This weekend there is another full programme of games in the Ulster Bank All Ireland League and Kukri Ulster Championship. Here is our preview of the games...
ULSTER BANK ALL IRELAND LEAGUE: ROUND 12
DIV 1A
Clontarf (4) v Young Munster (6)
Garryowen (5) v Dublin Uni (8)
St Mary’s College (9) v Cork Constitution (2)
Terenure College (3) v Lansdowne (1)
UCD (7) v Buccaneers (10)
DIV 1B
Naas (6) v Old Belvedere (4)
Ballymena (8) v Shannon (1)
Ballynahinch (2) v UCC (5)
Banbridge (3) v Old Wesley (7)
UL Bohemians (9) v Dolphin (10)
Ballymena v Shannon
It has been a frustrating season for Ballymena Head coach Andy Graham. Inconsistency in selection throughout the season with several changes every week has impacted on his side playing as a team. The nature of the season to date has been a stop start affair. Players have been hesitant in making right decisions on the pitch with opportunities missed to win games through passes not being given or the ball going to hand. As he put it this has been the story of their season. In their last UBL game against Ballynahinch their failure to make a scoring pass denied the team the opportunity to take the lead at a crucial stage of the game to build momentum. Not only that but the coaches had to deal with several players suffering from the flu virus who were unable to complete the match. The coach does not hide away his feelings. It is hard to build a team spirit with so many changes each week. The coach is aware his team have let games slip from their grasp this season they should have won. That is why the team are where they are in Div 1B.
Ulster releases this week include Andrew Warwick, Callum Patterson, Marcus Rea and Dave Shanahan. Injuries rule out Adam McBurney and Brett Herron. Both Matthew Agnew and Angus Kernohan are involved with the Ireland under 20s squad.
Injuries rule out Rodger McBurney, Andrew Ferguson and Matthew Norris. Mark Foster and James Taggart are a doubt with flu. Jonny Rossborough is unavailable due to work commitments.
Ballymena squad to play Shannon 1. Andrew Warwick, 2. James Taggart, 3. Chris Cundell, 4. David Whann, 5. Connor Smyth, 6. Stephen Mulholland, 7. Marcus Rea, 8. Adrian Hamilton, 9. Dave Shanahan, 10. Glenn Baillie, 11. Michael Stronge, 12. John Laughlin, 13. Callum Patterson, 14. Dean Reynolds, 15. James Beattie, 16. Ryan Matheison, 17. Nacho Clandero Crespo, 18. Mark Foster with remaining replacements from Azur Allison, Ben O’Ryan, Joe Thompson and Dominic Gallagher. James Gallagher has returned to England.
Final decisions on the match day 20 will be made at training on Thursday night with the conditions determining the right combinations to play on Saturday. It is ensuring Ballymena field the strongest team with the right combinations to play against the league leaders Shannon at Eaton Park. It will be all about negating the strengths of the Shannon team who are renowned for their forward strength in the set pieces.
Ballynahinch v UCC
Director of Rugby Ronnie Duncan is looking forward to the clash with the Cork students at Ballymacarn Park in a crucial top five clash for both teams. Nothing less than 100% commitment from the Ballynahinch team will be required to win this match.
Ulster releases include Aaron Cairns, David Busby, Zac McCall and Rory Butler. Injuries rule out James ‘Mo’ Simpson and Jack Regan with Aaron Hall involved with Ireland under 20 squad. Peter Nelson, Jonny McPhillips and Pete Browne have not been released by Ulster.
Ballynahinch team: 1. Jerry Cronin, 2. Zac McCall, 3. Stuart Orr, 4. James Simpson, 5. John Donnan, 6. Josh Donaldson, 7. Keith Dickson, 8. Conall Boomer, 9. Aaron Cairns, 10. Ryan Wilson, 11. Richard Reaney, 12. Rory Butler, 13. Stuart Morrow, 14. David Busby, 15. Conor Kelly, 16. Campbell Classon, 17. Clayton Milligan, 18. Matty Connolly, 19. Chris Gibson, 20. Paddy Wright.
Banbridge v Old Wesley
Banbridge Head coach Daniel Soper is delighted to see prop Tom O’Toole’s progress with inclusion in the Ireland under 20 squad for the Six Nations. It was just a shame that James Hume and Michael Lowry were unable to recover from injury to be considered.
The last few weeks have been quite disruptive with the weather impacting on training and matches. The team can use that as an excuse and be beat before they start to focus on training well and being prepared for Old Wesley who beat Banbridge before Christmas.
The team remains largely unchanged from the Old Belvedere match at the start of January. Club Captain Adam Ervine wins a place on the bench for the first time this season following a long lay off with injury. Mike Bentley also returns to the bench for the first time this season since announcing his retirement at the end of last season. As Dan put it Mike realised retirement wasn’t such fun as playing rugby.
Ulster releases include Caleb Montgomery and Eric O’Sullivan. Injuries rule out James Hume and Michael Lowry with Tom O’Toole involved with Ireland under 20 squad.
DIV 2A
Blackrock College (9) v Galway Corinthians (8)
Cashel RFC (5) v Highfield (2)
Galwegians (10) v Nenagh Ormond (3)
Malone (1) v Greystones (7)
Queens Uni (6) v City of Armagh (4)
Malone v Greystones
The disappointing news circulating at Gibson Park was the injury picked up by scrum half Shane Kelly last week. Unfortunately Shane slipped and fractured his patella that will rule him out for the remainder of the season. Shane had worked very hard in the off season to prepare himself for this season. His efforts had paid off with consistently high performances for the 1st xv as they challenge for promotion. We wish him well in his recovery.
Head coach Paddy Armstrong will have to shuffle his team to play a very dangerous Greystones side who recorded back to back wins over Queens Uni before Xmas and followed this up with a win over Blackrock on the 6th January 2018 to extend their unbeaten run. He is aware they present a big challenge for his Malone side.
Selection still to be finalised with availability and injury status of a number of players to be clarified. Ulster releases include Jack Owens, Joe Dunleavy and Peter Cooper. Matthew Dalton with Ireland under 20 squad.
Queens University v City of Armagh
The students warmed up for this match with a 19 – 8 win over Rainey OB at the Dub last Thursday night in the only Ulster Premiership fixture to be played at the weekend. Queens scored three tries. Jonny Milliken and Mark Keane 1 x try each along with a penalty try and two conversations from Richie McMaster.
