The bottom senior team in the club is traditionally the veterans team and has known substantial success over the past 40 years . No team in Ulster has won as many McCambley Cups (the premier knock out cup for the Minor Leagues)...
The bottom senior team in the club is traditionally the veterans team and has known substantial success over the past 40 years . No team in Ulster has won as many McCambley Cups (the premier knock out cup for the Minor Leagues) and in May 2015 travelled to France and won the Festival of Veterans Rugby at St Savin....to be crowned the self declared unofficial Champions of Veteran Rugby in Europe!!!
The present incarnation of the team ( better known as “the Black Knights) got together in 2004 under the initial captaincy and management of Neil Workman and have had fantastic success winning the McCambley Cup in 2005,2006,2007 and 2010 (no other team in cup history has won the cup 3 times in a row),being beaten finalists in 2008 and 2011, and “doing the double in 2010” by also winning the league (under the inspired management of current 1st xv manager Robin Johnston) .
The team has included a number of Ulster players over the past 8 years , including 2 European cup winners in Rab Irwin and Andy Matchett, Ian Moles who played in the Ulster victory over Australia and Shane Stewart who also played for the Newport Gwent Dragons.
The Black Knights also include a large number of former Ards 1st XV stalwarts including Cyril Stocker, Stephen Bell, Nigel Lynch, JD Gamble, Gordy Mcbride, Gary Dempsey, Geoff Garrett, Stevie Nutt and Gary Presho to name but a few.
In recent seasons the Black Knight's 'power play' has been superb but this season the addition of a few younger players has helped the team get around the park!!
The team is managed by Stuart Stevenson - 07760162505