A large, vocal and very bipartisan crowd gathered in Lisburn on Saturday morning for the heavyweight Schools Cup Quarter Final Tie between Wallace High School and Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Inst took the game to Wallace in early encounters, pinning Wallace back into their 22. This was play for most of the 1st half. Inst battered a stone wall Wallace defence, which refused to crack. Occasionally Wallace broke out but were driven back. As halftime approached all Inst had to show was a solitary 12th minute Charlie O’Connor penalty goal for a 3-0 lead.

Wallace lifted the siege and from a 5 metre lineout set up a series of pick and goes, before Ben Moore scrambled over, from close range, close to the posts. Josh Geddis’ conversion gave Wallace a 7-3 halftime lead.

The impetus changed in the 2nd half, now it was Wallace . . .