Queens had several players training with the Irish Universities squad over the Christmas period including Jack Milligan, David Whitten, Andrew Clingan, Anton Lupari and Rory Bell. The Irish Universities side have a game against their English Universities team on the 10th March 2018. Rory Bell picked up a cracked rib that has ruled him out of the game against City of Armagh in the UBL this weekend.
Queens have also had three players: Angus Curtis, Mark Keane and Jonny Stewart included in the Irish under 20 squad for the forthcoming under 20 Six Nations matches. Ulster releases include Alexander Clarke and Angus Curtis.
Queens squad for Saturday: 1. Anton Lupari, 2. Alexander Clarke, 3. Andrew Clingan, 4. David Whitten, 5. Marc Campbell, 6. Nigel Simpson (Captain), 7. Jonny Lees, 8. Curtis Stewart, 9. John Creighton, 10. Richie McMaster, 11. Mark Keane, 12. Conor McKee,13. Conor Shiels, 14. Jonny Milliken, 15. Jack Milligan, 16. Nicky Woods, 17. David Swann, 18. Ali Burke/Gary Dillon, 19. Angus Curtis, 20. Gerard Treanor.
The challenge for Queens is to add strength in depth to their playing squad. There are good numbers at training but it is identifying players who can play in the All Ireland League. Like most clubs Queens are searching for a couple of big forwards to add that physicality to their pack.
City of Armagh Assistant coach Chris Parker was disappointed his Armagh side did not get to play Banbridge in the Ulster Premeirship on Sat to continue the momentum from the Cork Constitution match. The game this weekend is important for both teams as they push for playoff places. There are no changes from the squad selected to play last week. Centre Chris Cousins remains on the side lines with an ankle injury. Second row Peter Starrett came through 80 minutes playing for the second xv at Ballynahinch as he returns to match fitness. Andrew Willis has returned to full training but won’t be selected until next weekend.
DIV 2B
City of Derry (10) v MU Barnhall (3)
Old Crescent (1) v Belfast Harlequins (9)
Skerries (7) v Rainey OB (2)
Sunday’s Well (8) v Navan RFC (4)
Wanderers (5) v Dungannon (6)
City of Derry v MU Barnhall
The coaches sat down with the City of Derry players this week at training. The players were told they need to play without fear/dread and embrace the challenges that they are up against. It is important to create some sort of identity between now and the rest of the season that the squad/players can take forward into the following seasons.
The mood is upbeat in the squad despite a difficult season for all at the club with the players committed to giving their all for the remaining fixtures.
Some good news re selection will see Simon Logue, Stephen Corr, Sam Duffy, Barry Lafferty and Killan Thorton all return from injury this week.
Belfast Harlequins v Old Crescent
Rainey OB v Skerries
Head coach John Andrews is delighted that despite all the disruptions and cancellations his team have been able to close the gap on leaders Old Crescent to 3 points. Skerries will be a tough away fixture his team are not taking lightly with 7 games left to play. South African hooker Brad Roberts is out for the season after rupturing his ACL. All at Rainey wish him a speedy recovery. His injury will be an opportunity for another player to come in and take his place as the team continue to push and catch Old Crescent.
Josh McIIroy is back in full training and will come back in for the game at Skerries. Scrum half Jason Bloomfield has resumed training and is expected to come into contention for selection against Wanderers next week.
Ulster releases include Tommy O’Hagan and John McCusker.
Dungannon v Wanderers
DIV 2C
Bective Rangers (9) v Bangor (5)
Bruff (4) v Malahide (3)
Omagh (6) v Thomond (2)
Sligo (1) v Seapoint (8)
Tullamore (7) v Midleton (10)
Bangor v Bective Rangers
This is one game the Bangor team are looking forward to is the return fixture with Bective Rangers at Donnybrook after their defeat at home to the Dublin side before Christmas. 1st xv Manager Ricky Armstrong has been pleased with the response of the players in training this week. It has been three weeks since the team last played ensuring any niggling injuries have been rested. The squad has had a no train, no play policy since the Sligo game before Christmas and this has helped coaches Jason Morgan and Lewis Stevenson to run some quality sessions overt the Xmas/January period. It was something the coaches and management identified at the start of the year to ensure there was no repeat of what happened last year as the team lost its momentum after Xmas last year. A great win over Omagh on the 6th January showed this approach had worked. With the bad weather over the last two weeks coach Jason Morgan has varied training by using the indoor facilities at Bangor Grammar School.
Several players remain on the injured list including Ryan Latimer with a long term shoulder injury that will need surgery. Scrum half Ali Lockhart with a persistent groin injury. Captain Philip Whyte who has started rehab on his knee such is his work ethic to be back playing for next season. Back row forward James Henley has a shin injury that rules him out this week along with Rob Gamble who misses out due to a hand injury.
The focus for Bangor rugby club has been to recruit local players to play for the club. Danny Curran has been rewarded for his efforts as 20 of the squad who will represent Bangor this weekend are all from the Bangor, Ards or Donaghadee area. 9 are from Bangor Grammar, 2 Regent House, 2 Bangor Academy, 5 Campbell College.
Bangor team to play Bective: 1. Evan Wellard – McMillen, 2. Andrew Shaw, 3. James Leary, 4. Dave Caughey, 5. Lewis Stevenson, 6. Jamie Clegg, 7. David Bradford (captain), 8. Jack Cooke, 9. Lewis Bret, 10. Ross McCloskey, 11. Desi Fusco, 12. Mikey Weir, 13. Mark Widdowson, 14. David Charles, 15. Phil Broderick. 16. Orran McIImurray, 17. Max Montgomery, 18. James Stewart, 19. Gareth Wright, 20. Nathan Graham.
Omagh v Thomond
Head coach Phil Marshall picks from a strong squad with only winger Neil Brown and second row Jamie Sproule unavailable due to injury. Full back Alastair Beckett is expected to return to the match day squad. There was the surprising result of 10th place Tullamore defeating league pace setters Sligo 32 – 17 in a rearranged game to move up to 7th place five points behind 6th place Omagh and 5th place Bangor. As the coach put it you cannot take your eye of the ball in this league.
