Despite the onset of the Christmas Holiday period, several school teams were involved with both friendly and competitive games during that time.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup
On Tuesday 17 December the draws for the Schools’ Cup and Bowl Round of 16 took place in the A&L Goodbody Lounge at the Kingspan Stadium.
The draws were completed by Dr Laurence Rocke, President of the Ulster Branch, IRFU and Mr Andrew Sproule, Senior Project Manager at the Danske Bank.
The results of the draws are as follows:
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round of Sixteen
- Banbridge Academy v Sullivan Upper School
- Bangor Grammar School v Rainey Endowed School
- Methodist College v Belfast Royal Academy
- Enniskillen Royal Grammar School v Wallace High School
- Dalriada School v Ballymena Academy
- Coleraine Grammar School v Regent House School
- Campbell College v Royal Belfast Academical Institution
- Royal School Armagh v Down High School
These games must be played on/before Saturday 25 January 2025.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl Round of Sixteen
Preliminary Round
- Friends’ School Lisburn v Larne Grammar School
This game must be played on/before Saturday 18 January 2025.
Round of Sixteen
- Lurgan College v Ballyclare High School
- Strabane Academy v Grosvenor Grammar School
- Carrickfergus Grammar School v Cambridge House Grammar School
- Friends’ School/Larne Grammar School v Belfast High School
- Portadown College v Antrim Grammar School
- Omagh Academy v Bangor Academy
- Dromore High School v Royal School Dungannon
These Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Bowl Round of Sixteen games must be played on/before Saturday 25 January 2025.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Competitions
On Thursday 19 December, Methodist College 2XV played Ballyclare High School 2XV in their 2XV Cup Round 3 game.
Methodist College won this game by 29-5.
Once the result of this game was known, the draws for the quarter-finals of the 2XV Cup, 2XV Plate and the 2XV Trophy were completed.
The results of these draws are as follows:
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Cup Quarter-Finals
- Regent House School v Ballymena Academy
- Campbell College v Belfast Royal Academy
- Wallace High School v Methodist College
- Enniskillen Royal Grammar School v Royal Belfast Academical Institution
These games must be played on/before Saturday 18 January.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Plate Quarter-Finals
- Friends’ School Lisburn v Foyle College
- Coleraine Grammar School v Rainey Endowed School
- Sullivan Upper School v Royal School Armagh
- Ballyclare High School v Bangor Grammar School
These games must be played on/before Saturday 18 January.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 2XV Trophy Quarter-Finals
- Dalriada School v Royal School, Dungannon
- Omagh Academy v Antrim Grammar School
- Portadown College v Down High School
- Dromore High School V Banbridge Academy
These games must be played on/before Saturday 18 January.
Just prior to the end of term, Belfast Royal Academy made the trip to Valencia in Spain with a squad of 39 players.
They were able to have training sessions at the excellent local CAU Club facilities and ended the tour with a 1XV game against the CAU U18 team which they won by 40-0.
Max McKitterick, Hadwyn Hughes, Connor McVicker, Frank Davis and Adam Hewitt, with two, scored the Belfast Royal Academy tries to which Frank added five successful conversions.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3XV Competitions
On Wednesday 18 December, Methodist College 5XV played Campbell College 4XV in their Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3XV Cup Round 3 game.
Campbell College won this game by 43-0.
Once the result of this game was known, the draws for the 3XV Cup quarter-finals and the 3XV Trophy Round of 16 were completed.
The results of these draws are as follows:
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3XV Cup Quarter-Finals
- Campbell College 3XV v Methodist College 3XV
- Methodist College 4XV v Wallace High School 3XV
- Portadown College 3XV v Ballyclare High School 3XV
- Royal Belfast Academical Institution 4XV v Campbell College 4XV
These games MUST be played on/before Saturday 25 January 2025.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ 3XV Trophy Round of Sixteen
- Royal Belfast Academical Institution 3XV – BYE
- Belfast Royal Academy 3XV v Wallace High School 4XV
- Our Lady and St Patrick’s College, Knock v Carndonagh Community College
- Ballymena Academy 3XV v Omagh Academy 3XV
- Regent House School 3XV v Royal Belfast Academical Institution 5XV
- Foyle College 3XV v Enniskillen Royal Grammar School 3XV
- Royal School, Armagh 3XV v Sullivan Upper School 3XV
- Banbridge Academy 3XV v Methodist College 5XV
These games MUST be played on/before Saturday 11 January 2025.
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Competitions
On Tuesday 17 December, Belfast High School hosted Strabane Academy in the previously postponed Medallion Trophy Round 1 game.
Belfast High won this game by 50-10.
Once the result of this game was known the draws for the Medallion Shield Round of 16, as well as the quarter-finals of the Medallion Bowl and Trophy competitions were released.
The results of the draws are as follows: -
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Shield Round of 16
- Down High School v Ballymena Academy
- Dalriada School v Larne Grammar School
- Ballyclare High School v Sullivan Upper School
- Campbell College v Belfast Royal Academy
- Omagh Academy v Methodist College
- Wallace High School v Rainey Endowed School
- Royal Belfast Academical Institution v Royal School Dungannon
- Antrim Grammar School v Friends’ School Lisburn
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Bowl Quarter-Finals
- Bangor Grammar School v Cambridge House Grammar School
- Enniskillen Royal Grammar School v Grosvenor Grammar School
- Royal School Armagh v Foyle College
- Coleraine Grammar School v Regent House School
Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Medallion Trophy Quarter-Finals
- Banbridge Academy v Portadown College
- Limavady Grammar School v Belfast High School
- Bangor Academy v Dromore High School
- Rathfriland High School v Lurgan College
- Draw was complete by Mr Ian McConaghy, Principal of Dromore High School.
