With the ravages of the recent Storm Darragh wiping out all the final Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Group stage games, along with Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Cup, 3XV Cup and Medallion Shield and Trophy games on Saturday 7 December, it was a case of getting these postponed games played.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup
On Monday 9 December, one game in Group C took place when Coleraine Grammar School hosted Foyle College in their Northwest “derby” game.
Coleraine Grammar School won this game by 26-15 scoring a bonus point winning four tries in the process.
Coleraine’s points came through tries from Noah Beggs, Joel Madden, Luke McMillan and Jack Burnett. Joshua Hawe was successful with three of his conversion kicks.
Foyle brought a lot to the game and got reward for their endeavours with tries from Cian O’ Leary, who ran in for a brace. Darwyn Nutt added one successful conversion as well as one successful penalty kick.
In Group B, Enniskillen Royal Grammar School emerged the winners from their scheduled game with Bangor Academy with a 40-0 five-point victory.
In their final Group D game, Omagh Academy played Banbridge Academy in a game Banbridge Academy won by 28-3, scoring a bonus point winning four tries in the process.
Omagh took an early 3-0 lead through a well struck penalty from Sam Harper.
Banbridge then scored two tries through Ethan Houston and Ryan Hanna. Andrew Jackson added the extras to both tries to see his Banbridge Academy team through to a 14-3 lead at the interval.
Omagh Academy started the second half well with players such as Eoin McCusker, Matthew Brady, Innes Sheridan, Harry McIlwaine and Jack Adams asking questions of the Banbridge Academy defence.
However, the Banbridge Academy defence held firm and the visitors went on to score two further tries during the second half.
Arturs Jonuss and Jonny Howard ran in for the tries and two more Andrew Jackson conversion kicks secured the 28-3 victory for the Banbridge Academy team.
In their final Group E game, Royal School Armagh hosted Limavady Grammar School and recorded a six try bonus point winning 40-5 victory.
Cameron Cummings, with a hattrick, Sam Gray, with a brace, followed by one from Harry Dougan, were the Royal School Armagh try scorers. Evan Hughes added four successful conversion kicks with Adam Harrison adding a fifth.
Limavady Grammar School brought a lot to the game and scored a consolation unconverted try through James Laird.
On Tuesday 10 December, Rainey Endowed School played Grosvenor Grammar School in their final Group B game.
The Rainey Endowed School team recorded a 47-7 bonus point victory with Lorcan McLarnon, Jonathan Johnston, Emmett McNulty, George Stone, Owen O’Kane, Matthew Chambers, Eoin McGuicken, Andrew Lipscomb, Max Allen and Ben Bell among the Rainey Endowed School players who impressed with their performances.
Grosvenor scored a consolation try through Stefan Buick which was converted by Shea Taggart.
Meanwhile, in Ballymoney, Dalriada School hosted Royal School Dungannon in their final Group D game.
Dalriada won this game by 33-5, scoring five tries in the process.
Matthew Fox, with two, Angus Graham and Archie Graham, with two, scored the Dalriada School tries.
Alfie Millar added four successful conversion kicks.
Royal School Dungannon contributed a lot to the pace and flow of the game and got some reward for their efforts when James Gibson ran in for an unconverted try.
On Wednesday 11 December, Down High School hosted played Ballyclare High School in their final Group A game.
Down High School won this high-scoring encounter by 33-27.
Down High’s points came through tries from Lewis Connolly, with two, a penalty try, Josh McCaughey and Jacob Bradshaw. Josh had a good afternoon off the tee with four successful conversion kicks.
Ballyclare scored four tries through Josh McColgan, with a brace, Austin Adair and Ross Ferguson.
James Woodside added two conversions as well as one penalty goal.
Meanwhile, at the Lough Road venue, Lurgan College entertained Regent House School in their final Group A game which Regent House won by 55-15.
Lurgan made Regent House work hard throughout the game and their hard work paid off with tries from Kody Watson and Daniel Wilson alongside one conversion and one penalty from Ben Maxwell.
Regent played with the ball in hand and their tries came from Matthew Callaghan, Harry Jackson, Lewis Robinson, Daniel Moore, Ewan Baker, Jed Pountney, Ethan Spratt and Evan McGonigle, with two.
Josh Colville was successful with two of his conversion kicks.
In Group B, Dromore High School played Bangor Grammar School in a game the Bangor Grammar School team won by 40-28.
Dromore scored four tries through Aaron Wilson, Jonny Beckett, Harry Cromie and Stanley Brinmage. Daniel Ennis-McManus added the extras to all four tries.
Bangor Grammar’s points came through tries from Jonah Heawood, with two, Cal Banyard, Bryn Watson, Rory Fulton and George Patterson.