ULSTER RUGBY PREMIERSHIP 2nd XV League
Armagh seconds (4) v Malone seconds (3)
Omagh seconds (5) v Ballynahinch seconds (1)
KUKRI ULSTER RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
DIV 1
Ballyclare (2) v Coleraine (9)
CIYMS (3) v Carrickfergus (5)
Clogher Valley (10) v Instonians (1)
Dromore (4) v Enniskillen (8)
Portadown (7) v Cooke (6)
Ballyclare v Coleraine
Head coach Mike McKeever was once again pleased with the character, belief and resilience shown by his team to come back from 12 – 0 down at halftime away to Cooke to win 17 – 12. Second row Rab Boyd and number 8 Dave Clarke were outstanding throughout the game. The squad have that togetherness and are really enjoying their rugby. The coach is excited to have Niall Lawther back into the 1st xv this weekend. He is a real talent and poses a threat in attack. The squad is expected to be similar for the meeting with Coleraine this week.
When these two sides met at Rugby Avenue on the 23rd September 2017 Ballyclare won a tight game 21 – 16. Ballyclare have only lost once in the league this season to league leaders Instonians 17 – 13 at Shaws bridge on the 4thNovemebr 2017. They trail Instonians by one point with six league games remaining. Both teams are set to meet at the Cloughan, Ballyclare on the 17thFebruary 2018.
Coleraine have only played one league game since 30th December when Instonians defeated them 19 – 3 on the 13th January. Three league defeats have the North coast team urgently needing to pick up league points to move away from 9th place in Div 1.
CIYMS v Carrickfergus
It was a terrific game played between CIYMS and Portadown at Belmont last Saturday. CI led 32 – 14 with 10 minutes to play only to allow Portadown to score two late converted tries to set up an anxious final few minutes for the home side. Portadown are a much improved team with Stuart Lamb and Diarmuid O’Kane returning to their pack.
CIYMS team: 1. Aaron Kilpatrick, 2. Simon Baillie, 3. Timothy Atcheson, 4. Cory Tipping, 5. Davy Cobain, 6. Scott Dowle, 7. Jason Gilliland, 8. Mark McConkey, 9. Cameron Stewart, 10. Paddy Beverland, 11. Matty Butler, 12. Matthew Kilgore, 13. Callum Irvine (Captain), 14. Craig Devlin, 15. Nathan Burns, 16. Peter Raine, 17. Ali Coulston.
Points scorers: Jason Gilliland, Matty Butler, Cory Tipping, Timothy Atcheson and Simon Baillie 1 x try each. Matthew Kilgore 2 x cons 1 x pen.
CIYMS have now won 4/5 league games with their only loss coming away to Ballyclare 13 – 5 as they look to consolidate a top four finish.
Head coach Gareth Fry like a lot of people find it hard to believe Portadown are sitting towards the bottom of the table. They were a very well organised and difficult side to break down from 1 – 15. The coach was very pleased with the way CI played for the first 70 minutes to lead 32 – 14. CI had a good chance to go wide only for the evergreen Diarmuid O’Kane to pick off a pass and score under the posts. Another try followed to narrow the CI lead to 32 -28 with the last two minutes being very anxious.
CI picked up a few injuries in the backs which will require fitness tests that will stretch the squad depth considerably. His team are looking forward to the Carrick game they narrowly lost earlier in the season. Again they are expecting another tough physical encounter.
Carrick have now lost their last five league games and slipped down into 5th place. Seven points now separate them and 9th place Coleraine who have two games in hand. Much work required by coaches Davy Scott and Mickey Rainey to reverse their present league position that had them originally challenging for a top four finish.
When Carrickfergus and CIYMS met at the Tom Simms Memorial Grounds on the 7th October 2017 Carrick won a closely contested game 26 – 22.
Clogher Valley v Instonians
Injuries are starting to impact on the team selection at Clogher Valley. Toby McAlpine is added to the list after fracturing his wrist at Cooke in their last game. Both key backs Dillon Crawford and Clive Donaldson are unavailable this week. The coaches are expected to make one change to the pack from the Cooke loss with a hamstring injury ruling out B J Wilson in the back row. Selection will be left as late as possible.
The Fivemiletown side have lost 3/4 league games as they slip 8 points adrift of Coleraine in 9th place who have a game in hand. The coaches will be looking to the form that saw them win home games against Dromore and Carrickfergus.
For Instonians Director of Rugby William Leacock his playing squad have six league matches left to go and all to play for. The squad has been working hard and performing well. Another good win on Saturday against a physical Enniskillen team. The coach felt his half backs of Matthew Keane and Fraser Wright controlled the game ably assisted by the physical Instonians pack.
For the coaches and players it is all about concentrating on the next game. Clogher Valley are a hard team to beat especially at home so we go down knowing to expect a physical battle. When these two teams met at Shaws bridge on the 16thSeptember 2017 Instonians ran out 34 – 6 winners.
Rory McCurry, Mark Mairs and Davy Scott are all added to the current injury list with Harry Clelland returning to training after sickness.
Five bonus point wins have this Instonians team peaking with six matches left to play with the top of the table clash between Instonians and Ballyclare taking place at the Cloughan on the 17th February.
Dromore v Enniskillen
Director of Rugby Jeremy Ogle was delighted with his Dromore team winning 19 – 10 away to Carrickfergus. It was a big win and much needed after the previous two weeks suffering last minute defeats. Head coach Jonny Cullen stepped in to play after Brian Russell pulled out on Saturday morning with flu.
The big Carrick pack caused the Dromore team problems early on with the Dromore attack scoring three well worked tries. Three further clean line breaks could have led to further scores but excellent scramble defence from Carrick kept Dromore out.
The Dromore scrum was very good on the day with the teams defensive systems working well. The players work rate continues to improve will the attack threatening all day.
Dromore team: 1. Clark McCleod, 2. Stuart Sloan, 3. Mark Hylands, 4. Rory Pepper, 5. Ross Bingham, 6. Jonny Maguire, 7. Adam McGregor, 8. Blair McDonald, 9. Lee Steenson, 10. Ryan Cobb, 11. Johnny Cullen, 12. Graham McCandless, 13. Aaron Stewart, 14. Brian McClearn, 15. Adam McDonald, 16. Andrew Black, 17. Mattie Mcmaster.
Points scorers: Johnny Cullen, Brian McClearn and Adam McDonald 1 x try each. Lee Steenson 2 x conversions.
