Both sides can thank their place kickers for earning a second bite at the cherry, as King's Hospital and St Andrew's played out a hard fought draw in this second round encounter at Templeville Road.

There was a fascinating front eight tactical battle as the two teams adopted a strict 10 man game, with the centres and wings not offered scope to exercise any attacking options.

King's Hospital skipper, Billy Telford, and fellow prop Ravi Chauhan shaded the scrummaging exchanges but St Andrew's stood head and shoulders above their opponents in the line outs, with the towering Damian Hall responsible for their landslide of possession from that source.

St Andrew's failed to drive home the advantage gained from some quality line out ball, with scrum half Andrew Boyd repeatedly kicking for touch to set the whole process in motion again; but they did surge into a 10th minute lead with number eight Peter Bracken landing a remarkable left footed penalty from fully 40 yards.

Bracken split the posts with an identical penalty in the 29th minute after King's Hospital went over the top at a rock. This sent St Andrew's into the halftime break with a six point lead.

But intense forward pressure after the interval soon deflated that advantage and propelled King's Hospital back into the match. Fullback Ross Nowlan atoned for an earlier miss by landing a pair of penalties in the 40th and 62nd minutes, to permit his school to fight another day.