All matches MUST be completed on/before Saturday 18 January 2025.
Ulster Development Squads
On Monday 16 December, the Meadowbank Stadium in Magherafelt was the venue when Dalriada School provided the opposition for both the Ulster U17 and Ulster U18 Clubs teams.
Dalriada U16 played Ulster Clubs’ U17. Ulster Clubs’ U17 won this game by 40-0 scoring six tries in the process.
Adam McIlveen, Carrickfergus RFC, with two, Sean O’Reilly, Virginia RFC, Noah McClelland, Coleraine RFC, with two and Ronan McConnell, were the try scorers to which Joshua Woods, Ballynahinch RFC, added five successful conversion kicks.
Next up was the Dalriada School 1XV who played the Ulster Clubs’ U18 team.
Dalriada won this game by 19-0 with tries from Angus Graham, Isaac Moore and Archie Graham.
Alfie Millar added the extras to two of these tries.
Friendlies
On Tuesday 17 December, Antrim Grammar School hosted Methodist College 3XV in a game Antrim Grammar won by 31-0.
Antrim Grammar scored five tries during the game.
Johnny Robo, scored two, Jake Quigley scored two with Jack McNeilly touching down for one try.
Isaac Lynn added two successful conversions with Calum Lavery adding a third conversion.
On Friday 20 December, Ballyclare High School hosted Coleraine Grammar School in a training game where both sets of coaches used the run out as an opportunity to have a look at an extended range of players.
Young Ballyclare players such as Ross Ferguson, Andre Cooper and Patrick Cleary really benefitted from the experience as did emerging Coleraine players such as Cody Moffat, Archie McLenaghan, Ben Todd, Luke McAuley and Alex Doherty.
On Saturday 21 December, Ballymena Academy hosted Dromore High School in a range of fixtures at the Old Galgorm Road venue.
The Ballymena 1XV won their game by 40-0 with their tries coming from Ben Collins, Peter Bailie, Jacob Casson, Isaac McClintock, Harry Lamont and Billy Wylie.
Reuben Allen was successful with five of his conversion kicks.
At the same time, Ballymena Academy 2XV, Dromore High School 2XV and Larne Grammar School played out a three-team blitz which gave some 60 players the opportunity to have an end of term run out.
Players such as Dylan Ritchie, Alexander Madeley, Jack McMaster and Zak Fleming impressed with their performances for the Ballymena Academy team, Jonny Dallas, Ryan McDowell, Ethan Duncan and Thomas Patton played well for Larne Grammar with Robert Russell and Alfie Clarke putting in good performances for Dromore High.
On Saturday 28 December, two games took place with Banbridge Academy playing Regent House School and Belfast Royal Academy playing Royal Belfast Academical Institution.
With the IRFU Age Grade Camps taking place at the High-Performance Centre in Abbottstown, all four of these teams were missing players who had been selected to attend either the IRFU U18 Schools’ Camp or the IRFU U19/U20 Development Camp.
The Banbridge Academy v Regent House School training game ended with the scoreboard reading Banbridge Academy 10 Regent House School 15.
Banbridge Academy scored two unconverted tries through Arturs Jonuss and Ryan Hanna.
Regent House scored three tries through Lewis Robinson, Matthew Callaghan and Evan McGonigle.
Belfast Royal Academy continued their recent run of good form with a 31-17 victory against RBAI, scoring five tries in the process.
Aaron Caldwell, Jayden Irwin, Ollie Cox, Ryan Calwell and Adam Hewitt scored the BRA tries with Frank Davis adding the extras to three of the tries.
RBAI’s points came through tries from Cian McClean, Zak Molyneaux and George Craigan with Adam Millar adding one successful conversion kick.
On Friday 3 January, Regent House School played Ballyclare High School in a three session training game which gave both sets of coaches the opportunity to use extended squads of players as part of their preparation for forthcoming Schools’ Cup and Bowl Round of Sixteen games.
Regent House players such as Lewis Robinson, Ethan Spratt, Evan McGonigle, Sam McClements, Josh Colville, Jed Pountney, Ewan Baker and Harry Jackson enjoyed taking part in this different game format as did Ballyclare High players such as Isaac Shiels, Ben Vance, Andrew Cooper, Zach Thompson, Josh McColgan, Ross Ferguson and Austin Adair.
Both squads, as well as their coaches, would like to thank Ards RFC for the use of facilities and hosting this run out.
On Saturday 4 January, only one took place due to the frozen pitch conditions.
The scheduled games involving Ballymena Academy v Royal School Armagh, Bangor Grammar School v Larne Grammar School and Omagh Academy v Portadown College were all cancelled.
However, the Pirrie Park pitch was able to host Methodist College when they entertained Blackrock College, Dublin in a game the Blackrock College team won by 22-7.
Methodist College scored one try through Oliver Gartley with Louis Curran adding the conversion.
Blackrock College scored four tries through Paddy Clancy, Johnny O’Sullivan, Marcus Cullen and Alex Doorley with Paddy adding the extras to one of the tries.