The team for Saturday against Enniskillen will probably remain unchanged with the possibility that Brian Russell returns on the wing if he recovers from flu.
Enniskillen Head coach William Gibson was full of praise for the Instonians team that defeated his Enniskillen team 50 – 7 at Shaws bridge last Saturday. To be fair Instonians never put a foot wrong the whole day. They are a good technical side that have really put the effort in on the training pitch and stuck to their systems of play so well.
Enniskillen did have a fair few players missing from the win over Carrickfergus the previous week which had a big effect on a number of key areas. On a brighter note Matthew Balmer returned to the team and played very well under a lot of pressure.
As for the game at Barban Hill his team have to respect Dromore who defeated Enniskillen at Mullaghmeen earlier in the season. They have a solid side with the coach looking to his team to make sure the ball is presented cleaner this week and their set piece is much steadier.
Enniskillen welcome back Gareth McCoy, Ashley Finley, Tyler Miller, Gavin Parke and Stephen Fox to the team for the match with Dromore.
When these two teams met at Mullagmeen on the 7th October 2017 Dromore won 24 – 12 scoring four tries to pick up a bonus point.
Portadown v Cooke
Head coach Richard Hedley missed his teams 32 – 28 defeat at CIYMS on Saturday. His team played some good rugby in a game that entertained the spectators. Unfortunately Ryan Muldrew picked up a bad injury that will rule him out for a while. He had been playing well and will be replaced by Matthew Wilson who is a great option to have. The injury means the squad just getting a bit thin at prop. Mark Henderson comes back into the squad for the Cooke game. There are a few injury doubts in the backs with selection being finalised on Thursday night.
Cooke Head coach Colin Atkinson was hugely frustrated by the result against Ballyclare last Saturday. He felt his team had chances to win the game, but crucially failed to convert them. His team picked up a couple of injuries in the second half that aided Ballyclare in getting back into the game. But credit to Ballyclare as they have got into the habit of coming from behind to win in their last few games.
Jonathan Walsh picked up a nasty ankle injury in the match that will rule him out for 5/6 weeks. A couple of other players will face late fitness tests on Thursday to assess their availability for what will be a very tough trip to Portadown.
DIV 2
Ards (5) v Grosvenor (1)
Ballymoney (3) v PSNI (9)
Limavady (7) v Larne (6)
Lisburn (8) v Academy (4)
Randalstown (2) v UUC (10)
Ards v Grosvenor
Coaches John West and Scott Young along with S & C coach Paddy McGratton are starting to see the benefits of the hard work put in by the Ards players at training. They made it five wins in a row scoring 11 tries in their 71 – 0 league defeat of the PSNI at Newforge on Saturday. Amongst the try scorers were Trevor Devlin and Paul Cox who scored 3 x tries each. Gareth McBurney, Ross Torney, Matty Neill, Graeme Taylor, Captain Andrew Foster 1 x try each. Paul Cox 8 x conversions added to his 3 tries to give him a personal tally of 31 points for the match.
Grosvenor Head coach Robert Ford and his team are looking forward to the challenge away to Ards on Saturday. His team are pretty much at full strength and are aware they were lucky to beat Ards earlier in the season at Gibson Park. His players trained well last week and showed glimpses of what they can do in scoring seven tires in their 40 – 3 win at home to second place Randalstown last Saturday.
When these two teams met at Gibson Park on the 2nd December 2017 Grosvenor required a late score to win 19 – 18.
Ballymoney v PSNI
It was a case of Ballymoney being struck down with injuries, flu bug or players unavailable which meant the coaches had to make 7 changes to the team for the game at Limavady they lost 32 – 15. It took the Ballymoney team time to gel and unfortunately Limavady were quick out of the blocks and played some excellent rugby scoring three tries in the first 15 minutes. Ballymoney started playing in the second half and should have closed the gap with the game slipping away from them.
As Jonny Hanna put it Ballymoney have to continue developing a strong squad to be competitive in the league. The team had a couple of young guys who played their first game for the 1st xv on Saturday. They will only get better for the experience.
The coaches are hoping to have some of the squad back for selection this week and will look to bounce back from two league defeats with a good performance in front of their home support.
When these two teams met at Newforge on the 2nd December 2017 Ballymoney won 29 – 3.
Limavady v Larne
Limavady Head coach Mark Nicholl delighted with his teams five tries they scored in their 32 – 15 win over 3rd place Ballymoney last Saturday.
Larne Head coach Graham Cloke was disappointed his Larne team did not win their league game away to Randalstown on the 30th December 2017 when they lost narrowly 13 – 12. This defeat summed up where the team are this season. If this Larne team clicks and all the players are available each week the team could be pushing for the top 3 in Div 2. Unfortunately the squad does not have the depth to challenge at the top of the table and has become a mid table team.
Injuries have crippled the small playing squad along with players taking holidays or breaks which does not help.
There area number of changes for the Limavady match. In the front row Chris Rea is unavailable with McWhirter ruled out with an ankle injury. Young Jack Hill comes in to the front row. Other changes see Jacob Swann taking a place on the wing. The inclusion of Hill, Swann and McFaul are three of the players Graham Cloke coached at Larne Grammar last season as they step up to play in the adult game.
The coach is aware that Limavady have come good recently. Its like our home place a difficult place to go and win.
When these two teams met at the Glynn on the 18th November 2017 Larne won a close game 8 – 3.
Lisburn v Academy
Both teams had their games postponed last Saturday against UUC and Larne. Lisburn need league points to avoid bottom two places. Academy in good position with game in hand to finish in second place and make the playoffs.
Both these teams met at Roughfort on the 2nd Decmber 2017 Academy won a close game 18 – 12.
Randalstown v UUC
Head coach Gary Longwell was full of praise for the Grosvenor team who defeated his side 40 – 3 at Gibson Park on Saturday. They fully deserved the win and simply outplayed his Randalstown team. With his squad carrying a few slight injuries from the weekend selection will not be finalised until Thursday night.
Both these teams met on the 18th November 2017 with Randalstown winning 36 – 0.
DIV 3
BHSFP (7) v Strabane (3)
Donaghadee (2) v Virginia (5)
Donegal Town (12) v Holywood (10)
Letterkenny (9) v Newry (8)
Lurgan (1) v Cavan (6)
Monaghan (4) v Civil Service (11)
Preview compiled by George Millar.
