Maxol Mini Rugby Finals – Kingspan 2017 – Tuesday 9th May
Having competed well in a difficult tournament in Ards RFC after Easter, the school rugby team were overjoyed with the chance to have another run out together. However this time we were without out P7 pupils. A team of 10 eager and energetic P6s boys took the trip to the Kingspan Stadium, home of Ulster Rugby.
With glorious weather, it only heightened their enthusiasm to get started. We were in a group with three other primary schools; Maghaberry PS, Limavady Central and Harmony Hill.
Our first opponent was Maghaberry PS. Maghaberry were clearly a well drilled outfit and made things very difficult for us. A line break from Matthew Devlin from our own half saw him open the scoring. What preceeded was end to end rugby, great attack and defence from both teams. Half time the scores were tied at 1 – 1. In to the second half Maghaberry scored first, going 2 – 1 ahead. However the HPS team weren’t going to sit down easily, some excellent interplay saw us break the line to equalise through Hamish Johnston, which was swiftly followed by a try from Zach Woods.
Game 1 - Full Time HPS 3 – Maghaberry 2
Our second match was against Harmony Hill. This was a tense and nail biting game from start to finish for the coach! Harmony Hill crossed the try line first with a great run from a very fast winger. Holywood soon followed with Jack Law taking a run off a penalty to add to the score board, 1 – 1. There was some greatly displays of bravery in defence from all the Holywood players, keeping Harmony Hill out several times with try saving tackles. The second half came and Holywood stepped up another level, turning great defence into amazing attacks. Joeli Raduva and Hamish Johnston added two more to our score.
Game 2 - Full Time HPS 3 – Harmony Hill 1
The third game came straight after the second; the boys put a lot of energy into the second game and were feeling tired. This wasn’t going to stop them. Encouraging and willing each other on, they were determined win all three games. Limavady Central had a few very strong runners from the first whistle. It was exciting to watch as HPS kept on applying pressure and courageous tackles, never giving up. Matthew Devlin scored once again, breaking free of several tackles to score in the corner. This boosted their energy levels. Limavady came back and equalled the scoring. Following this, HPS found yet another gear, Hamish Johnston, Oliver Keown added to the score, bring the game to 3 – 1. Limavady came back to score a second, though we weren’t finished. Matthew Devlin added 1 more and then a superb run from Zach Woods saw us notch up 5 tries and closing out the game.
Game 3 - Full Time HPS 5 – Limavady 2
Massive congratulations to the P6 Boys on a great display of talent and determination:
Matthew Devlin, Patrick Lorimer, Hadi Abdul, Sam Harper, Zach Woods, Joeli Raduva, Oliver Keown, Hamish Johnston, Toby Hughes and Jack Law
