Match Report: Royal School Armagh 66-12 Bangor Grammar School
Royal School Armagh vs Bangor Grammar School
Bangor Grammar’s Schools’ Cup campaign came to a devastating end on Saturday against a strong Royal School Armagh side.
The match was played in a light breeze and bright spring-like sunshine flooding College Hill in Armagh, with earlier rain softening the ground.
From kickoff, Armagh looked every inch Schools’ Cup contenders and after four minutes of near-solid possession, opened the scoring through outside centre Nicholas Jennings. Charlie Worth converted.
Minutes later, Peter Taylor crashed over for Armagh’s second, following a 60-metre break. Worth was once again on hand for the conversion.
Two tries behind, Bangor Grammar looked good with ball in hand, but couldn’t strike while the iron was hot. Armagh’s rock-solid defence remained untouchable for the time being.
Two more first half tries followed for Royal Armagh, courtesy of Ryan Finlay and Benjamin Boyd. Both were converted by Worth. In between these tries, Bangor’s out-half Angus Christie saw yellow for a ‘no arms’ tackle.
Just before half time Bangor troubled the Royal Armagh 22 for the first time, and were rewarded with a penalty try.
Immediately after, Armagh were awarded a penalty, where Charlie Worth’s successful kick brought their lead to 31-7 at half time.
The hosts picked up where they had left off after the break, and dominated the second half with five tries at the hands of captain Aaron Woods, Peter Taylor, James Brown, Michael Campbell and Jonathan Agnew. Between Charlie Worth and Romain Morrow, all tries were converted.
Bangor Grammar’s players gave everything they had, and their highlight of the match was arguably Michael McCreary’s runaway try on the right wing. With the conversion missing the target, these would be their only points of the second half.
Ultimately though, this was a comprehensive victory for the Royal School, who will now be considered one of the favourites to win the Schools’ Cup (if they weren’t already). They now prepare to face Ballymena Academy in a quarter final tie next Saturday.
This match may have been one sided, but there were still a couple of encouraging signs for Bangor: they had the slight edge on Armagh in the scrum, and their lineouts were the best they have been all season. Sadly, untidy defending gifted Armagh too many points, and the Schools’ Cup journey is over for another year.
For Bangor Grammar School, the Subsidiary Shield now awaits. Next Saturday, BGS will face Ballyclare High School at Gransha; a team they have already beaten twice this year.
Final Score: Royal School Armagh 66-12 Bangor Grammar School
Teamsheet: 1. Grant, 2. Moore, 3. McCrossan, 4. Dobie, 5. Wells, 6. Westwood, 7. Murray, 8. Pritchard, 9. Hamilton, 10. Christie, 11. Angus, 12. Larmour, 13. McCracken, 14. McCreary, 15. Sexton.
Subs: 16. Mahood, 17. Skelly, 18. Cavan, 19. Pyper, 20. Winters, 21. Norman, 22. Ritchie, 23. Hatty.
RSA Tries: Nicolas Jennings, Peter Taylor (x2), Ryan Finlay, Benjamin Boyd, Aaron Woods, James Brown, Michael Campbell, Jonathan Agnew
RSA Conv: Charlie Worth (x7), Romain Morrow (x2)
BGS Try: Riley Westwood, Angus Christie (x2), Aaron Sexton
BGS Conv: Rhys Larmour (x2)
BGS Pen: Rhys Larmour
