We went along to the Club Academy Festival at Academy RFC on Wednesday night to see how this new initiative is getting on. To tell the truth I was of the opinion that the whole “Academy” thing was just going to be an excuse for Senior AIL Clubs to steal a few younger players from the Provincial Clubs but I must admit, this one was great fun, excellent quality and three close games.

The matches were hosted at Roughfort by Academy RFC. It featured Academy Academy (yes I know), Instonians Academy and Queen’s University Academy with the three teams playing two 30 minute games each.

Academy against Queen’s was the first game and it was a pretty tense one. there were a few handling errors early on but the teams quickly got into their stride with Academy claiming the bulk of territory and possession in the first half.

The Queen’s defence worked hard and they limited Academy to a late penalty attempt on the stroke of half time. The kick was missed, leaving the score a 0 – 0 as the teams changed ends.

The second half was pretty even. Academy probably edged possession but Queen’s looked dangerous on the break with out half Tom Martin, wing James Lusty and centre Ross Fallows all featuring in attack. It was Lusty that got the breakthrough, out wide, for the games only score with 5 minutes to go. The try went unconverted, but Queen’s held on to record a 0 – 5 win in the opening game.

Gallery Below