By 
THE Royal School Dungannon’s quest for a place in the Danske Bank Medallion Bowl was ended by Friends School at The Armstrong Field.
In a tightly fought encounter, the visitors took their chances on the day, while Dungannon were unable to capitalise on good territory and possession, particularly in the first half as the Lisburn outfit came away with victory.
A very close and tactical start saw both teams kicking well for position, with territory and discipline key early on. RSD started well and were the stronger side in terms of forward momentum, building phases and putting pressure on inside the Friends 22. A few missed opportunities in the opposition 22, particularly at lineout time, prevented the home side from fully capitalising on some strong early pressure.
RSD opened the scoring with a penalty from Cauan Robe to take a 3–0 lead. Friends responded shortly after with a try following multiple phases inside the RSD 22. The conversion was missed, leaving the score at 3–5 heading into half time.
Early in the second half, Friends’ added a penalty to extend the lead to 3–8. Soon after, they struck again with a converted try to push the score out to 3–15. RSD responded positively with an excellent passage of play, moving the ball from 22 to 22 with good offloads and support running, which resulted in a penalty that Cauan converted to bring us back to 6–15.
Despite some strong defensive sets from RSD, Friends’ were able to add further scores through pressure and phases, stretching the game to 6–27.
The final five minutes summed up the character of this group. RSD showed real grit and determination, turning Friends over in their own 22 and producing strong breaks, particularly through Cauan and captain Logan Dougherty. RSD finished the match with a deserved try from a lineout, with Andrew Irwin powering over from close range after a determined pick and go. The conversion was added to complete the scoring at 13–27.
A tough match against a strong Friends’ side, but a well contested game and a fitting reward in terms of effort and resilience for a squad who have worked extremely hard all season, often with fewer than 20 players available.
“They played really well, put a good performance in,” observed Mark Riddell, who coaches the team alongside George Jenkins and Jonny Willis. “We had a lot of possession in the first half, but we just couldn’t score and Friends scored a try just before the break after going through 16 or 17 phases.
“If we had made more of our possession in the first half and hadn’t switched off for a 10-15 minute period in the second half when they got two breakaway tries it would have been different, but it was still a good performance from the guys.. They played well, it was a good experience and good for them to get to the semi-final.”
RSD squad: Jake Davidson, Logan Dougherty (cpt), Adam Comac, Henry Cole, Joshua Sloane, James Gillespie, Andrew Jenkins, Andrew Irwin, Freddie Turkington. Toby Blair, Martynas Balciunas, Cauan Robe, Alfie Cummings, Aaron Robinson, Nathan Sloan. Replacements: Jude Fisher, Charlie Mills, Charlie Finlay, Ollie Cochrane, Caleb Burton, Lewis Dobson, Jayden Hall.
Meanwhile, RSD second XV also suffered a semi-final defeat in their Plate competition, losing 14-19 to Sullivan.
Scorers on the day were James Parks and Harry Finlay with a try apiece, while Jack Evans and Thomas Jenkins kicked a conversion each.
