Rainey school rugby update

After a short stop in Drogheda they arrived in Swords where they would stay for 2 nights. On Friday 23rd March they travelled to play De la Salle, Churchtown and came away with two victories. The U13s won 19-5 with tries from Matthew Porter (2) and Mark Mulholland. The U14s won 17-5 with tries from Andrew Brown, Anton Lupari and James McGurk. After these impressive victories the party travelled to the RDS to watch Leinster play Ospreys in the Pro 12. This proved to be a significant game as it was Brian O’Driscoll’s come back game. It also saw Leinster lose controversially in the closing minutes.

Thanks are due to Mr P Johnston, Mr S Staples, Mr P Sciascia and Mr G Eastwood who gave up their free time to accompany the squad.

On Friday the 23rd March the 2nd XV travelled to play Wallace HS in the Semi Final of the 2nd XV. This proved to be a very difficult fixture as they faced a very strong home team. Although giving their all, they eventually went down 31-7. Barry Wilkinson scored the try and Gavin Pollock kicked the conversion.

Also on Friday was the Arnold Shield, which is an annual fixture between Rainey ES U12s and RS Dungannon U12s. Rainey had won the Shield in the past 3 years so were determined to hold onto it. However, they came across a Dungannon team who were keen to get it back. In a game where the lead changed a number of times, Dungannon withstanding a late Rainey onslaught held on to win 17-14. The Rainey try scorers were Matthew Smyth and Adam Thornton. Matthew also kicked 2 conversions. The U12 B team lost a very close contest 5-0 to RS Dungannon ‘B’ team.