The first round of the 2011/12 Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup will take place on Saturday 10th December when Antrim Grammar School and Wellington College meet at the Steeple Road venue with at 10-30am kick off. The winners of the game will go through to Round 2 of the competition while the losers with have the opportunity of taking part in the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy competition.
Both teams have experienced a fair degree of success so far this season but when they met in an early season fixture it was the Antrim Grammar School team that emerged as victorious in that fixture. However, while the Antrim Grammar School team might see themselves as favourites due to that win, they will recognise that the Wellington team played without their captain and backrow player, David Marshall, on that occasion. David was on representative duty that 
day with the Ulster Schools’ team. David is the first player from Wellington College to gain representative honours at this level. The Wellington team has a number of experienced Cup campaigners in their ranks. They will look to experienced players such as Michael Hamilton, Ali Lavery, Kyle Walker and Danny Mowbray to back David up in the course of the game and come away with what many would see as a shock result. The experience of the Schools’ Cup will be a new experience for talented players such as Owen Jarvie and Dean Barbour who joined the Wellington College Sixth Form in recent months. These players have developed well and are looking forward to the Schools’ Cup campaign. The team has been well prepared by the coaching staff of Peter Chambers, Matthew McCormack and Matthew Sunnerton and will hope their charges can do themselves justice on the day. With a win/loss ratio of 50% in the course of the current season, the Wellington team should not be underestimated.
Antrim Grammar School will be pleased to have a home fixture as well as the earlier win against their Schools’ Cup opponents. In their captain, Tommy Brownlee, they have a very tough competitor and one who sets high standards for his team mates. He will not let them be fooled into a false sense of security in the course of the game. He will look to his backrow colleagues, Tommy Boyd and Jamie Orr, to win the battle of the breakdown. Sam McComb, an U16 RDS member, will hope for a good day in the lineouts. Their back division relies a lot on the play making skills of Alex McBride and Aden Howe. Wingers, Andrew Simpson and Caleb McCollum, will hope for some quality possession enabling them to show their attacking abilities during the game. Bryan Baguely, Robin McKenna and Ryan McKenna, the Antrim Grammar School coaching team, recognise that the loss of Jonny Pearce and Chris Brown to long term injuries could have an impact on the team performance but will reckon they have enough strength in depth to overcome this handicap and progress to the second round draw of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
C U there!