ULSTER BANK ALL IRELAND LEAGUE: ROUND 12
DIV 1A
Clontarf (4) v Young Munster (6)
Garryowen (5) v Dublin Uni (8)
St Mary’s College (9) v Cork Constitution (2)
Terenure College (3) v Lansdowne (1)
UCD (7) v Buccaneers (10)
DIV 1B
Naas (6) v Old Belvedere (4)
Ballymena (8) v Shannon (1)
Ballynahinch (2) v UCC (5)
Banbridge (3) v Old Wesley (7)
UL Bohemians (9) v Dolphin (10)
Ballymena v Shannon
It has been a frustrating season for Ballymena Head coach Andy Graham. Inconsistency in selection throughout the season with several changes every week has impacted on his side playing as a team. The nature of the season to date has been a stop start affair. Players have been hesitant in making right decisions on the pitch with opportunities missed to win games through passes not being given or the ball going to hand. As he put it this has been the story of their season. In their last UBL game against Ballynahinch their failure to make a scoring pass denied the team the opportunity to take the lead at a crucial stage of the game to build momentum. Not only that but the coaches had to deal with several players suffering from the flu virus who were unable to complete the match. The coach does not hide away his feelings. It is hard to build a team spirit with so many changes each week. The coach is aware his team have let games slip from their grasp this season they should have won. That is why the team are where they are in Div 1B.
Ulster releases this week include Andrew Warwick, Callum Patterson, Marcus Rea and Dave Shanahan. Injuries rule out Adam McBurney and Brett Herron. Both Matthew Agnew and Angus Kernohan are involved with the Ireland under 20s squad.
Injuries rule out Rodger McBurney, Andrew Ferguson and Matthew Norris. Mark Foster and James Taggart are a doubt with flu. Jonny Rossborough is unavailable due to work commitments.
Ballymena squad to play Shannon 1. Andrew Warwick, 2. James Taggart, 3. Chris Cundell, 4. David Whann, 5. Connor Smyth, 6. Stephen Mulholland, 7. Marcus Rea, 8. Adrian Hamilton, 9. Dave Shanahan, 10. Glenn Baillie, 11. Michael Stronge, 12. John Laughlin, 13. Callum Patterson, 14. Dean Reynolds, 15. James Beattie, 16. Ryan Matheison, 17. Nacho Clandero Crespo, 18. Mark Foster with remaining replacements from Azur Allison, Ben O’Ryan, Joe Thompson and Dominic Gallagher. James Gallagher has returned to England.
Final decisions on the match day 20 will be made at training on Thursday night with the conditions determining the right combinations to play on Saturday. It is ensuring Ballymena field the strongest team with the right combinations to play against the league leaders Shannon at Eaton Park. It will be all about negating the strengths of the Shannon team who are renowned for their forward strength in the set pieces.
Ballynahinch v UCC
Director of Rugby Ronnie Duncan is looking forward to the clash with the Cork students at Ballymacarn Park in a crucial top five clash for both teams. Nothing less than 100% commitment from the Ballynahinch team will be required to win this match.
Ulster releases include Aaron Cairns, David Busby, Zac McCall and Rory Butler. Injuries rule out James ‘Mo’ Simpson and Jack Regan with Aaron Hall involved with Ireland under 20 squad. Peter Nelson, Jonny McPhillips and Pete Browne have not been released by Ulster.
Ballynahinch team: 1. Jerry Cronin, 2. Zac McCall, 3. Stuart Orr, 4. James Simpson, 5. John Donnan, 6. Josh Donaldson, 7. Keith Dickson, 8. Conall Boomer, 9. Aaron Cairns, 10. Ryan Wilson, 11. Richard Reaney, 12. Rory Butler, 13. Stuart Morrow, 14. David Busby, 15. Conor Kelly, 16. Campbell Classon, 17. Clayton Milligan, 18. Matty Connolly, 19. Chris Gibson, 20. Paddy Wright.
Banbridge v Old Wesley
Banbridge Head coach Daniel Soper is delighted to see prop Tom O’Toole’s progress with inclusion in the Ireland under 20 squad for the Six Nations. It was just a shame that James Hume and Michael Lowry were unable to recover from injury to be considered.
The last few weeks have been quite disruptive with the weather impacting on training and matches. The team can use that as an excuse and be beat before they start to focus on training well and being prepared for Old Wesley who beat Banbridge before Christmas.
The team remains largely unchanged from the Old Belvedere match at the start of January. Club Captain Adam Ervine wins a place on the bench for the first time this season following a long lay off with injury. Mike Bentley also returns to the bench for the first time this season since announcing his retirement at the end of last season. As Dan put it Mike realised retirement wasn’t such fun as playing rugby.
Ulster releases include Caleb Montgomery and Eric O’Sullivan. Injuries rule out James Hume and Michael Lowry with Tom O’Toole involved with Ireland under 20 squad.
DIV 2A
Blackrock College (9) v Galway Corinthians (8)
Cashel RFC (5) v Highfield (2)
Galwegians (10) v Nenagh Ormond (3)
Malone (1) v Greystones (7)
Queens Uni (6) v City of Armagh (4)
Malone v Greystones
The disappointing news circulating at Gibson Park was the injury picked up by scrum half Shane Kelly last week. Unfortunately Shane slipped and fractured his patella that will rule him out for the remainder of the season. Shane had worked very hard in the off season to prepare himself for this season. His efforts had paid off with consistently high performances for the 1st xv as they challenge for promotion. We wish him well in his recovery.
Head coach Paddy Armstrong will have to shuffle his team to play a very dangerous Greystones side who recorded back to back wins over Queens Uni before Xmas and followed this up with a win over Blackrock on the 6th January 2018 to extend their unbeaten run. He is aware they present a big challenge for his Malone side.
Selection still to be finalised with availability and injury status of a number of players to be clarified. Ulster releases include Jack Owens, Joe Dunleavy and Peter Cooper. Matthew Dalton with Ireland under 20 squad.
Queens University v City of Armagh
The students warmed up for this match with a 19 – 8 win over Rainey OB at the Dub last Thursday night in the only Ulster Premiership fixture to be played at the weekend. Queens scored three tries. Jonny Milliken and Mark Keane 1 x try each along with a penalty try and two conversations from Richie McMaster.
