Rice College in final again

Rice College 22
Newport 10
RICE College took a progressive step in schools rugby when they gained a place in the King Cup final for the second year in succession. They beat Newport in a hard-fought semi-final in Lees Road last Thursday.

From the start, the wind was a big factor in the match and the Ennis side chose to play with it for the first period. They continually pressurised the Newport line in the first half and led 17-0 at half-time. Scores in the first half came from a Ronan O’Halloran penalty and a try each from Chris and Shane Hanrahan, both converted by O’Halloran. Newport returned the pressure in the second half, scoring two good tries, despite a very good Rice College team defence.
Michael McNelis scored a try for Rice College in the second half to maintain the 12-point gap. Rice College now meet St Clement’s from Limerick in the final, where they hope to atone for the disappointing defeat to Crosshaven in last year’s final. Getting to two King Cup finals in-a-row is a major achievement for Rice College, who only recently introduced rugby to the school.
The semi-final performance was typified by a real team effort and the defensive tackling was much improved on the quarter-final outing.
The Rice College panel comprised: David Brasill, Eoin Sexton, Alan Considine, Chris Hanrahan, Ronan O’Halloran, David Flynn, Seamus Quigley, Aaron Lysaght, Hugh Butler, Shane Hanrahan, Dardan Hazari, Conor Teefey, Nicky Twumasi, Fionn O’Carroll-Quinlan, Marcus Casey, Daithi O’Callaghan, Johnny Martin, Johnny Kennedy, Ian Haugh and Segun Juniad.