The U14A side continued to make pleasing progress this week, under the guidance of Director of Sport Mr Gaunt. In addition to two enjoyable fixtures, the boys began a strength and conditioning programme, utilising the expertise of new personal trainer Chris Emmett. Many games fell victim to the weather but the 1st XV took part in part 2 of their Friday Night Lights fixtures.
Shiplake College U14A 20-22 Merchant Taylors’ School
This was a fantastic game of rugby which despite a loss was by far our most impressive performance of the season. The boys’ commitment at the breakdown was superb with every player on the field showing the ability to “spider” effectively through contact once the tackle had been made. This ensured we regularly turned Merchant Taylor players over when they had established prominent attacking areas on the field.
Unfortunately two passages of lost concentration cost us; one just after kick off when a series of missed tackles led to a soft try being conceded and the other happening half way through the second half when the fullback scored from a loose kick.
At half time with the game evenly poised at 10-12 it was game on. Merchant Taylors’ scored first but more fantastic link play lead to a try from Aelfric Philiskirk. This kept us in touch and left the score at 20-22 with five minutes to play. Unfortunately the conversion drifted over the top of the left upright and further pressure did not result in any scores meaning we lost by a mere two points.
Shiplake College U14A 43-0 St Birinus
To turn around from the disappointment of Saturday and produce a performance like this was an superb effort.
The game started with five minutes of constant Shiplake pressure, offloads were well measured, ball presentation was good and the go forward was impressive. The inevitable scores came and soon Shiplake College found themselves comfortably up through two tries from Jerome Rocks.
With the game won the temptation could have been to play selfishly but this was not the case as the side pushed on to register further scores through Josh Howard and another by Jerome Rocks to complete his hatrick from No 8. This now means that the U14XV find themselves in the final of the Oxfordshire Cup which will be played against Marlborough College on December 9.
Later in the week the the boys spent an hour with new strength and conditioning coach Chris Emmett who started to teach them about conditioning through the use of functional bodyweight exercises. My hopes are that the boys will complete these sessions regularly throughout the Christmas period and beyond.
Mr Gaunt
Shiplake 1st XV 0-15 Merchant Taylors’ School
The Shiplake 1st XV failed to make it two wins out of two in Friday Night Lights with a disappointing defeat away to Merchant Taylors’.
The squad had a disjointed week of training ahead of the match due to injuries and other school commitments. This imperfect preparation proved costly as the maroons failed to match the intensity of their thrilling win against Lord Wandsworth College on the previous Friday.
With a much smaller crowd than the home equivalent, Shiplake made a slow start with the forwards struggling to control the breakdown. This allowed Merchant Taylors’ to score a soft try. The Oxfordshire side did respond well with some very good individual performances from Will Janes and Ruairi Van Raalte. It was also fantastic to see young Finn Arbuckle perform so well on his senior debut, in such a high profile fixture.
Merchant Taylors’ scored two further tries to secure a 15-0 victory. Vice captain Tom Harman commented: “Rugby is team game and unfortunately the strong individual performances were not enough to win the match. We are disappointed but overall have had a great season and we will look to end it on a high in the coming weeks.”
More photos from the game, kindly taken by Mr Baker, can be viewed here.
U13 Sevens Tournament
The U13 boys were once again losing finalists in the Abingdon Prep 7s tournament. Shiplake had actually beaten tournament winners Abingdon A in the group stages but fell agonisingly short in the final after a long afternoon of rugby. They performed excellently throughout the day, impressing team coach Mr Walter.
Group Stages
Shiplake 43-0 Abingdon Prep
Shiplake 26-7 Thomas's Clapham
Shiplake 31-22 Abingdon A
Semi Final
Shiplake 19-10 Abingdon B
Final
Shiplake 19-33 Abingdon A
Other Midweek Results
Shiplake U16A 30-0 Thorpe House School
Shiplake U14C 17-10 Thorpe House School
Shiplake U12A 0-5 Thorpe House School
