Coleraine GS v Ballymena Academy
Schools’ Cup 4th Round
Saturday 29/1/22
Coleraine Grammar School 1stXV travelled to Ballymena Academy on Saturday morning for their highly anticipated Schools’ Cup fourth round fixture. Both teams had produced some excellent results going into this fixture and the sides had already played out a close encounter at Coleraine back in early October.
Coleraine started off slowly with nerves getting the better of the travelling side. After sustained pressure from Ballymena and failure from Coleraine to clear their lines effectively, Ballymena produced a powerful maul to go over the line and take an early lead. Ballymena missed the touchline conversion to leave the score 5-0.
Ballymena continued to press and pile the pressure on Coleraine. Excellent handling from the home side and some strong carries from their impressive back row led to a penalty opportunity in front of the posts. Ballymena converted to leave the score 8-0.
Coleraine showed good character and responded immediately with a fantastic try by full back Jacob Lennox who weaved through the Ballymena defence after some excellent handling by flanker Zack McCartney. Rory Telfer added the conversion to leave the score 8-7 to the home side.
Coleraine grew into the game and started to make ground with strong carries from their pack and some excellent handling and speed from their backs. The dangerous centre paring of Harry Hughes and Rory Telfer looked especially threatening when they had ball in hand, but opportunities had been limited in this very tight cup affair.
As the half was drawing to a close, Coleraine failed to clear their lines from two scrum plays and on the second occasion the team paid the price for this. Ballymena pounced on an opportunity to power their way over the line and open up their lead. Jacob Lennox managed to charge the conversion down to leave the score 13-7 to the home side at the interval.
Coleraine started the second half off with greater urgency and belief. Playing into the wind Coleraine moved the ball very well with Clark Logan and Jordan McAuley working in tandem to release the dangerous pairing of Harry Hughes and Rory Telfer and the dynamic Coleraine back three of Lennox, Logan & McClarty.
The Coleraine pack started to get go forward ball through carries from Joshua Stewart, Cian McCullagh and Paddy Irwin. Ballymena struggled to cope with the newly found tempo of the away side which led to numerous penalty infringements and crucial territory for Coleraine. Unfortunately, Coleraine failed to convert their pressure into points with some set piece errors and resolute defence from the home side.
Following a Coleraine turnover, Ballymena worked their way into their opponent’s half and following some strong, dynamic running from their pack the Ballymena out-half struck a superb drop goal to leave the score 16-7 against the run of play.
Coleraine could have folded but to their credit they showed great character to get the crowd behind them and respond straight away. Following a long kick from the Ballymena scrum half, Jacob Lennox moved the ball wide to Harry Hughes who showed good feet and hands to open a gap for Paddy Irwin who burst through and cleverly offload to Rory Telfer to finish off another fantastic team try. Rory Telfer converted to leave the score 16-14.
From the restart Coleraine did well to clear their lines but an offside infringement from the subsequent lineout led to a Ballymena penalty which they converted to leave the score 19-14. Coleraine continued to press, pile on the pressure and looked dangerous every time they moved the ball. The impressive Ballymena defence held firm though and Coleraine couldn’t get the crucial final try. Ballymena showed good maturity and experience to see the game out with the final score 19-14 to Ballymena.
This was an excellent game of rugby between two evenly matched sides. Ballymena will be pleased with their defensive efforts, ball carrying from their pack and their clinical edge. Coleraine dominated the second half, played some exciting running rugby, and pushed Ballymena to the end but will be disappointed with how they started the game which proved costly.
Head Coach Richard Boyd reflected on his team’s performance “I thought it was a really exciting game and a great advert for schools’ rugby. We started off slowly which meant we were on the back foot and always chasing the game, which is dangerous away from home, especially in the cup. Credit to our boys though, we should great character and scored two quality tries. I thought we were the better side in the second half but Ballymena took their chances and it was a typical tight cup game which didn’t go our way today. We look forward to finishing off the season off strongly in the Subsidiary Competition and are pleased to have a home tie and another local derby.’
Ballymena will now play away to Wallace High School in the Quarter Final of the Cup and Coleraine will host Foyle in the Subsidiary Shield. Well done to both sides who really put an excellent exhibition of schoolboy rugby in front of a very large crowd.
Photos – L & L Sports Photos