Banbridge Academy happy to forfeit home advantage for chance to make Schools' Cup history against Sullivan Upper at Kingspan Stadium

It is the first time the home of Ulster Rugby has hosted a game outside of a semi-final or final in the competition and will be played as a curtain-raiser before Richie Murphy’s side take on Zebre in the United Rugby Championship.

Banbridge have had to forfeit home advantage for the tie but as coach Gareth McClintock explains, once the school were offered the chance to play at Kingspan Stadium there wasn’t much of a debate.

“That was definitely one of the factors we looked at when this was first put to us,” he said. “We weighed up the experience and opportunity that is in front of boys to go and play at the Kingspan compared to having that home advantage.

“Obviously it is an advantage to be at home and some of them will have played there for seven years through their school career.

"But playing at Kingspan is the pinnacle and something that you aim for in schoolboy rugby, so to turn down that opportunity for home advantage it really was a no brainer.

"It is very exciting for the boys and I didn’t want to take that away from them.

“The way we play and a couple of the players that we have in the team this year, playing on that big pitch at the Kingspan and on the 4G will hopefully suit our style of play.”

McClintock says there has been a "buzz” around the school since the match was confirmed.

“There really is a good buzz about the school,” he said. “A lot of supporters have signed up through school to go, and there will be outside supporters and Ulster rugby supporters coming along too.

“The boys are looking forward to it, there is almost a sort of festival atmosphere to it.

"We’ll be leaving school around noon and until about 8.30pm we’re at Kingspan.

"With our match and the Ulster match it really will be a day of rugby.”

It is McClintock’s first season at Banbridge Academy, where he moved after a decade in charge at Royal School Dungannon.

“I was at Dungannon for 11 years and really enjoyed my time there,” he said. “It was a difficult move when it first came up because the question was do you go for it or not?

“I was settled in Dungannon and really enjoyed it there with he staff and the pupils.

"But I put everything in motion and started going through the process and, to be honest, Banbridge Academy was one of very schools that I would have considered a move to.

"So when the opportunity did come up I was excited about it.

“Brian Leslie has done excellent work over the years with Banbridge Academy rugby and I know it is in a good place.

"And it is exciting for me to come in and try to improve that further if I can and build on what he has already got in there.

“There is a great buzz with rugby in the school, as there is with a number of sports.”

Banbridge got into the Sullivan clash having qualified for the knockout stages by winning all three group games.

McClintock added: “I would say in all the games (when) we left a few scores on the pitch.

"The first one was Dungannon.

"For me, heading back up the road for the first Schools’ Cup game since leaving there, it was a proper fight.

"It was very tight and we were in the building stages at that point.

"And we got away with a win, which was important.

“Then Dalriada, who have had a very good season this year.

"And we knew that was one of our bigger games in the group.

"And again we battled out a good, hard-fought win on our home turf.

“The final game heading down to Omagh you’re never going to get an easy game there.

"But the boys lifted their performance and we are gradually getting better going through the group stages, which is the beauty of the group stages.

“The guys love having that competitive rugby throughout the season.

"We finished top of the group and it wasn’t something that we wanted to leave to question – whether we’d need winning bonus points or losing bonus points.

"We just wanted the three wins, which guaranteed us qualification.”

Banbridge lost to winners RBAI in last season’s quarter-finals and McClintock’s priority is to avoid a repeat at that stage of the competition.

“We have a few back,” he said. “A lot of the back line from last year are missing.

"And a couple of players in the forwards like Connor Magee, who has been selected for Ireland U20s, was a key player last year.

"But we have other boys in there like Noel Bell, Ryan Hanna and Andrew Jackson, who are experienced players coming through with that first team last year and are living off the experience and success.

"And are able to pass that on to a lot of the other boys this year.

“When you get to a quarter-final you are sort of setting that stall out.

"That is where you want to be again, minimum.

"For now, we are certainly happy to be in round four and even more excited now it is at the Kingspan.

"And we are hoping to go onto the next stage.”

Play is set to start at 2 o’clock.