Ulster Rugby vs Cardiff Blues

DROMORE HIGH COLLECT HIGH SCHOOLS’ TROPHY

Dromore High School have won the 2017 Danske Bank Ulster High Schools’ Trophy, having defeated Craigavon Senior High School 22-10 at Kingspan Stadium on Monday afternoon.

The final proved to be a keenly contested affair, and indeed it took 18 minutes for the opening score to be registered, when Craigavon hooker Nathan Stewart picked and dived over in the right corner. Dromore responded three minutes later with a try of their own as flanker Lewis Sproule drove over after several phases of pressure inside the 5m line. The windy conditions thwarted Cameron Beacom-Hurle’s conversion attempt, which rebounded off the right hand post, while Craigavon’s Brandon Gribben had also previously watched his own effort drift right. On 27 minutes Dromore looked as though they had engineered another try off a short lineout but Reuben Turner was forced into touch just before the try line. However, the County Down side did get over for their second try just before the interval. Number 8 Dean Dillon spotted a gap in the Craigavon defence and, despite being momentarily stalled, he regained his feet to stretch over the whitewash. Beacom-Hurle added the extra two points to make it 12-5 at half- time. Sam Fairley added a third try for Dromore in the 39th minute, making the most of a wide overlap to dash over in the left corner. Ten minutes later, Beacom- Hurle widened the gap with a superb individual try, displaying power and speed as he fended off two defenders on his way to the line. Craigavon continued to battle gamely and a fantastic break by replacement winger Alberto Almazar brought his side up to within five metres of the Dromore line. Following almost five minutes of incessant pressure, Craigavon were eventually

rewarded for their endeavour when winger Luke Boyd collected a cross-field kick before releasing centre Ben Davidson who barged over for a consolation try as the full-time whistle approached.

DANSKE BANK ULSTER HIGH SCHOOLS' TROPHY

DROMORE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM

15-9 Cameron Owens, Jakob Huppe, Jared Rush (C), Josh Patterson, Sam Fairley, Cameron Beacom-Hurle, Connor Woods; 1-8 Jake McDonald, Josh Sloan, Adam Whitten, Jack Owens, Stephane Hodgen, Reuben Turner, Lewis Sproule, Dean Dillon. REPLACEMENTS 16-23 Peter Jordan, Gareth Holland, Richard Walsh, Ben Malcomson, Connor Smyth, Phillip Jackson, Matthew Ney, Michael Heaney. CRAIGAVON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEAM 15-9 Luc Anderson, Daryl McCarten, Josh Richardson, Ben Davidson, Luke Boyd, Brandon Gribben (C), Brent Magwood; 1-8 Mario Cruz, Nathan Stewart, Joel Heak, Crawford Campbell, Harry Russell, Michael Graham, Linas Bemotas, Elvinas Kilimonis. REPLACEMENTS 16-23 Sam Farquhar, Josh Rodgers, Lewis Kemp, Aaron Conn, Alberto Almazar, Adam McAlpine, Jack McMullan.

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