It was a busy week of postponed Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup qualifier, games, Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup and Shield games in the lead up to Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Group Stage games, as well as a number of 1XV friendly games played on Saturday 11 October.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Qualifiers
Tuesday 7 October saw the first of the postponed qualifier games take place when Bangor Academy hosted Grosvenor Grammar School.
This proved to be a very closely contested game which went right to the wire before the Bangor Academy team emerged as 13-10 winners.
The Bangor Academy team scored their points through a first-half penalty from Sean Hynes, a second-half penalty from Sean as well as a Frankie Forbes second-half try which was converted by Hynes.
Grosvenor’s points came through an unconverted first-half try from Adam Osborne as well as an unconverted second-half try from Ollie Hobson.
This result means that Bangor Academy will join Banbridge Academy, Dalriada School, Portadown College and Royal School Dungannon in their Schools’ Cup group.
On Wednesday 8 October, the three remaining postponed qualifier games took place.
Belfast High School hosted Lurgan College in an extremely high-scoring game Belfast High won by 58-36.
Belfast High scored ten tries with their captain, Ben Gardner, touching down for five. Harry Palmer ran in for two tries with Evan Morrison, Will McIlveen and Jacob Hildrew each scoring one.
Ben Gardner and Matthew McCabe each kicked two successful conversion kicks.
Lurgan College was not found wanting when it came to scoring tries during this game.
Charlie Boyce touched down for a brace of tries with Ben Maxwell, Max Blair, Daniel Wilson and Seth Martin each scoring one.
Ben Maxwell added the extras to three of the tries.
Belfast High School will now join Regent House School, Bangor Grammar School, Ballyclare High School and Omagh Academy in their Schools’ Cup group.
Cambridge House Grammar School played Carrickfergus Grammar School and recorded a 42-0 victory.
Players such as Shay Gill, Scott Steele, Ryan Moore, Henri Kyle, Oliver Fulton, David Teodorescu, Thomas Frew, Henry Campbell and Thomas Moorehead contributed a great deal to the performance of the Cambridge House team.
Carrickfergus Grammar had a number of standout players on their team with Toby Keating, Alex McAllister, Max Matuszewski Joshua Oluwatala and Oliver Hill to the fore.
Cambridge House will now join Limavady Grammar School, Down High School, Dromore High School and Rainey Endowed School in in their Schools’ Cup group.
Foyle College entertained Antrim Grammar School and won their way through to a 34-8 victory.
Josh Nutt, George Rough, Niall Kelly, Cian O’Leary, Thom O’Neill and Jack Peace scored the Foyle College tries with Niall added two successful conversion kicks.
Antrim Grammar contributed a lot to this game.
Jonah Woolley, Alex Moss, Daniel Blair, Tom McNeilly, the try scorer and Isaac Lynn, who converted a penalty kick opportunity, all impressed with their performances.
The Foyle College team will now join Larne Grammar, Enniskillen Royal Grammar, Coleraine Grammar and Friends’ School Lisburn in in their Schools’ Cup group.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup
It was a busy day on Saturday 11 October with eight Schools’ Cup Group Stage games taking place.
In Group A, Regent House School played Bangor Grammar School and recorded a close 22-19 victory.
The Regent House points came through tries from Toby McSorley, Jed Pountney and Lewis Robinson.
Zach McMinn added two successful conversion kicks as well as one successful penalty kick.
The Bangor Grammar points came through tries from Cal Banyard, Noah Lack and George Patterson.
Bruce McClure added two successful conversion kicks.
Ballyclare High School played Omagh Academy and recorded a 48-22 victory.
Josh McColgan ran in for two tries, Jude Semple touched down for a hattrick of tries with Josh Tweed, Daniel Jenkins and Ross Ferguson each scoring one try apiece.
James Woodside added the extras to three of the Ballyclare tries with Jack Smith adding a fourth successful conversion.
Omagh Academy scored four tries during the game with Lewis McIvor touching down twice and Jacob Crosbie and Joshua Orr each scoring one try.
Sam Harper was successful with one conversion kick.
In Group B, Limavady Grammar School played Down High School in a game Down High won by 27-5.
Limavady Grammar’s points came through an unconverted try from James Mackey.
The Down High points came through a penalty try, two tries from Alex Watson and one try each from Lewis Connolly and Dylan McMullan.
Rainey Endowed School played Cambridge House GS and won the game by 32-7.
Rainey scored five tries with Jacob Ennis McManus running in for two and Lorcan McLarnon, Adrian Martin and Joe O’Kane touching down for one try apiece.
Adrian Martin was successful also with two conversion kicks as well as one penalty kick.
The Cambridge House points came through a try from Henri Kyle which was converted by Thomas Moorehead.
In Group C, Dalriada School played Royal School Dungannon in a game RS Dungannon won by 24-17.
Dalriada scored three tries with Archie Graham running in for a brace and Adam Torrens touching down for one.
Chris Finney was successful with one conversion kick.
RS Dungannon scored four tries with Adam Nixon touching down twice and Blake Redmond and James Gibson each scoring one try.
James added the extras to two of the Royal School Dungannon tries.
Banbridge Academy hosted Portadown College and won the game by 27-10.
