In the new school colours of deep blue and brick red the Enniskillen Royal Grammar School U14 tour team took to the field against a strong Dundee High School side at the historic Mayfield ground. When future Enniskillen Royal looks back into its own history books it will be the handshake of Henry Keys with the Dundee High School captain and Matthew Bothwell’s kick off that initiated whatever was to come.
Dundee collected the start well but Enniskillen Royal quickly regained possession through the good work of the forward unit of Callum Smyton, David Stinson and Matthew Beatty. A handling error led to a successful Dundee scrum on their own 22 metre line but strong tackling by David Stinson ensured the ball soon found its way back into the hands of Enniskillen Royal scrum half Eddie Keys. Successful distribution saw inside centre Stephen Balfour make good ground towards the Dundee High School try line. Stephen offloaded well in the tackle to Taine Haire who was able to play in Justin White on the Dundee 5 metre line. From that distance there was going to be very little Dundee could do to stop the ball being grounded by Justin and the first try recorded for Enniskillen Royal.
Dundee kicked to the backs at the restart and Enniskillen Royal did well to withstand a sustained period of Dundee pressure. Matthew Beatty, Henry Keys, Ryan Phair and Matthew Graham all tackled low and hard. A Dundee line out on the Enniskillen Royal 22 was turned over and the back line distributed the ball quickly out to winger Sam Balfour. Sam found himself matched for pace by his opposite number but was able to release Sam Milligan running from deep at full back who finished the move for Enniskillen Royal’s second.
Further strong forward play allowed Sam Milligan to run in his second and ERGS’s third. Justin White and Stephen Balfour combined well off the restart to release Rory Gamble who sprinted on to finish for the fourth.
Jason Bothwell, injured in Saturday’s game against Dollar Academy/Howe of Fife made way for Charlie Donaldson after about 15 mins of play. Ben Davis, David Scollan, Fred Weir and Zak Havers rotated in with the forwards and were able to sustain the Enniskillen Royal pressure on Dundee. Hugo Graham came on to put in an effective performance on the wing.
Taine Haire continued to intelligently link play between inside centre and the wings and full back and was rewarded for his efforts with a try of his own just before the half time whistle. The work rate of the Enniskillen Royal U14 team did not drop in the second half and there were tries for Sam Balfour and Callum Smyton among others. Overall it was an excellent squad performance with aggression in defence and excellent distribution and awareness in attack.
Final score: Dundee HS 0-42 ERGS
