Schools: Methody 27 RBAI 5 (Friendly)

A reasonably sized crowd, including the well known local faces of BBC’s Mark Carruthers and Ulster’s Patrick Jackson, turned out in blustery conditions at Pirrie Park for the first meeting of Belfast’s fiercest two rivals and it was the home team who walked away much the happier despite some first-half scares.

Early penalties from Inst at the breakdown gave early opportunities for Methody to take the lead through their kicker, Rudolph Benade. The first clipped the left upright, but RBAI were alert to the danger and cleared their lines easily; the second, perhaps a more difficult placement, was successful and so MCB lead 3-0 after 5 minutes.

Inst got into the flow of their passing game from the restart and mounted sustained pressure at the 10m line. At one point it seemed like the Methody defence would hold strong, but after an excellent line-out and subsequent rolling maul, Belfast Inst’s no.2, Carruthers, broke from the pack to cross the line and score the first try of the game after 18 minutes. The conversion was missed, but Inst celebrated their 5 points and a deserved lead.

Methody obviously wanted to win the hard way . . .

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