Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Round Up Saturday 8th December 2018
The Ulster U19 team defeated Australia Schools’ by 22-17 in an exciting game played at the Queen’s University Arena on Tuesday 4th December. The game was played in front of a good crowd which included the President of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Ian McIlrath, the President of the Ulster Branch, IRFU, Stephen Elliott, Gerry Drennan, Chairman of the IRFU Schools’ Standing Committee and John Robinson, Chairman of the IRFU Age Grade Committee.
The Ulster team, containing U17, U18 and U19 players, coached by Jonny Gillespie and assisted by Willie Anderson, Jonathon Graham and Jimmy Topping, took a 7-0 lead when Nathan Doak converted a try from Tom Stewart. Australia then hit back with two unconverted tries to take a 10-7 lead. A Nathan Doak penalty then tied the scores at 10-10 just before the interval.
An unconverted try from George Saunderson gave Ulster a 15-10 lead midway through the second period of play. Australia then went under the posts for a converted try with fifteen mins to go to take a lead for the first time in the game with the scoreboard reading 15-17 in their favour. A well-worked try in the final seconds of the game from Conor Rankin, converted by Nathan Doak, sealed the deserved 22-17 victory for the young Ulster team.
(15-9): Ethan McIlroy (Methodist College, Belfast), Conor Rankin (Campbell College, Belfast), Ben Carson (Wallace High School), Ben Moxham (Ballymena RFC), Ben McCaughey (Malone RFC), Greg Hutley (Down High School), Nathan Doak (Wallace High School);
(1-8): George Saunderson (Sullivan Upper School), Tom Stewart (Belfast Royal Academy), Oscar Egan Coleraine Grammar School), Matthew Sands (City of Armagh RFC), Will Hopes (Regent House School), Riley Westwood (Bangor Grammar School), Charlie Clarke (Captain) (Rainey OB RFC), Reuban Crothers (Wallace High School). Replacements: Bryn Davies (Rainey Endowed School), Adam Hanna (Banbridge Academy), Paddy McAlpine (Campbell College, Belfast), Steven Kelly (Letterkenny RFC), Phil Campbell (Ballymena RFC), Conor McKee (Sullivan Upper School), Robbie Johnston (Queen’s University, Belfast RFC), Rex Tinsley (Campbell College, Belfast)
On Wednesday 5th December the Royal School, Armagh 2ndxv played Omagh Academy 2ndxv in the 2nd Round of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup. The Royal School, Armagh team won the game by 29-5
On the same afternoon the Wallace High School 3rdxv played Campbell College, Belfast 4thxv in the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup. The Campbell College 4thxv won the game by 50-17 scoring seven tries in the process.
Wellington College, Belfast hosted Lurgan College in a closely contested game the Lurgan College team won by 12-7. The Wellington College team took a 7-0 lead when Jake Pollock received an intercept pass and outpaced a despairing defence before touching down for the try. Jake Hamilton added the conversion to the try.
The Lurgan College team responded with two tries in the second half. Josh Best touched for the first following a quickly taken tapped penalty. Harry Burke added the conversion to see his team into a 7-5 lead. Ewan Mulligan then picked up from a 5m scrum to blast over the Wellington College line and touch down for an unconverted try to secure the hard-earned 12-5 win for the Lurgan College team.
Foyle and Londonderry College hosted Coleraine Grammar School in a game the Coleraine GS team won by 49-7. Marcus Poskitt scored two tries for the Coleraine GS team with Paddy White, Blake Crompton, JohnJo Beckworth, Tom Hutchinson and Pierce Crowe scoring one try each. Pierce Crowe was also successful with all seven conversions foe the Coleraine Grammar School team.
Keelin Coyle scored a try and conversion for the Foyle and Londonderry College team.
Sullivan Upper School travelled to play the Royal School, Armagh team under lights at City of Armagh RFC. Despite going behind by 7-0 early in the game the Royal School, Armagh team went on to record a 17-7 victory. Peter Casement scored the try for the Sullivan Upper team which was converted by Jack Crishop. Peter Taylor then scored an unconverted try for the RS Armagh team to reduce their arrears to 7-5 at the break.
In the course of the second half Jonny Agnew scored two tries, one of which was converted by Romaine Morrow, to secure the 17-7 victory for the Royal School, Armagh team.
Both teams would like to thank the City of Armagh RFC for the use of facilities and hosting the game.
The draws for the 2nd Round of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Cup and the 1st Round of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate took place on Wednesday 5th December, The results of the draws are as follows 🙂
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rd xv Cup Round 2
1/Enniskillen Royal Grammar School 3rdxv v Omagh Academy 3rdxv /St Columba’s, Stranorlar 1stxv
2/Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4thxv v Sullivan Upper School 3rdxv
3/Methodist College, Belfast 4thxv/Down High School 3rdxv v Ballyclare High School 3rdxv
4/Royal School, Armagh 3rdxv v Carndonagh Community School 1st xv
5/Royal Belfast Academical Institution 3rdxv v Ballyclare High School 4thxv
6/Campbell College, Belfast 3rdxv v Methodist College, Belfast 5thxv
7/Belfast Royal Academy 4thxv v Methodist College, Belfast 3rdxv
8/Campbell College, Belfast 4thxv v Ballymena Academy 3rdxv
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3rdxv Plate Round 1
1/Limavady Grammar School 3rdxv v Omagh Academy 3rdxv/St Columba’s, Stranorlar 1stxv
2/Rainey Endowed School 3rdxv v Bye
3/Belfast Royal Academy 3rdxv v Bye
4/Methodist College, Belfast 4thxv/Down High School 3rdxv v Bye
5/Wallace High School 3rdxv v Bye
6/Royal Belfast Academical Institution 5thxv v Bye
7/Royal School, Armagh 4thxv v Bye
8/Banbridge Academy 3rdxv v Bye
These Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup games are scheduled to be played on/before Saturday 26th January 2019.
