Academy flex muscles to land bonus
BELFAST Royal Academy picked up a bonus-point win over Belfast High School in the new Danske Bank Schools’ Cup group stages, but that result looked anything but certain when they flatteringly led 7-0 at half-time.
Forward possession led to an early try by winger Ollie Parks, who also added the extra points, but it was the home team who upped their game and deserved to be at least on level terms at the halfway stage.
Academy had to defend stoutly against the big and strong High School forwards and they managed to do so before dominating the third quarter.
A brilliant back move saw winger Aaron Gooderham go in at the corner before Parks scored the try of the day. He ran in under the posts from 60 metres and then converted.
A break by centre Elliott Donaldson led to the bonus-point try when captain and No.8 Rob Sturgess dived over and suddenly Academy were 26 points ahead.
A sweeping move resulted in second-row forward Lewis West crashing over, but the home team persevered and, following pressure and a penalty a few metres out, Scott Dennis showed his strength to make the line for Aaron Douglas to goal.
With the last move, Jack Davis broke through to score for Parks to bring his points tally to 18. SOUTH Africa captain Siya Kolisi does not believe his side need to ramp up their mental state to face quarter-final opponents Japan after insisting they have been playing “do-or-die” rugby since touching down.
The Springboks will have to battle the Brave Blossoms — as well as the lion’s share of the sell-out 50,000-strong crowd at the Tokyo Stadium — tomorrow if they are to reach the last-four.
But it will be no easier a challenge than the one they faced in their tournament opener, when Rassie Erasmus’ side kicked-off against champions New Zealand.
A 23-13 defeat left the Boks with no margin for error but they refused to blink and took care of Namibia, Italy and Canada with minimum fuss.
And Kolisi believes his men have shown they can cope under pressure, having survived three win-or-bust encounters to reach the knockout stages.
He said: “Luckily for us it’s been do-or-die since the first game, so we’ve been in that mindset for a couple of weeks now.
“Sunday is not like any other Test match. It’s play-off time now. We have all prepared for it mentally and the coaches haven’t put that kind of pressure on us.
“But we know what needs to be done. I don’t think anybody needs to tell us that this is a big game. If we don’t know that already then we are in the wrong place.”