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Friends' School Lisburn have had an appeal to move the date of their Schools' Cup quarter-final rejected, leaving them without 18 players for Saturday's game against Belfast Royal Academy.

Friends' are due to welcome BRA to Lisburn in their quarter-final match-up this weekend, but due to a school ski trip, the majority of their squad will be absent.

Despite knowing a potential quarter-final would be this weekend, the school went ahead and allowed their senior rugby squad to sign up for the trip, which returns on Saturday, likely under the assumption they would not be involved.

But the team performed better than expected, defeating Antrim Grammar, Coleraine Grammar and Grosvenor all on the way to the last eight.

The situation led to an appeal from the school to the Schools' Committee hoping to get the game moved to at least Monday, however this was denied by the board at a hearing on Tuesday night.

It is believed there were fears over potential fixture congestion, as well as the desire to avoid setting a precedent with regards to postponing fixtures, with the board stating the game would be played on Saturday or not at all.

While Friends' forfeiting the tie is a possibility, the school tweeted this morning that they were committed to playing the match, however the decision may be out of their control.

If they cannot put together a team that has enough front row replacements, a requirement at all levels of the game, then they will not be allowed to play the game under safety regulations, resulting in a forfeit.

They have explored the possibility of bringing back some of the players early from the ski trip, in particular any upper sixth students for whom this would be their last season of senior rugby, with those in question open to the idea.

However, that would leave their team under-prepared compared to their opponents, who will have had a full week of training ahead of the big game.