Adam Bickerstaff added the extras to five of the Bangor Grammar School tries.
In their final Group E game, Larne Grammar School played Cambridge House Grammar School in a game the Larne Grammar School team won by 31-21.
On the back of a great performance from their captain, Jonny Dallas, Larne Grammar School scored their points through tries from Ryan McDowell, with two, Ethan Duncan, Thomas Patton and Jonny Dallas.
Ethan contributed also three successful conversion kicks.
Cambridge House scored three tries through Henri Kyle, Justin Mark and Craig Galliway.
Justin was successful with all three of his conversion kicks.
In Group F, Antrim Grammar School was scheduled to play Belfast Royal Academy in a game that saw the Belfast Royal Academy team emerge with a 40-0, five-point win.
In the same group, Portadown College played Friends’ School Lisburn in a game that saw the Friends’ record a bonus point winning 28-12 victory.
Portadown College had built up a 12-0 lead by the break with their points coming through tries from Harvey Creaney and Sammy Walsh and Danny Guy adding one successful conversion kick.
Friends’ scored four tries in the course of the second half. Just after the restart, Gethin Mageean touched down after a series of picks and go, Scott Henderson then took advantage of an intercept in the Friends’ School “red zone” to outpace the Portadown College defence and touch down under the posts. Andrew Jordan then ran in for a try, with three minutes remaining and, finally, with the clock in red, Max Warwick drove over the whitewash to secure the fourth bonus point winning try for the Friends’ School team.
Ross Glover added the extras to all four tries leaving the final scoreboard reading Portadown College 12 Friends’ School Lisburn 28.
For full table results visit here.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Cup
In the third round of the 2XV Cup, three games took place.
Belfast Royal Academy played Coleraine Grammar School and recorded a 47-6 victory.
Enniskillen Royal Grammar School played Sullivan Upper School and recorded a 21-17 victory.
Rainey Endowed School played Ballymena Academy in a very closely contested game the Ballymena Academy 2XV won by 19-17.
On Friday 13 December, Wallace High School 2XV played Friends’ School Lisburn 2XV.
Wallace won the game by 41-0.
On Saturday, Regent House School 2XV played Bangor Grammar School 2XV in a game Regent won by 27-7.
Meanwhile, in Armagh, Royal School Armagh 2XV entertained Royal Belfast Academical Institution 2XV.
RBAI won this game by 45-12.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Trophy
On Thursday 12 December, Portadown College played Larne Grammar School in the first round of the 2XV Trophy. Portadown College won this game by 24-12.
On Saturday, Antrim Grammar School 2XV played Limavady Grammar School 2XV and won the game by 27-10.
Dromore High School 2XV played Grosvenor Grammar School 2XV and won the game by 14-0.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3XV Cup
On Monday 9 December, Wallace High School 3XV played Ballymena Academy 3XV and recorded a 32-14 win.
In their recently postponed 3XV Cup Round 2 game, Our Lady’s and St Patrick’s College, Knock, played Ballyclare High School 3XV at Civil Service RFC.
At the end of this exciting game the Ballyclare High School 3XV team emerged as 36-12 winners.
Both teams, their coaches and supports, would like to thank Civil Service RFC for the provision of facilities and hosting the game.
On Friday 13 December, Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4XV defeated Belfast Royal Academy 3XV by 31-14.
On Saturday, Omagh Academy 3XV hosted Methodist College 4XV in a closely contested game the Methodist College 4XV team won by 17-10.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield
On Wednesday 11 December, Royal School Dungannon played Regent House School in their Round 3 game.
Royal School Dungannon won this intriguing encounter by 21-12.
On Saturday, the seven remaining games took place.
Bangor Grammar School played Ballyclare High School in a game the Ballyclare High School team won by 10-7.
Cambridge House Grammar School played Omagh Academy in a game Omagh Academy by 35-7.
Dalriada School played Coleraine Grammar School and recorded a 17-5 victory.
Down High School played Grosvenor Grammar School and won by 38-13.
Foyle College played Antrim Grammar School in a game Antrim Grammar won by 17-0.
Larne Grammar School played Enniskillen Royal Grammar School and recorded a 26-7 victory.
Royal School Armagh played Rainey Endowed School in a game Rainey won by 21-19 with almost the final kick of the game.
Ulster U17 Schools
On Monday evening, Newforge was the venue when an Ulster U17 team played New South Wales Raptors, an age grade touring team from Australia.
At the end of this exciting game, played in front of enthusiastic supporters from both Ulster and Australia, the Ulster U17 team emerged as 21-14 winners.
Co Captained by Dylan Gray and Reuben Gibson, both players from RBAI, the Ulster U17 players made the most of their limited preparation time for the game and attacked with the ball in hand throughout the game.
