The Ulster U18 Development side continued their preparations for the upcoming U18 Inter-provincial series with a match against Scottish visitors Stirling County at Armagh Rugby Club on Sunday afternoon.

The Ulster girls continued their winning ways, scoring four tries in a 24 – 7 win, though they were given a good work out by the Scottish side who were unlucky not to claim a few more scores.

Stirling took to the field led by a piper and the rousing refrains obviously worked as an enthusiastic Stirling County kept Ulster pinned in their own half for the first ten minutes.

The Ulster line held firm and play was eventually brought up to either side of the half way line with neither side making much headway against strong defences.

Ulster’s breakthrough came 25 minutes in when replacement centre Mya Alcorn powered through the Stirling defence to sprint home from half way and score under the posts. Lucy Turkington converted and Ulster led 7 – 0.

The action continued to concentrate around the half way line and it was a further 30 minutes before Ulster broke out to score again. This time it was the forwards who punched a hole up the right and speedster Holly Brannigan was on hand to finish it off. The conversion, from out wide, was missed leaving the score at 12 – 0.

Brannigan popped up again for her second score as the game went into it’s final stages, racing down the same wing, with approximately 10 minutes left, to push the score to 17 – 0.

The Ulster pack were now on top as the game entered it’s final stages, and front row forward Emma Kearney powered through to score at the base of the posts after good work by Grace Shrestha. Turkington added the extras to give Ulster a 24 – 0 lead with time running out.

The visitors showed impressive resolve by responding almost immediately, a penalty offence from the restart allowing their pack to storm over close to the posts for a converted try.

Final Score: Ulster U18 Development 24 Stirling County 7.

Gallery below

Pictures below by myself and Bob Given of Bob Given Photography. I think our timings were a couple of seconds out so a few of the pictures may be slightly out of sequence.