Shiplake College

Nine Shiplake College rugby teams were in action on Saturday in matches against Pangbourne College. It proved to be a memorable day for Shiplake, with seven teams earning fantastic victories against their local rivals. In the midweek fixtures, there were matches against local schools Henley College and Gillotts.

Reflecting on Saturday’s series with Pangbourne, Director of Sport James Gaunt commented: “Credit must go to both schools for such a brilliant series of matches. The fact that our boys were able to come out on top in so many close games is testament to the unwavering desire and commitment they have demonstrated so far this term. It is clear the boys are proud to represent Shiplake, and in turn we are proud of their performances. We hope that this work ethic continues for the rest of the season.”

Scroll down for more detailed reports from each team.

1st XV

Saturday – Shiplake 32-30 Pangbourne College

The senior 1st XV led by example, edging a nail-biting thriller by 32 points to 30. After building an early lead with impressive tries from Billy Sayers, Ruairi Van Raalte and Rory O’Conor, Pangbourne fought back with well-worked moves of their own to set up an incredibly tense finish. However, Shiplake defended their line with heart and passion to survive the last ten minutes of solid pressure and experience delight at the final whistle.

Cleanly executed line outs were perhaps the most pleasing element of Shiplake’s performance, as well as the sheer resilience and determination shown in the latter stages. Vice captain Tom Harman commented: “I was very proud to be a part of the Shiplake XV as I saw hunger and passion in the eyes of all our players. We are confident and ready for more games.”

Wednesday – Shiplake 33-24 Henley College

2nd XV

Saturday – Shiplake 43-0 Pangbourne College

The 2nd XV found the going easier on Saturday with a comfortable 43-0 win. The maroon’s try scorers were Urqhuart, James Fenton, James Sloman, Harry Ibbitson, Freddie Ireland and Tom McCooke.

3rd XV

Saturday – Shiplake 36-5 Pangbourne College

We arrived at Pangbourne ready and raring for our defence of the Seccombe Shield, the destination of which would be decided over three breath-taking Test Matches. Like the great man himself who the Shield is named after, we were slow out of the blocks. In the warm up the nerves were clear but some calming words from captain George Atkinson got the boys focused.

We took the kick off and chased the soaring ball into the other half. George Atkinson took down the ball carrier in a ferocious first tackle which set the tone for the match. Straight away we were in ascendency and we moved the ball through the backs to get our first try scored by Atkinson.

We continued to apply pressure and soon had our second try thanks to a great counter-attack score from fly half Conner Cummins. However the referee, former Shiplake teacher Mr Cane-Hard, decided we were infringing a great deal and the penalty count racked up. Eventually we were reduced to 14 men after a sin-binning and Pangbourne capitalised to make the sure 10-5. Luckily Shiplake were able to recover before the break and Dan Deakin (making his International debut) scored and converted his own try to make it 17-5 at half time.

In the second half the fresh legs of Matt Morphy made an instant impact as he beat three tacklers to score in the corner inside two minutes of the restart. Further tries from the impressive inside centre Tom Riches and the disciplined and controlled Harry Geisler enabled us to power to a convincing 36-5 win.

We look forward to welcoming Mr Cane-Hardy’s side back to Shiplake after half term for the 2nd Test. Man of the Match (and the honour of writing the match report) went to Guy Pollard.

U16A

Saturday – Shiplake 12-10 Pangbourne College

First half tries from Ross Johnston and Miles Bridgeman were enough to secure a narrow 12-10 victory for Mr Dix’s team.

The early stages were largely dominated by Pangbourne, but the Shiplake defence were not going to beaten easily and managed to hold firm. Quick offloads between Johnston and Birdsey moved us up the field and earned an offensive scrum on the 5m lline. Johnston himself picked up the ball and bundled over for our first try.

Miles Bridgman missed the first conversion but picked his head up and scored another try almost immediately, bursting through the defence with blistering pace. This time there was no mistake and he added the extras.

With a big bench, Mr Dix made several changes at half time. Shiplake again started brightly and a break from Arbuckle set up more pressure in the Pangbourne 22. Unfortunately, we were unable to make a breakthrough and the game changed in an instant thanks to a fortunate slice of luck. A Pangbourne player appeared to knock the ball on but Shiplake were punished for not playing to the whistle as a try was scored from the resulting play. Pangbourne managed to slot over a penalty late on but Shiplake saw out the last few minutes to secure the win.

