RUGBY SCHOOLS' CUP: Rainey Endowed rally to edge out Armagh Royal

A late converted try gave Rainey Endowed a two-point win over hosts Royal School Armagh.

It was an error strewn game from an Armagh point of view with an extremely high penalty count against them.

Rainey played into a strong wind in the first half. They went on the attack but good Armagh defence kept the Rainey at bay. The home team then had a number of opportunities but could not finish off some promising moves.

Anton Lupari scored an unconverted try for Rainey to see the visitors into a 5-0 lead. Rainey were then penalised at the restart and William Hazelton stepped up to convert the penalty for Armagh to leave them trailing 3-5 at the break.

Rainey started the second half on the attack but were denied several try scoring opportunities.

Good game management from Lorcan Quinn gave the Rainey team territorial advantage but giving away a number of penalties did his team no favours.

In fact, it was Armagh who scored next when Graham Crawford touched down for a try which Hazelton converted to see the home team into a 10-5 lead.

Rainey Endowed went on an all-out attack. It took them some time to break the Armagh defence down but break it down they did.

Neal Hastings crashed over for the decisive try which Quinn coolly converted to see the Magherafelt men into a 12-10 lead.

Armagh threw everything at the Rainey team for the final minutes of the game but could find no way through, but Rainey dug in and held on to their slim advantage.

Rainey face a daunting task away to Methodist College in the third round while there is a derby game for RS Armagh at home against RS Dungannon in the Bowl quarter-finals.