Dungannon RS hosts historic clash with Dilworth School

THERE was a wonderful sense of occasion at the Armstrong Field and all around Royal School Dungannon on Friday to welcome a host of special visitors from Aukland in New Zealand.

The link between Dungannon and those guests, who were part of a huge party from the renowned Dilworth School, stretches back to the late 1800s and early 1900s when a former Royal School pupil James Dilworth emigrated to New Zealand. A successful businessman, he left most of his considerable fortune to the Dilworth Ulster Institute, which was to provide education and training to enable pupils to become ‘good and useful members of society’.

Since the establishment of the school, links between it and the Royal School have grown and Friday was the seventh time they had met on the rugby pitch – the previous six being evenly split between Dungannon and Aukland.

On this occasion, the result proved a little one-sided with Jacob McNutt’s unconverted try Dungannon’s only score in a 40-5 defeat, but having been piped onto the pitch through a guard of honour and been faced by a Dilworth Haka, the occasion proved a thrilling one for all involved, including new head of rugby and PE, Alastair Ferguson, who was delighted by his side’s efforts ahead of their Schools’ Cup campaign, which begins in a couple of weeks time.

“There was a lot of nervousness from the boys because they had heard so much about this team coming over in the past and there’s a big link between the two schools,” he said.

“There’s a big tradition and the boys had been watching videos of Dilworth games on YouTube. They played Millfield and they played Blackrock a few days ago so there was a panic that we weren’t going to be in their league.

“Physically maybe we weren’t because some of their boys were 120kgs easily and moving like lightning but the boys tackled their hearts out and put their bodies on the line from start to end.

“There was no injuries and they walked off with the self-belief that they could man up to it and there was a bit of pride in how they played so as a foundation ahead of the Schools’ Cup you can’t beat that.”

Having taken over from Gareth McClintock, who moved to Banbridge Academy over the summer, Ferguson is keen to put his ‘own spin’ on things in Dungannon where he is keen to embrace tradition while moving forward.

“There is a lot of history and tradition, but I’d say we still have a long way to go if we want to challenge more towards the top eight or top six but the ambition and drive is there to move that direction,” said the Tyrone man.

“I’d say a lot of schools have that ambition but I went from being a number two at Foyle [College] and not being able to implement them to now being the teacher in charge which gives me more of an opportunity to put my own spin on things, which is a big plus.”