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SCHOOLS’ COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME
Over the 140 year history of the competition,
these two famous Belfast schools have met each
other in 12 finals, with Campbell College having
six victories, RBAI having four victories and the
games in 1954 and 1960 ending in draws. School
historians will have noted that today is, in fact,
the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the
schools in a Schools’ Cup Final, an occasion on
which RBAI proved victorious. However, recent
Schools’ Cup Final encounters favour the East
Belfast school as one needs to go back to 1951 to
record an RBAI success in a Schools’ Cup Final
between these two rivals.
The most recent Schools’ Cup Final meeting
took place only five years ago with the Campbell
College side recording an 18-11 victory over their
RBAI rivals. It is worth noting that the winning team
captained by John Creighton, who has gone on
to represent Ulster ‘A’, included current Ulster
player Rory Scholes in addition to Chris Farrell,
who is now playing his rugby in the French Top 14
for Grenoble. It would seem safe to assume that
today’s teams will include individuals who will end
up playing at a similar level.
For some of the players, initial steps have already
been taken on that pathway as each side is
sprinkled with Ulster representative players from
U19, U18 and U17 age groups, many of whom
will have played together in our interprovincial
teams. Four of those players, James Hume,
Rhys O’Donnell and Callum Reid (RBAI) and
Tom O’Toole (Campbell College) will be meeting
up again next week as part of the two Ireland
U18 squads who will compete in tournaments
over Easter, though I am certain that whatever
camaraderie exists will be set aside for 70 minutes
today. Indeed, the contest between Callum and
Tom at scrum time may be one to keep an eye
on. I offer our congratulations, and best wishes,
to those players and to our other Ulster Schools’
representatives chosen this week to represent
Ireland at U18 and U19 levels – Alexander Clarke,
Bruce Houston, Jonathon McKeown and Marcus
Rea (all Ballymena Academy), Matthew Dalton
(BRA) and Jonny Stewart (Wallace High School).
Turning to today, we look forward to the prospect
of two well respected teams marking the occasion
with an enjoyable and high quality game.
Both schools have displayed impressive form
throughout the season, building upon the potential
shown by their Medallion Shield teams of recent
years. Following the success of Campbell College
in 2013, this competition has been dominated
by RBAI with three successive Medallion Shield
triumphs, highlighting clearly the current rugby-
playing strength of both schools whilst paying
tribute to the influence of their coaches at all levels.
Add in the success of RBAI in last year’s Schools’
Cup Final and it is no shock that these teams have
reached today’s showpiece occasion.
The sides have had contrasting routes to the
final with the East Belfast school facing ‘seeded’
opposition on only one occasion, albeit a closely
contested game with their great rivals, Methodist
College, which resulted in a one point victory for
the home side at Fox’s Field. Campbell College’s
other victories were at Friends’ School in round
3 and a semi-final win over Dalriada School at
Kingspan Stadium. On the other hand, RBAI faced
‘seeded’ opposition in each game, achieving
comprehensive victories over Coleraine Grammar
School and Sullivan Upper School at Osborne Park
before overcoming the challenge of a formidable
Ballymena Academy side in an excellent game at
this venue. Both semi-finals proved to be excellent
advertisements for our schools’ game, not only in
terms of the quality of rugby on show but also in
the atmosphere provided by the supporters from
all the schools. I look forward to similar excellence
both on and off the field today.
The Schools’ Committee, and all our schools,
are indebted to Danske Bank for their continued
support and generosity without which we
would struggle to meet all the demands of our
competitions, never mind our representative
squads and player development programmes. I am
delighted to welcome their Chief Executive, Kevin
Kingston, and other Danske Bank representatives
to what represents their 11th Schools’ Cup Final as
our sponsors and to thank them for all they do on
our behalf.
On behalf of the Schools’ Committee, it is a great pleasure to welcome
everyone to Kingspan Stadium this afternoon for what promises to be
an intriguing Danske Bank Schools’ Cup Final, contested by The Royal
Belfast Academical Institution and Campbell College.
WELCOME FROM STEPHEN BLACK