One of our Featured Schools, The Royal School Armagh kicked off this season’s Schools Cup group stages with a Pool A fixture against Omagh Academy on Wednesday afternoon at College Hill.
Thankfully the anticipated storm didn’t arrive and the teams produced an entertaining game in front of “Rugby Royalty” Rory Best.
It was a tightly contested first half but Armagh were able to make their chances count. The first score came 11 minutes in with Archie Johnston taking a crash ball up to the line for someone1 to scamper over for the opening try. Josh Lowey added the extras to give RSA a 7 – 0 lead.
The teams battled away for the next 20 minutes, both having chances, but Armagh were able to sustain the pressure and Ballie Russell went over for their second try just past the half hour mark. Lowey again added the extras to give Armagh a 14 – 0 lead and that’s how it stayed until half time.
The home side opened up in the second half. Jamie Rafferty hit the line shortly after the restart to push the score along to 19 – 0 but the game was still tight for the next 20 minutes.
It took a good trailing run from Johnston to break the deadlock as the rangy centre slid home to take it to 24 – 0 and a minute later Cameron Cummings broke from deep to take it to 29 – 0.
Omagh looked for a response but they couldn’t find the continuity to close out their chances and the game ended shortly after Johnston stretched for the line to claim his second try.
Josh Lowey wrapped up the game with the conversion giving Royal School Armagh a 36 -0 win to top Pool A.
- I had assumed that Archie Johnston had scored the first try and didn’t get the actual scorers name. Please send it in and I’ll amend the report. ↩︎
Match Gallery
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