Finn Arbuckle (Stand-in captain)

Wednesday – Shiplake 43-0 Gillotts School

U15A

Saturday – Shiplake 19-15 Pangbourne

Despite holding all the aces at the start of the game and playing them at various intervals throughout the game, it was Shiplake who held the trump cards in the end. The powerful pack and midfield runners from Pangbourne pounded the Shiplake defence picking up three tries but the U15As resolute defence fended off a great many more attacks.

The match was finally balanced going into the last five minutes with Pangbourne holding a slim 15-12 advantage before Will Parton made the decisive break out of defence to seal victory with a score under the posts.

Not a great performance but the result reflected the ambition of the Shiplake boys to keep playing right up to the final whistle.

Mr Curtis

Wednesday – Shiplake 17-19 Gillotts School

We started off the match with a Shiplake kick-off and immediately forced a knock on. However, we frequently lost possession ourselves as both teams were still adjusting to the wet conditions. After defending in our 22 for a most of the half we soon found ourselves near the Gillotts try line following some excellent turnovers from Hugo Oglina.

An overthrown line out, gave Els Frisby the opportunity to clear up the mistake and plant the ball over the try line. Gilliotts bounced back and managed to get near our five-metre line. We gave away a few silly penalties causing distress in our defensive line and eventually their scrum half dived over the line.

We went into the second half 7-5 down. With the advantage of the downhill slope we received the kick off. As fatigue hit we started to get slow to the breakdowns and that allowed them to turn over the ball. We soon found ourselves two tries down.

Eager to stage a comeback we managed to gain a penalty and from quick thinking from Ollie Brown, who then passed it to Joachim Ridley-Barker to break two tackles and cross the line. We still needed more points to come out on top – Brad Wilkins outpaced the last defender and scored in the corner. Now trying to make use of every opportunity, we eventually ran out of time leaving the final score 15-19 to Gillotts.

A special mention goes to Hugo Oglina for his outstanding work rate throughout the game. This was recognized by his well-deserved selection into the Headmaster’s XV.

Harvey Hendry (Year 10)

U15B

Saturday – Shiplake 0-54 Pangbourne

A defeat for the U15Bs was the only blip in the Year 10 age group as the boys struggled to cope with the greater physical size of their opponents. Andy Hildred earned the man of the match award after a battling performance.

U15C

Saturday – Shiplake 27-12 Pangbourne

The U15C team impressed a healthy home crowd with a five-try win on the riverside pitches. The boys were lead by captain Jack Cronin (Orchard).

U14A

Saturday – Shiplake 19-31 Panbourne College

This was an unrecognisable performance from the previous week when the team played poorly against Bloxham. We profited from a hard week’s training and put far more intensity and effort into the game. Shiplake bounced back from conceding two early Pangbourne tries with sterling team scores, one by Harry Bradbury and the other by Aelfric Philliskirk.

It was evident that our strong ball carriers and defensive organisation were causing Pangbourne many problems. The second half started poorly but Shiplake soon replied with a score from Jerome Rocks, who made an impressive debut for the team. Had it not been for the immensely powerful Pangbourne number 8 the result would have no doubt have gone in our favour. The final score of 33-19 flattered Pangbourne but the team and a number of individuals should take great pride and confidence from their performances.

Mr Gaunt

Wednesday – Shiplake 30-0 Gillotts School

This game was played in very tough conditions, with wind and rain affecting the accuracy of both sides. Despite much territorial dominance in the first half, we failed to score and therefore capitalise on the chances we had created meaning we went into half time with the match evenly poised at 5-0 to Shiplake.

In the second half, the team played far more sensibly, limiting the amount of offloads we attempted thus putting together longer phases of play. This structure proved too much for our opposition who frequently found themselves defending large overlaps, which thankfully Shiplake managed to finish off. With fewer unforced errors and more control of the field position Shiplake were able to run out comfortable winners in what was another encouraging performance. Matthew Dalyrymple pulled the strings from flyhalf, with Aelfric Philliskirk and Freddie Lind providing the go forward in attack. Matty Fitzgerald and Harry Bradbury were once again very dangerous in broken play but the man of the match performance was given by Jerome Rocks for his outstanding contribution to both defence and attack.