Queens had several players training with the Irish Universities squad over the Christmas period including Jack Milligan, David Whitten, Andrew Clingan, Anton Lupari and Rory Bell. The Irish Universities side have a game against their English Universities team on the 10th March 2018. Rory Bell picked up a cracked rib that has ruled him out of the game against City of Armagh in the UBL this weekend.
Queens have also had three players: Angus Curtis, Mark Keane and Jonny Stewart included in the Irish under 20 squad for the forthcoming under 20 Six Nations matches. Ulster releases include Alexander Clarke and Angus Curtis.
Queens squad for Saturday: 1. Anton Lupari, 2. Alexander Clarke, 3. Andrew Clingan, 4. David Whitten, 5. Marc Campbell, 6. Nigel Simpson (Captain), 7. Jonny Lees, 8. Curtis Stewart, 9. John Creighton, 10. Richie McMaster, 11. Mark Keane, 12. Conor McKee,13. Conor Shiels, 14. Jonny Milliken, 15. Jack Milligan, 16. Nicky Woods, 17. David Swann, 18. Ali Burke/Gary Dillon, 19. Angus Curtis, 20. Gerard Treanor.
The challenge for Queens is to add strength in depth to their playing squad. There are good numbers at training but it is identifying players who can play in the All Ireland League. Like most clubs Queens are searching for a couple of big forwards to add that physicality to their pack.
City of Armagh Assistant coach Chris Parker was disappointed his Armagh side did not get to play Banbridge in the Ulster Premeirship on Sat to continue the momentum from the Cork Constitution match. The game this weekend is important for both teams as they push for playoff places. There are no changes from the squad selected to play last week. Centre Chris Cousins remains on the side lines with an ankle injury. Second row Peter Starrett came through 80 minutes playing for the second xv at Ballynahinch as he returns to match fitness. Andrew Willis has returned to full training but won’t be selected until next weekend.
DIV 2B
City of Derry (10) v MU Barnhall (3)
Old Crescent (1) v Belfast Harlequins (9)
Skerries (7) v Rainey OB (2)
Sunday’s Well (8) v Navan RFC (4)
Wanderers (5) v Dungannon (6)
City of Derry v MU Barnhall
The coaches sat down with the City of Derry players this week at training. The players were told they need to play without fear/dread and embrace the challenges that they are up against. It is important to create some sort of identity between now and the rest of the season that the squad/players can take forward into the following seasons.
The mood is upbeat in the squad despite a difficult season for all at the club with the players committed to giving their all for the remaining fixtures.
Some good news re selection will see Simon Logue, Stephen Corr, Sam Duffy, Barry Lafferty and Killan Thorton all return from injury this week.
Belfast Harlequins v Old Crescent
Rainey OB v Skerries
Head coach John Andrews is delighted that despite all the disruptions and cancellations his team have been able to close the gap on leaders Old Crescent to 3 points. Skerries will be a tough away fixture his team are not taking lightly with 7 games left to play. South African hooker Brad Roberts is out for the season after rupturing his ACL. All at Rainey wish him a speedy recovery. His injury will be an opportunity for another player to come in and take his place as the team continue to push and catch Old Crescent.
Josh McIIroy is back in full training and will come back in for the game at Skerries. Scrum half Jason Bloomfield has resumed training and is expected to come into contention for selection against Wanderers next week.
Ulster releases include Tommy O’Hagan and John McCusker.
Dungannon v Wanderers
DIV 2C
Bective Rangers (9) v Bangor (5)
Bruff (4) v Malahide (3)
Omagh (6) v Thomond (2)
Sligo (1) v Seapoint (8)
Tullamore (7) v Midleton (10)
Bangor v Bective Rangers
This is one game the Bangor team are looking forward to is the return fixture with Bective Rangers at Donnybrook after their defeat at home to the Dublin side before Christmas. 1st xv Manager Ricky Armstrong has been pleased with the response of the players in training this week. It has been three weeks since the team last played ensuring any niggling injuries have been rested. The squad has had a no train, no play policy since the Sligo game before Christmas and this has helped coaches Jason Morgan and Lewis Stevenson to run some quality sessions overt the Xmas/January period. It was something the coaches and management identified at the start of the year to ensure there was no repeat of what happened last year as the team lost its momentum after Xmas last year. A great win over Omagh on the 6th January showed this approach had worked. With the bad weather over the last two weeks coach Jason Morgan has varied training by using the indoor facilities at Bangor Grammar School.
Several players remain on the injured list including Ryan Latimer with a long term shoulder injury that will need surgery. Scrum half Ali Lockhart with a persistent groin injury. Captain Philip Whyte who has started rehab on his knee such is his work ethic to be back playing for next season. Back row forward James Henley has a shin injury that rules him out this week along with Rob Gamble who misses out due to a hand injury.
The focus for Bangor rugby club has been to recruit local players to play for the club. Danny Curran has been rewarded for his efforts as 20 of the squad who will represent Bangor this weekend are all from the Bangor, Ards or Donaghadee area. 9 are from Bangor Grammar, 2 Regent House, 2 Bangor Academy, 5 Campbell College.
Bangor team to play Bective: 1. Evan Wellard – McMillen, 2. Andrew Shaw, 3. James Leary, 4. Dave Caughey, 5. Lewis Stevenson, 6. Jamie Clegg, 7. David Bradford (captain), 8. Jack Cooke, 9. Lewis Bret, 10. Ross McCloskey, 11. Desi Fusco, 12. Mikey Weir, 13. Mark Widdowson, 14. David Charles, 15. Phil Broderick. 16. Orran McIImurray, 17. Max Montgomery, 18. James Stewart, 19. Gareth Wright, 20. Nathan Graham.
Omagh v Thomond
Head coach Phil Marshall picks from a strong squad with only winger Neil Brown and second row Jamie Sproule unavailable due to injury. Full back Alastair Beckett is expected to return to the match day squad. There was the surprising result of 10th place Tullamore defeating league pace setters Sligo 32 – 17 in a rearranged game to move up to 7th place five points behind 6th place Omagh and 5th place Bangor. As the coach put it you cannot take your eye of the ball in this league.
