Brave display from Friends' despite a heavy defeat

Friends George Pringle with Campbell Colleges Matthew Crowther during Saturdays Danske Bank Schools Cup third round game in Lisburn. Pic by William Cherry / PressEye

The physically superior Campbell College team won the game by 49-7 but the Friends’ School team can take great credit from the fact they never stopped playing for the duration of the game.

Friends’ dominated the last ten minutes with a great try by flanker Adam Milligan.

The game started at a very fast pace with a fantastic amount of support on both sides of the pitch with CCB dominating the attack.

Friends’ tackled with aggression and intensity with their defence holding strong until the 17th minute when CCB scored their first try.

By half time Campbell College team had built up a 27-0 lead with the strength of their set piece play laid the foundation for their first half tries.

Friends’ showed they had attacking skills and willing to run the ball even from deep through the invasive skills of David Newell who rounded numerous Campbell players.

Friends’ continued sustained attack and were awarded with a penalty on the Campbell 22 which was unfortunately just kicked wide of the posts.

Curtis Dundas had an outstanding game at 12 as he was formidable in both attack and defence and had a fantastic game throughout.

In the second half the Friends’ heads could have gone down but their resilient effort and solid team approach managed to restrict the Campbell College attack to three tries in the course of the second half.

Despite being in defensive situations for most of the game the Friends’ School team attempted to play positively any time they did get possession.

Adam Milligan took advantage of some good work from Curtis Dundas, George Pringle, Adam Schofield and Kirk McGrady to run in for a try with the last play of the game.

George Pringle added the conversion to leave the Campbell College team winning this Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup 3rd Round game by 49-7.

The cohesion and consistent effort of the Friends’ team was a highlight for the many supporters who lined the touchlines and the squad are now looking forward to the quarter final tie against Wallace High School in the Ulster Schools’ Shield Competition.