School team responded positively and their pack provided the quick ball required by their backline. Jordan Grattan made good use of the quality possession to run in for a try which Ryan Moore converted to ensure a Wallace High School 13-7 win.
Belfast High School recorded an impressive 40-0 victory against Portora Royal School in a New Year fixture played at the Shore Road venue. Lewis Benson reigned supreme in the High School line and provided a supply of quality possession which his team used well. Jordan Garford, Robbie Reid and Joel McBride all impressed for the Belfast High School team which totally outplayed their Portora RS visitors.
Portadown College had a busy time over the New Year period.
The team played a fixture against the Portadown Rugby Club U19’s in a game which finished as a 17-17 draw. The team then went on to play an Ulster U18 Development team in a game which the College team won comfortably. Niall Davidson, Jonny Burns and Ryan Turner were among the players who impressed for the Portadown College team in both games.
Grosvenor Grammar School played the Ulster U18 Youth team under the floodlights at UUJ in a New Year fixture.
The Youth team used the game as part of their preparations for their forthcoming Inter Provincial game against Leinster Youth. Both teams were understrength and it was the Grosvenor Grammar School team that recorded a narrow 5-0 victory with an unconverted try from Stewart Baillie. The Grosvenor team had good performances from Sam Purdon, Stewart Baillie and Peter Davison.
On Saturday 5th January, Methodist College hosted Blackrock College at Pirrie Park with the Dublin team recording an impressive 29-3 victory.
The Blackrock pack was able to provide a constant supply of quality possession throughout the game and deserved their win. The Methody team was without a number of key players such as Rudi Benade and Paddy Colhoun. The team worked hard in the course of the game but could only record one unconverted try through Michael Lagan.
Campbell College had to work hard for their 19-10 victory against Rockwell College at Fox’s Field.
The Campbell College team was 10-9 down at half time with Jack Owens converting three penalty opportunities in the course of the first half.
The home dominated proceedings after interval and ran in two tries through “Man of the Match” Patrick Hamilton and Callum Holland, who took full advantage of a clever chip ahead from the excellent Josh Fullerton. These two tries were not converted but the Campbell College team had done enough to ensure their deserved win.
Wallace High School entertained Dalriada School and recorded a deserved 24-0 win.
The Wallace team dominated the game, running in four tries through Ryan Brannagh, Zack McCall, Jordan Grattan and Sam Moore. Wallace High School outhalf, Ryan Moore, who had an excellent game, added two conversions.
Wellington College played the Wallace High School 2ndxv and had to work hard for their 33-17 win.
The Wellington team built up a 26-0 lead at the interval scoring tries through Owen Jarvie, Keir Patterson, Josh Garham and Sam Bridge. Michael Hamilton was successful with three conversions.
The Wallace High School 2nd team mounted something of a comeback in the second period of play. They ran in three tries, one of which was converted, to reduce the arrears to 26-17. However, in the closing stages of the game the Wellington College team secured their victory with a second try from Sam Bridge. Andrew Hanna added the extras to secure a 33-17 Wellington College win against the Wallace High School 2ndxv.
Ballyclare High School put on their best display of the season when they defeated Rainey Endowed School by 67-5.
The Ballyclare team was 29-0 ahead by half time. Paddy Reid scored twice while Michael Kirk, Andrew Eastop and James Beattie each scored one try. Jack Ervine converted two of the tries.
The second half saw more of the same from the Ballyclare High School team. Andrew Eastop scored his second try of the game while the McKee twins scored one each. James Beattie completed his hat trick by touching down twice while Jack Ervine, in his third season of 1stxv rugby, scored his first senior try. Jack completed a fine personal performance by adding four second half conversions.
The Rainey Endowed team scored an unconverted try through their skipper, Michael Dawson. However, it was the Ballyclare High School team that celebrated their well-deserved 67-5 victory at the final whistle.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution played Belfast Royal Academy and recorded an excellent 20-0 win.
Belfast Inst started well putting pressure on the Belfast Royal Academy line. The pressure was relieved by RBAI giving away penalties which Belfast Royal Academy used to gain good field position. They tested the Inst defence for a full five minutes spent on the Inst line. Josh Atkinson, assisted by Paddy Anderson, ensured the Inst defence was well-organised and the Belfast Royal Academy attacks were knocked back on a number of occasions. Eventually, the Inst defence turned over Academy ball and the pressure was relieved. Nathan Browne converted a penalty for the Belfast Inst team to see them into a 3-0 lead. The Belfast Inst team was now in the ascendancy and Andy McGrath took full advantage of a Belfast Royal Academy knock on in midfield. He pounced on the ball to run in for a try from 20 metres. Nathan Browne added the conversion to see his team into a 10-0 half time lead.
The Belfast Inst team controlled the second half with Nathan Browne adding to his total by scoring a try after 3 phases of play in the Belfast Royal Academy half. This led to a line break which Nathan finished with his try. He added the conversion and sealed a dominant performance by kicking a penalty in the later stages of the game to ensure a 20-0 win for the Royal Belfast Academical Institution team.
An injury hit Friends’ School team hosted Lurgan College and was delighted to record a 29-10 victory.
