Rugby Update
posted 3 March 2010

Cookstown High School rugby teams have been in action during the school year.

Like all sport, the weather has had an adverse effect on both training and matches.

Year 8 – training continues on Wednesday afternoons where the boys are introduced to the basics of the game.

Year 9 – the boys played in the Coleraine and District league before Christmas and finished in a creditable 2 nd place in their group

Years 10 and 11 – the boys played in the Coleraine and District blitz in October and narrowly lost all three matches to strong opposition. A friendly was played against Sperrin College in December. It is hoped to play another match before the end of the season

Year 12 (Under 16) – this was by far the strongest team in school this year. The season started well as the boys qualified for the Pollock Cup finals at Ballymena. A strong win against Ashfield set them up nicely for a winner takes all match against Shimna College. Shimna were just too strong and qualified for the semi final.

Round 1 of the Ulster High Schools Trophy saw an easy win over Castlederg High School. Devenish College, Enniskillen were next up in Round 2 and captain Kyle H rallied his troops well to an excellent 23 – 14 victory. Maurice H scored two tries, Stuart F and Jason R got 1 each. Shannon C kicked a penalty.

Confidence was high going into the quarter final match against Slemish College but conditions and perhaps a lack of proper preparation went against us on the day. Shannon C kicked an excellent penalty early in the game but despite battling well, the final score was 12 – 3 in favour of Slemish.

All in all this has been another steady year and despite problems with our pitch and the weather, the boys have trained well.

Photos below from the Slemish quarter final