I popped along to Osborne Park on Saturday morning with the expectation of catching the opening Schools U16 match between Inst and Ballyclare. Unfortunately that match was postponed, so as I was looking an early kick off to get in my five matches over the day I decided to cover the Medallion fixture between Inst and Dalriada.

Despite a damp start it was an enjoyable game and one that was much closer than the the scoreline suggests. Dalriada had a fair bit of the ball in the early exchanges, with their full back looking particularly dangerous, but they just lacked continuity, at this early stage of the season, to finish off their chances.

Inst also looked a bit rusty but once their big ball carrying forwards got into their stride there was no looking back as they ran in four first half tries, 2 converted, for a 24 – 0 lead at the break.

Inst ran in two more tries at the start of the second half, one converted, to take the score to 36 – 0 for the home side before I had to head off to my next game mid way through the second half. I haven’t seen a final posted score for this one but I’ll update when available.

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