The Lurgan College had defeated the Friends’ team back in December so this turned out to be a good win for the Lisburn team. Lurgan College scored first with an unconverted try from Dean Wilson to give his team a 5-0 lead. Peter Simpson then scored the first Friends’ try when he took advantage of a great driving maul from his pack to touch down. Peter Ferguson then scored a try which was converted by Jack Ravey to give Friends’ a 12-5 lead. Lurgan College responded with an unconverted try from Mark McIlwaine to reduce the arrears to 12-10. The Friends’ team took a 17-10 lead into the interval when Peter Simpson scored his second try of the game.
Friends’ pushed on in the second half and Paul Wyatt made a great break down the wing to touch down in the corner. Zach Finlay, who put in a “Man of the Match” performance with some crucial tackles, stopping Lurgan’s chances of getting over for another try, made a great break from fullback and outpaced the Lurgan defence to touch down for a try under the posts. This try was converted by Peter Ferguson to ensure the game finished 29-10 in favour of the Friends’ School team.
Limavady Grammar School hosted Royal School, Armagh and emerged from the game as narrow, but deserved, 17-15 winners.
The home team might have had the game sewn up much earlier but a series of handling errors close to the RS Armagh line meant that a number of gilt edged opportunities were wasted. The RS Armagh team scored all of their points in the first half, mainly through Alistair Wright. He touched down for a try, added the conversion and was successful with a penalty opportunity. The remaining points came from an unconverted Jonathan Morton try. The Limavady Grammar School team scored two tries through Andrew Miller and Michael Rice. These tries were converted by Jack McCool to leave the score reading 15-14 in favour of the RS Armagh team at half time.
The second half saw the Limavady team to be the hungrier of the two teams. Despite losing two players to injury, they scored the only points of the second half through a Jack McCool penalty to ensure a 17-15 win for the Limavady Grammar School team.
Omagh Academy travelled to play Regent House missing a number of front line players.
The Regent team had a number of players returning from injury and emerged as 24-15 winners. The game was evenly contested in the opening exchanges but, after a sustained period of attacking play, Regent opened the scoring through an unconverted try from their full back, Curtis McCartney, to take a 5-0 lead. Omagh Academy took advantage of poor Regent defence to equalize with an Adam Stephenson try on thirty minutes. Neil MacLaine, the Omagh full back then took advantage of a loose Regent pass on their 10m line when he intercepted the ball to score an unconverted try in the corner to give his Omagh Academy team a 10-5 lead at the interval.
At the start of the second half Regent failed to clear their lines, allowing Omagh to move the ball well and score a well taken try, through the impressive Adam Longwell, in the corner. The try was not converted but Omagh now had a 15-5 lead.
This score seemed to spur the Regent side into action and they dictated play for the remainder of the game. Regent House outhalf, Peter Eakin, finished off a team move to score a try with Paul McCartney adding the conversion to reduce the arrears to 15-12. Ten minutes later Peter Eakin put a searching kick deep into Omagh territory. The Regent centre, Aaron Reid, raced on to the ball and scored an unconverted try to put his team into a 17-15 lead. With five minutes left, the Regent No 8, Philip Patton, sped through the Omagh defence to score with Paul McCartney again adding the conversion. This ensured a 24-15 for the Regent House team.
Larne Grammar School played a rampant Coleraine Academical Institution team which won the game by 65-7.
The Coleraine AI team had Peter Kidd, Jonny Crowe, Oliver McDowell, Danny McAllister, Calum Wallace and Joel Stanbridge to thank for scoring one try each, while Cameron Fulton touched down twice, once as a full back and once as scrum half. However, Brad Dempster really impressed with his hat trick of tries. Sammy Fulton was successful with three conversions while Conor Shiels converted two!
The Man of the Match Award went to the Coleraine AI open side flanker, Mark Gordon, for his all-round display in the course of the game.
The Larne Grammar School team had Sam McIlwaine to thank for their points while Luke Cameron and Conor Connolly impressed with their performances during the game.
Belfast High School entertained Grosvenor Grammar School at the Shore Road venue.
The Grosvenor team was not able to repeat the heroics of their recent win against the Ulster Youth team and the Belfast High School team won by 34-24. The Belfast High School team won the game on the back of good performances from Lewis Benson, Joel McBride, Robbie Reid and Jordan Garford.
The Grosvenor team scored their points through a Peter Davison, penalty, try and three conversions as well as two tries from Stewart Baillie.
The Down High team was almost back to full strength when they defeated Banbridge Academy by 41-20.
Thomas Donnan, Luca Rea, Patrick Wright and Kelvin Hamilton all impressed for the Down High team. The Down High School scores came from Nathan Gibson with a try converted by Patrick Wright. The same two combined for the second Down High scores of the game. Kelvin Hamilton then scored a try which Patrick Wright converted. Kelvin then scored an unconverted try while Patrick Wright scored a try which he converted. Toni Rush then scored the last of the Down High tries and, once again, Patrick Wright was successful with conversion.
Daniel McElderry kicked converted five penalty opportunities for the Banbridge Academy team while Ross Williamson capped a fine personal performance in the Banbridge Academy 2nd Row with an unconverted try on the stroke of full time.
Bangor Grammar School hosted Foyle and Londonderry and put on a great display to win the game by 48-0.
There were four games played in Round 2 of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield.
Portora Royal School 10 Lurgan College 5
Friends’ School 8 Belfast High School 18
Banbridge Academy 17 Larne Grammar School 24
Wellington College 10 Portadown College 24.