ULSTER RUGBY PREMIERSHIP 2nd XV League
Armagh seconds (4) v Malone seconds (3)
Omagh seconds (5) v Ballynahinch seconds (1)
KUKRI ULSTER RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
DIV 1
Ballyclare (2) v Coleraine (9)
CIYMS (3) v Carrickfergus (5)
Clogher Valley (10) v Instonians (1)
Dromore (4) v Enniskillen (8)
Portadown (7) v Cooke (6)
Ballyclare v Coleraine
Head coach Mike McKeever was once again pleased with the character, belief and resilience shown by his team to come back from 12 – 0 down at halftime away to Cooke to win 17 – 12. Second row Rab Boyd and number 8 Dave Clarke were outstanding throughout the game. The squad have that togetherness and are really enjoying their rugby. The coach is excited to have Niall Lawther back into the 1st xv this weekend. He is a real talent and poses a threat in attack. The squad is expected to be similar for the meeting with Coleraine this week.
When these two sides met at Rugby Avenue on the 23rd September 2017 Ballyclare won a tight game 21 – 16. Ballyclare have only lost once in the league this season to league leaders Instonians 17 – 13 at Shaws bridge on the 4thNovemebr 2017. They trail Instonians by one point with six league games remaining. Both teams are set to meet at the Cloughan, Ballyclare on the 17thFebruary 2018.
Coleraine have only played one league game since 30th December when Instonians defeated them 19 – 3 on the 13th January. Three league defeats have the North coast team urgently needing to pick up league points to move away from 9th place in Div 1.
CIYMS v Carrickfergus
It was a terrific game played between CIYMS and Portadown at Belmont last Saturday. CI led 32 – 14 with 10 minutes to play only to allow Portadown to score two late converted tries to set up an anxious final few minutes for the home side. Portadown are a much improved team with Stuart Lamb and Diarmuid O’Kane returning to their pack.
CIYMS team: 1. Aaron Kilpatrick, 2. Simon Baillie, 3. Timothy Atcheson, 4. Cory Tipping, 5. Davy Cobain, 6. Scott Dowle, 7. Jason Gilliland, 8. Mark McConkey, 9. Cameron Stewart, 10. Paddy Beverland, 11. Matty Butler, 12. Matthew Kilgore, 13. Callum Irvine (Captain), 14. Craig Devlin, 15. Nathan Burns, 16. Peter Raine, 17. Ali Coulston.
Points scorers: Jason Gilliland, Matty Butler, Cory Tipping, Timothy Atcheson and Simon Baillie 1 x try each. Matthew Kilgore 2 x cons 1 x pen.
CIYMS have now won 4/5 league games with their only loss coming away to Ballyclare 13 – 5 as they look to consolidate a top four finish.
Head coach Gareth Fry like a lot of people find it hard to believe Portadown are sitting towards the bottom of the table. They were a very well organised and difficult side to break down from 1 – 15. The coach was very pleased with the way CI played for the first 70 minutes to lead 32 – 14. CI had a good chance to go wide only for the evergreen Diarmuid O’Kane to pick off a pass and score under the posts. Another try followed to narrow the CI lead to 32 -28 with the last two minutes being very anxious.
CI picked up a few injuries in the backs which will require fitness tests that will stretch the squad depth considerably. His team are looking forward to the Carrick game they narrowly lost earlier in the season. Again they are expecting another tough physical encounter.
Carrick have now lost their last five league games and slipped down into 5th place. Seven points now separate them and 9th place Coleraine who have two games in hand. Much work required by coaches Davy Scott and Mickey Rainey to reverse their present league position that had them originally challenging for a top four finish.
When Carrickfergus and CIYMS met at the Tom Simms Memorial Grounds on the 7th October 2017 Carrick won a closely contested game 26 – 22.
Clogher Valley v Instonians
Injuries are starting to impact on the team selection at Clogher Valley. Toby McAlpine is added to the list after fracturing his wrist at Cooke in their last game. Both key backs Dillon Crawford and Clive Donaldson are unavailable this week. The coaches are expected to make one change to the pack from the Cooke loss with a hamstring injury ruling out B J Wilson in the back row. Selection will be left as late as possible.
The Fivemiletown side have lost 3/4 league games as they slip 8 points adrift of Coleraine in 9th place who have a game in hand. The coaches will be looking to the form that saw them win home games against Dromore and Carrickfergus.
For Instonians Director of Rugby William Leacock his playing squad have six league matches left to go and all to play for. The squad has been working hard and performing well. Another good win on Saturday against a physical Enniskillen team. The coach felt his half backs of Matthew Keane and Fraser Wright controlled the game ably assisted by the physical Instonians pack.
For the coaches and players it is all about concentrating on the next game. Clogher Valley are a hard team to beat especially at home so we go down knowing to expect a physical battle. When these two teams met at Shaws bridge on the 16thSeptember 2017 Instonians ran out 34 – 6 winners.
Rory McCurry, Mark Mairs and Davy Scott are all added to the current injury list with Harry Clelland returning to training after sickness.
Five bonus point wins have this Instonians team peaking with six matches left to play with the top of the table clash between Instonians and Ballyclare taking place at the Cloughan on the 17th February.
Dromore v Enniskillen
Director of Rugby Jeremy Ogle was delighted with his Dromore team winning 19 – 10 away to Carrickfergus. It was a big win and much needed after the previous two weeks suffering last minute defeats. Head coach Jonny Cullen stepped in to play after Brian Russell pulled out on Saturday morning with flu.
The big Carrick pack caused the Dromore team problems early on with the Dromore attack scoring three well worked tries. Three further clean line breaks could have led to further scores but excellent scramble defence from Carrick kept Dromore out.
The Dromore scrum was very good on the day with the teams defensive systems working well. The players work rate continues to improve will the attack threatening all day.
Dromore team: 1. Clark McCleod, 2. Stuart Sloan, 3. Mark Hylands, 4. Rory Pepper, 5. Ross Bingham, 6. Jonny Maguire, 7. Adam McGregor, 8. Blair McDonald, 9. Lee Steenson, 10. Ryan Cobb, 11. Johnny Cullen, 12. Graham McCandless, 13. Aaron Stewart, 14. Brian McClearn, 15. Adam McDonald, 16. Andrew Black, 17. Mattie Mcmaster.
Points scorers: Johnny Cullen, Brian McClearn and Adam McDonald 1 x try each. Lee Steenson 2 x conversions.
