schools cup rugby

Former Ulster scrum-half Neil is part of the Campbell coaching ticket as a rugby consultant while his son Cameron plays in the Wallace front row.

Cameron’s older brother Nathan - now establishing himself in the Ulster No9 shirt - was part of the Wallace side that shared the trophy with Royal School Armagh in 2020 after the final was postponed due to Covid.

“It’s a strange one. I obviously want Cameron and Wallace to do well but not too well,” joked Neil.

“It will be a great day, Cameron is looking forward and I think the schoolboy rugby players that missed out on that Covid season are relishing getting back to playing and there is a real enthusiasm around the schools game at the moment.

“I think both Cameron and I were looking [for] an opportunity to play in the final, we were hoping to go up against Methody or Inst and if luck was on both our sides and we’d win both semi-finals and that would have been a great occasion for the house.

“But we’ll just have to take Wednesday and see what happens on the day.”

Cameron bucked the family trend as both his father and older brother are scrum halves and he plays in the front row.

“I’m not quite sure how that has happened,” laughed Neil.

“He probably has a mixture of my appetite and Nathan’s height. Cameron has done pretty well, he is pretty skilful for a front row forward. Hopefully if he puts his mind to it would be nice to see him and Nathan playing together wearing the white jersey at Kingspan some evening.”

Campbell have beaten Down High School and Dromore to reach the last four.

“It is always nice to get into the semi final and see what my old school has in store for us,” he said.

“It’s the four best teams in the semi-finals which is good from a Schools’ Cup point of