The Banbridge points came through a penalty from Daniel Byrne as well a try and conversion from Byrne, an unconverted tries from Sam Leslie and Conor Comiskey, and a try from Dawson Knox which was converted by Byrne.
Portadown College scored two unconverted tries through Jacob Best and Callum Doak.
In Group D, Larne Grammar School played Enniskillen Royal Grammar School in a game Enniskillen won by 26-12.
On the back of good work from Elliott Bagshaw, Corbin Marsden touched down twice for Larne Grammar.
Will Millar was successful with one conversion kick.
Enniskillen Royal scored four tries through Ben Wallace, Alfie Lucy, Sam Paton and Adam Little.
Sam Paton added the extras to three of the Enniskillen tries.
Coleraine Grammar School entertained Foyle College and recorded a 45-17 victory.
Joshua Hawe touched down for two Coleraine Grammar tries with Oliver McClean, Tetsi Natvoski, Charlie Millar, Lewis Marshall and Joe Coates each scoring one try.
Luke McCauley was successful with five of his conversion kicks.
Foyle College contributed a lot to the game and got rewarded for their endeavours with two tries and one conversion from Niall Kelly alongside on try from Luke Wilson.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup, Sullivan Upper School played Ballymena Academy and recorded a 23-14 victory.
This result means that Campbell College will now play Sullivan in the final of the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Cup on Wednesday 22 October, venue TBC.
In the same competition, Ballyclare High School played Belfast Royal Academy in a game Ballyclare High won by 52-12.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Shield
In the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ U16 Shield, Dalriada School played Royal School Armagh in a game the Royal School Armagh team won by 35-5.
This win ensures Royal School Armagh has completed their three games in the U16 Shield as being undefeated winners.
1XV Friendlies
On Monday 6th October, Royal Belfast Academical Institution played Ballymena Academy in a postponed game.
RBAI won this game by 47-7 scoring seven tries in the process.
Adam Boyd touched down for a hattrick of tries, Andrew Purcell scored two with Seb Clarke and Cian McClean running in for one try apiece.
Charlie O’Connor was successful with six of his conversion kicks.
Ballymena Academy’s points came through a try from Jacob Casson which was converted by James McMillan.
One 1XV friendly games took place when Campbell College played Belvedere College Dublin.
The Campbell College team won the game by 36-17.
Russ Lovo, with two, Davy Nelson and Harry Burrows scored the Campbell tries.
One penalty try, alongside three Jack Best conversions as well as one penalty goal, completed the Campbell scoring.
Belvedere College ran in three tries through Alex Clarke, Adam Keeling and Bruce Ryan one of which was converted by Johnny Garrihy.
On Friday 10 October the Queen’s pitch at the Dub Arena was the venue when Wallace High School played Belfast Royal Academy.
A large crowd of enthusiastic spectators had gathered to watch the game which Belfast Royal Academy won by 24-14.
James Gould scored two tries for Wallace with James Curran successfully adding both conversion kicks.
Zach Archer, with two, and Blake McCloskey scored for BRA.
Connor McVicker had a fine evening off the tee with three successful conversion kicks as well as one successful penalty kick.
Both teams, their coaches and supporters, would like to thank Queen’s RFC for the use of facilities and hosting the game.
Antrim Grammar School, Grosvenor Grammar School and Lurgan College have all organised to play a series of block fixture games, both home and away, on the same weekends as the Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Group Stage games are taking place.
The first of these friendly games took place on Saturday 11 October when Antrim Grammar School played Grosvenor Grammar School.
This closely contested game saw Grosvenor emerge as 18-17 winners at the no side whistle.
Antrim Grammar scored two tries through Daniel Blair and Ethan Carr, both of which were converted by Isaac Lynn who was also successful with one penalty kick.
The Grosvenor points came through tries from Ollie Hobson and Patrick Purdy with Peter Ward adding one successful conversion kick as well as two successful penalty kicks.
Three more friendly games took place at 1XV level when Friends’ School Lisburn hosted Royal School Armagh in a game which RS Armagh won by 50-15.
Friends’ scored three unconverted tries through Joel Irwin, Taylor Monteith and Oliver Louge.
The RS Armagh points came through tries from James Hamilton, Patrick Seweryn, Harry Dougan, Nathan Hamilton, Tom Kennedy, with two and Joshua Crawford, with two.
Ben Best added two successful conversion kicks and Tom Kennedy added three successful conversion kicks.
Sullivan Upper School played Royal Belfast Academical Institution in a game RBAI won by 52-5.
The consolation unconverted Sullivan Upper School try was scored by Jacob McKeown.
RBAI scored eight tries with a hattrick from Benjamin McCarten, a brace from Matthew Elliott and one try each from Ross Dillon, Connor Davis and Reuben McIwrath.
Charlie O’Connor added six successful conversion kicks.
Young Memorial Cup
Methodist College played Ballymena Academy in their annual Young Memorial Cup game which Methodist College won by 41-7.
MCB scored their points through tries from Alex Turkington, with two and one try each from Rory Kennedy, Oliver Gartley, Harry Docherty, Peter Lindsay and Noah Davey.
Louis Curran was successful with three of his conversion kicks.
Ballymena Academy contributed a lot to the pace of the game and got some reward for their work when George Gamble ran in for a try which was converted by James McMillan.
Photography provided by Front Row Union Sports