The team for Saturday against Enniskillen will probably remain unchanged with the possibility that Brian Russell returns on the wing if he recovers from flu.
Enniskillen Head coach William Gibson was full of praise for the Instonians team that defeated his Enniskillen team 50 – 7 at Shaws bridge last Saturday. To be fair Instonians never put a foot wrong the whole day. They are a good technical side that have really put the effort in on the training pitch and stuck to their systems of play so well.
Enniskillen did have a fair few players missing from the win over Carrickfergus the previous week which had a big effect on a number of key areas. On a brighter note Matthew Balmer returned to the team and played very well under a lot of pressure.
As for the game at Barban Hill his team have to respect Dromore who defeated Enniskillen at Mullaghmeen earlier in the season. They have a solid side with the coach looking to his team to make sure the ball is presented cleaner this week and their set piece is much steadier.
Enniskillen welcome back Gareth McCoy, Ashley Finley, Tyler Miller, Gavin Parke and Stephen Fox to the team for the match with Dromore.
When these two teams met at Mullagmeen on the 7th October 2017 Dromore won 24 – 12 scoring four tries to pick up a bonus point.
Portadown v Cooke
Head coach Richard Hedley missed his teams 32 – 28 defeat at CIYMS on Saturday. His team played some good rugby in a game that entertained the spectators. Unfortunately Ryan Muldrew picked up a bad injury that will rule him out for a while. He had been playing well and will be replaced by Matthew Wilson who is a great option to have. The injury means the squad just getting a bit thin at prop. Mark Henderson comes back into the squad for the Cooke game. There are a few injury doubts in the backs with selection being finalised on Thursday night.
Cooke Head coach Colin Atkinson was hugely frustrated by the result against Ballyclare last Saturday. He felt his team had chances to win the game, but crucially failed to convert them. His team picked up a couple of injuries in the second half that aided Ballyclare in getting back into the game. But credit to Ballyclare as they have got into the habit of coming from behind to win in their last few games.
Jonathan Walsh picked up a nasty ankle injury in the match that will rule him out for 5/6 weeks. A couple of other players will face late fitness tests on Thursday to assess their availability for what will be a very tough trip to Portadown.
DIV 2
Ards (5) v Grosvenor (1)
Ballymoney (3) v PSNI (9)
Limavady (7) v Larne (6)
Lisburn (8) v Academy (4)
Randalstown (2) v UUC (10)
Ards v Grosvenor
Coaches John West and Scott Young along with S & C coach Paddy McGratton are starting to see the benefits of the hard work put in by the Ards players at training. They made it five wins in a row scoring 11 tries in their 71 – 0 league defeat of the PSNI at Newforge on Saturday. Amongst the try scorers were Trevor Devlin and Paul Cox who scored 3 x tries each. Gareth McBurney, Ross Torney, Matty Neill, Graeme Taylor, Captain Andrew Foster 1 x try each. Paul Cox 8 x conversions added to his 3 tries to give him a personal tally of 31 points for the match.
Grosvenor Head coach Robert Ford and his team are looking forward to the challenge away to Ards on Saturday. His team are pretty much at full strength and are aware they were lucky to beat Ards earlier in the season at Gibson Park. His players trained well last week and showed glimpses of what they can do in scoring seven tires in their 40 – 3 win at home to second place Randalstown last Saturday.
When these two teams met at Gibson Park on the 2nd December 2017 Grosvenor required a late score to win 19 – 18.
Ballymoney v PSNI
It was a case of Ballymoney being struck down with injuries, flu bug or players unavailable which meant the coaches had to make 7 changes to the team for the game at Limavady they lost 32 – 15. It took the Ballymoney team time to gel and unfortunately Limavady were quick out of the blocks and played some excellent rugby scoring three tries in the first 15 minutes. Ballymoney started playing in the second half and should have closed the gap with the game slipping away from them.
As Jonny Hanna put it Ballymoney have to continue developing a strong squad to be competitive in the league. The team had a couple of young guys who played their first game for the 1st xv on Saturday. They will only get better for the experience.
The coaches are hoping to have some of the squad back for selection this week and will look to bounce back from two league defeats with a good performance in front of their home support.
When these two teams met at Newforge on the 2nd December 2017 Ballymoney won 29 – 3.
Limavady v Larne
Limavady Head coach Mark Nicholl delighted with his teams five tries they scored in their 32 – 15 win over 3rd place Ballymoney last Saturday.
Larne Head coach Graham Cloke was disappointed his Larne team did not win their league game away to Randalstown on the 30th December 2017 when they lost narrowly 13 – 12. This defeat summed up where the team are this season. If this Larne team clicks and all the players are available each week the team could be pushing for the top 3 in Div 2. Unfortunately the squad does not have the depth to challenge at the top of the table and has become a mid table team.
Injuries have crippled the small playing squad along with players taking holidays or breaks which does not help.
There area number of changes for the Limavady match. In the front row Chris Rea is unavailable with McWhirter ruled out with an ankle injury. Young Jack Hill comes in to the front row. Other changes see Jacob Swann taking a place on the wing. The inclusion of Hill, Swann and McFaul are three of the players Graham Cloke coached at Larne Grammar last season as they step up to play in the adult game.
The coach is aware that Limavady have come good recently. Its like our home place a difficult place to go and win.
When these two teams met at the Glynn on the 18th November 2017 Larne won a close game 8 – 3.
Lisburn v Academy
Both teams had their games postponed last Saturday against UUC and Larne. Lisburn need league points to avoid bottom two places. Academy in good position with game in hand to finish in second place and make the playoffs.
Both these teams met at Roughfort on the 2nd Decmber 2017 Academy won a close game 18 – 12.
Randalstown v UUC
Head coach Gary Longwell was full of praise for the Grosvenor team who defeated his side 40 – 3 at Gibson Park on Saturday. They fully deserved the win and simply outplayed his Randalstown team. With his squad carrying a few slight injuries from the weekend selection will not be finalised until Thursday night.
Both these teams met on the 18th November 2017 with Randalstown winning 36 – 0.
DIV 3
BHSFP (7) v Strabane (3)
Donaghadee (2) v Virginia (5)
Donegal Town (12) v Holywood (10)
Letterkenny (9) v Newry (8)
Lurgan (1) v Cavan (6)
Monaghan (4) v Civil Service (11)
Preview compiled by George Millar.