On Thursday 16 March, Finn Arbuckle led his rugby 7s team to Hazelwood, London, in order to compete in the Society of Heads 7s tournament. Accompanied by Director of Rugby Mr Sam Beckett and 1st VII coach Mr Tom Armstrong, the team were looking to make an impact at the famous rugby competition. This they did with tremendous aplomb; going up against teams from larger rugby schools, the Shiplake side proved that training and hard work really pays off as they sailed through each match undefeated, lifting the winners’ trophy!
Finn Arbuckle, Harvey Hendry, JJ Acton, Matty Fitzgerald, Harry Rees, Robbie Cartwright, Lucas Smyth, Louis Ashcroft, Casper Wise, Ollie Brown and Els Frisby made up the victorious Shiplake side. The team have spent each Monday, Tuesday and Friday in training sessions with former England rugby 7s coach and Old Viking Chris Cracknell (00O), who also coached the Fiji team to Olympic Gold. Arriving at the London Irish ground, the Shiplake side were drawn to play against Shebbear College. Despite a slow start, it was not long before the team found their stride and worked hard to achieve a 26-7 victory. With this win under their belts, they moved on to play Seaford College, and came away with a 40-0 victory. With only one game left to play in the first division, the Shiplake side took on Milton Abbey – and gained their third win of the tournament, with a 51-0 final score.
This saw Shiplake comfortably through to the finals, where they found themselves up against local rival Reading Blue Coat School, but sailed through to the final with a 24-7 victory. That only left Reed’s School to play in the final. Certainly the hardest of the matches, as legs were tiring and the team were feeling the pressure. However, they kept it together and with some fantastic tries from Harry Rees won the game 12-5, meaning that they were crowned winners of the tournament! Captain Finn Arbuckle said of the day: ‘the team just went out there and gave it their all and it really paid off. Training with Chris has definitely given us an edge and helped us to better understand the game and the tactics to employ. Harvey Hendry, Joe Booth, Matty Fitzgerald and Ollie Brown all played exceptionally well. We took it game by game and it wasn’t really until the semi-finals that we realised we actually had a chance of winning! I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished and hope that we can replicate the performance at the Rosslyn Park 7s this week. With any luck, we’ll get through to the second day of the tournament – which will be a first for Shiplake!’