The NSW Raptors team played with a steely determination but there was little they could do to prevent Connor McKinney, Campbell College, scrambling over for one try with Dylan Gray running in for two. Jonnie Kennedy, Larne Grammar School, was successful with one conversion kick while James Andrews, Wallace High School, kicked two conversions.
1XV Friendlies
On Monday 9 December, Royal Belfast Academical Institution played St Michael’s College, Dublin.
This game, which the St Michael’s College team won by 42-12, was played at Ballymacarn Park, home of Ballynahinch RFC.
RBAI scored two tries through George Craigan and Adam Miller with Charlie O’Connor adding one successful conversion.
Duinn Maguire, Ethan Black, Conor Caniffe, Dan Ryan, Setanta McLaughlin and Myles Berman were the St Michael’s College try scorers with Ethan Black capping a fine personal performance by adding six successful conversions.
Both teams, their coaches and supporters, would like to thank Ballynahinch RFC for the provision of facilities and hosting the game.
On Friday afternoon Rainey Endowed School hosted Ballymena Academy at the Meadowbank Arena, Magherafelt.
Ballymena Academy recorded a hard earned 23-16 victory.
Rainey scored their points with a try from Lorcan McLarnon and a conversion, alongside three penalty goals, from Owen O’Kane.
Ballymena Academy scored three tries through Ben Collins, Daniel Thompson and Joshua Patterson with Reuben Allen hitting one conversion, as well as two penalties, off the tee.
A second 1XV game took place on the same evening when Sullivan Upper School hosted St Mary’s College, Dublin in a game played at Gibson Park, home of Malone RFC.
St Mary’s won the game by 26-7.
Sam Harper scored the Sullivan Upper School try with Hamish Johnston adding the conversion.
St Mary’s College scored four tries through Eoghan Brady, with two, Greg Ewing and Luke Lennon.
William Kelly was successful with three of his conversion kicks.
Both teams, their coaches and supporters, would like to thank Malone RFC for the provision if facilities and hosting the game.
On Saturday, a series of 1XV friendly games took place.
Carrickfergus Grammar School played Belfast High School in a game the Carrickfergus Grammar School team won by 10-7.
Following a scoreless first half, both teams had all to play for during the second half.
Shortly after the restart, Carrickfergus Grammar opened their account with a try from Adam Magill, converted by Alex Mc Allister, to see the North Road team into a 7-0 lead.
This was extended to 10-0 when Alex McAllister converted a penalty kick opportunity.
Belfast High stayed in the game and laid siege on the Carrickfergus “red zone”. Following a series of attacks, Sam Pradaz was unlawfully stopped while in the act of scoring.
The resultant penalty try ensured the final scoreboard read Carrickfergus Grammar School 10 Belfast High School 7 at the end of this hard-fought game.
Enniskillen Royal Grammar School played Omagh Academy in a game Enniskillen won by 45-7.
Ben Wallace, with two, Josh Owens, Ben Foster, Andrew Kerr, with two and Thomas Barnett scored the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School tries.
Sam Paton had a good morning off the tee with five successful conversion kicks.
Omagh Academy’s points came through a try from Eoin McCusker which was converted by Sam Harper.
Friends’ School Lisburn played Larne Grammar School and continued their recent run of good form with a 40-14 win.
Larne Grammar started strongly with two tries from their Ireland Age Grade U18 Clubs’ winger, Ryan McDowell, both converted by Ethan Duncan, seeing the visitors into a deserved 14-0 lead.
Friends’ School displayed a great deal of bouncebackability and went on to control both possession and territory for large parts of the remainder of the game.
Gethin Mageean scored two first half tries with Joel Collins adding a third.
Two Ross Glover conversions saw the Friends; School team take a 19-14 lead into the break.
Scott Henderson outwitted the Larne Grammar School defence to run in for an early second half try. Ryley Murphy and Calum Millar then displayed good awareness to touch down for one try each.
Three successful Ross Glover conversions secured the 40-14 victory for Friends’ School.
Regent House School played Banbridge Academy and scored five tries during their 29-14 victory.
Sam McClements, Lewis Robinson, Tom Bell and Matthew Callaghan, with two, were the Regent House School try scorers.
Josh Colville was successful with two of his conversion kicks.
The Banbridge Academy points came through tries from Adam Jones and Arturs Jonuss with Andrew Jackson adding the extras to both tries.
Royal Belfast Academical Institution played Wallace High School and had to work hard for their 15-7 win.
RBAI scored two tries through Ben McCausland and Reagan Lath Amou.
Charlie O’Connor added one successful conversion as well as one penalty goal.
Sam Warwick scored the Wallace High School try which was converted by Josh Geddis.