`Underdogs' Wallace kick Regent into touch
Gilmore double seals semi final berth for local School
Wallace celebrate their win over Regent House. Pic by Matt Mackey/Presseye.com.
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| Jamie Clements in action versus Regent House in the Schools' Cup quarter final. US0810-122A0 | Stewart Evans wins a line-out against Regent House in the Schools' Cup. US0810-123A0 |
WALLACE High School booked their place in the semi final of the Schools' Cup with a hard fought 6-0 victory over Regent House.
Having previously been beaten twice by Regent this year, Wallace had been tipped as underdogs against a physically larger outfit. However, this tag was blown away as Wallace dominated possession and territory in a tense cup encounter. Wallace started the game strongly and dominated proceedings in the opening quarter as they got through the phases and retained possession. Following a sweeping move Wallace were awarded a penalty which Andrew Gilmore converted. Regent came into the game more and were awarded a very kickable penalty which was missed by Neil Armstrong.
The Wallace scrum started to wear Regent down with great work from Chris Spence, Kyle McCall and Chris Taylor and this resulted in a decrease in the amount of quality possession for Regent. The line out work of Stewart Evans was also of the highest order.
The game at this stage was a real battle of the forwards with Wallace winning the battle of the breakdown with Rory Stewart, Jamie Clements, Colin Munn and Daniel Henry outstanding.
Wallace put good phase play attack together at the start of the second half and following an incision deep into the Regent twenty two, a Regent player was sin binned. The resulting driving line out was held up over the line which seemed to galvanise the Regent team and they were able to escape conceding points.
A long range penalty from Andrew Gilmore increased the Wallace lead to 6-0 and this again resulted in a concerted Regent effort. David Scott, Andrew Gilmore and Adam Hanley were very good in defence for Wallace as they forced Regent into handling errors.
With nearly fifteen minutes of injury time played both sides were out on their feet and it was a relieved Wallace who went through as winners.
The Wallace High School Captain and Ulster and Irish Schools prop, Kyle McCall commented after the match that: The players fronted up and revelled in the underdog tag. We understand that we still have a lot of work to do over the next few days. The players were superb in their commitment and effort. We have been up against it all season and can't wait for Ravenhill and the semi final. I would like to take this opportunity td thank our many supporters for creating a great atmosphere on a bitterly cold day. They were fantastic."
Although not having had a great season, the hard fixtures and tough defeats have obviously toughened the squad both physically and mentally. Confidence and momentum have now been created and all concerned look forward to Ravenhill next week.
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| Members of the Wallace rugby team celebrate after beating Regent House in the Schools' Cup US0810-130A0 | Wallace supporters on the sidelines. US0810.126A0 |
Ulster Star
26/02/2010
