Ballyclare Gazette - Sports - Ballyclare family make Schools Cup draw

Sports

Ballyclare family make Schools Cup draw

Thursday, 2 February 2012

ON Saturday the draw was made for the Fourth Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools Rugby Cup and it was an historic occassion as the home and away teams were handed out by a father and son combination from Ballyclare.
Pulling out the home teams was Richard Caldwell from the sponsors the Northern Bank-he played his rugby for the Ballyclare club and presently represents them at the monthly Ulster Branch meetings at Ravenhill.
The away teams in the draw were taken out by the President of Ulster Rugby who of course is Laurence Caldwell the father of Richard and a former player, coach and official at the Ballyclare club for over fifty years. It is only at this late stage that Ballyclare High School becomes involved in what is one of the oldest competitions in rugby as once again they are one of the eight top seeded teams overall. The other eight sides in the draw have made their way through from the previous three rounds.
This year Ballyclare High have had a good record only losing twice since the start of September; they went down to Ballymena Academy in the first game and later lost to Limavady Grammar when not at full strength but rectified this last Saturday with a narrow 5-0 away win over the North west school.
The Ballyclare team certainly has plenty of experience with no fewer than eight members of the side having played for the Ulster Schools Under 18 and Under 19 teams.
They have often been affected by injuries and no doubt coach Dan Soper will hope that he can field a strong side on Saturday week (11th February) when the draw gives Ballyclare a tough test against another of the seeded teams Armagh Royal but at least the game is at home (Hillmount Avenue) with a 10-30 or 11-00 am kick off. The full draw is: Ballyclare High v Armagh Royal, RBAI v Dungannon Royal, Dalriada v Bangor Grammar, CAI v Ballymena Academy, Banbridge Academy v Cambridge House or Wellington College, Campbell College v Grosvenor High, Rainey Endowed v MCB, Wallace High v Limavady Grammar.