On Friday 7th December Ballymena Academy and Campbell College, Belfast, played a floodlit game at Eaton Park, home of Ballymena RFC. The Ballymena Academy team recorded the narrowest of victories with an 8-7 win. Ross McKay converted a penalty opportunity for the Ballymena Academy team before Paddy Harry touched down for an unconverted try.
The Campbell College, Belfast points came through a try from Danny Williamson which was converted by Conor Rankin in the course of the last play of the game..
Both teams would like to thank Ballymena RFC for the provision of facilities and hosting the game.
On Saturday 8th December Antrim Grammar School played Belfast High School in a training session series of games. Calum Hull, Calum McComb, Adam Carville and Jack Craig all played well for the Antrim Grammar School team while Thabiso Madala, Andrew Huey, Ross Gray and Aaron Douglas impressed for the Belfast High School team.
Ballyclare High School hosted Methodist College, Belfast in a game the Methodist College team won by 38-0. Tommy O’ Doherty, Tommy Johnston, Ethan McIlroy, Robbie Armstrong, Ted Linton and Chris Larmour each scored a try for the Methodist College team with Ethan McIlroy adding four conversions.
Banbridge Academy hosted Belfast Royal Academy in a game the Belfast Royal Academy team won by 50-12. The Banbridge Academy points came through tries from Hugo Bertholon and Louis O’Neill. Andrew Denver added one conversion.
Ryan Jameson scored three tries for the Belfast Royal Academy team with Tom Stewart, Ollie Parkes, Adam Kane, Elliott Donaldson and Louis West each touching down for one try. Ryan Jameson was successful with three conversions.
Bangor Grammar School played Wallace High School in a game the Wallace High School team won by 31-0. Daniel Kilpatrick scored two tries for the Wallace High School team with Ben Carson, Dillon Sedge and Kyle Patton each scoring one try. Nathan Doak added three successful conversions.
Coleraine Grammar School hosted the Rainey Endowed School team in a game the Coleraine GS team won by 27-14. David Brown put in a Man of the Match performance with a hat trick of tries with Luke Bell scoring a fourth try. Pierce Crowe added one conversion as well as a penalty and Tyler McNeill weighed in with a penalty for the Coleraine Grammar school team.
For the Rainey Endowed School team Bryan Hall and Jonathan Drennan scored tries with Harry Evans adding the extras to both.
Dalriada School had a convincing 52-0 win against Limavady Grammar School. Patrick Steele scored two tries and Luke Pollock, Jacob Fleck, Patrick Carson, Will Scott, James McCormick and Henry Ross each touched down for one try for the Dalriada School team. Henry Ross was successful with six conversions.
Down High School lost to Friends’ School, Lisburn by 37-13 when the teams met at the Mound Grounds in Downpatrick. Down High School took a 13-0 lead in the opening exchanges through tries from Jonathan Graham and Jacob Cross with Greg Hutley adding one penalty. Reece Malone kicked a first half penalty for the Friends’ School team to leave the scoreboard reading 13-3 in favour of the Down High School team at the break.
The Friends’ School team dominated proceedings in the second half. Two penalties from Reece Malone, alongside tries from Jack Harte, David Scott, Ryan McGucken and Harry Reid, all of which were converted by Reece Malone, brought the Friends’ School, Lisburn team through to a well-deserved 37-13 victory.
Enniskillen Royal Grammar School played the Enniskillen RFC U18 team in a game the Enniskillen RGS team won by 21-0. Ben Donaldson, William Parke and Alex Dowson scored tries for the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School team to which George Foater added all three conversions.
Lurgan College recorded a hard earned 12-7 win against a very determined Grosvenor Grammar School team. The Lurgan team had taken a 7-0 lead into the break with a try from Ewen Mulligan which was converted by Harry Bird.
The Grosvenor Grammar School team responded with a second half try from Matthew Lusty which was superbly converted from the touchline by Adam Moore. From the restart the Lurgan College team regained possession and, following a series of phase plays, Luke Forsythe barged over the line to touch down for an unconverted try which secured the 12-7 win for the Lurgan College team.
Omagh Academy travelled to play Portadown College in a closely contested game the Portadown team won by 19-17. The Omagh Academy team started well and had built up a 17-0 lead by the break. Rory Ritchie scored an intercept try, Harry Stevenson and Oisin McBride combined to put Jamie Wood in for a try in the corner and Matthew Hunter scored a third Omagh try from the restart. Rory Ritchie added one conversion.
The Portadown College team displayed a great deal of bouncebackability in the course of the second half. Tries from Jordan Robb, Ethan Williamson and Peter Douglas, two of which were converted by Adam Speers, secured the 19-17 win for the Portadown College team.
Royal School, Dungannon hosted Regent House School in a game the RS Dungannon team won by 20-14. Adam McFarland scored two tries for the Royal School, Dungannon team with Lewis Connolly touching down for a third. Jack Girvan was successful with one conversion kick as well as a penalty.
The Regent House School points came through tries from Josh Herron and Matty McFarland both of which were converted by Stuart Martin.
