Another week of well played fixtures, that saw some mixed results. Whilst there was a disappointing loss for the 1st XV against St Edwards, other Shiplake teams played incredibly well and brought home some solid victories.
Rugby
1st XV 7-19 St Edward’s
Pupil Charlie Sichel provides the report from the game:
‘We started this game knowing that St Edward’s would be determined to have their name in green at the end of the game. However, we didn’t put let this diminish our fighting spirit, and started the game with a strong focus. The match didn’t start how we had hoped; with a slip in communication from the restart, and a good push from the opposition in the scrum, we ended up on our own 22. With quick hands along to the wing St Edward’s scored their first try. This try was the push we needed to really get our heads into the game. We made good ground up their side of the pitch with them continually conceding penalties. However, through some tactical errors we couldn’t finish what could have been a try. We continued to stay in their half, but through a few errors and a good driving maul from the Teddies they managed to score another try just before half time, which left the score 14-0.
Going into the second half, we were in control of this game, and with strong defence from both the forwards and backs we did not see them break our backline. With penalties still being continually conceded by them we had a lot of time on the ball and made hard yards in the half. With some strong forwards play and back moves we kept the pressure on them in their half and, with only 2 minutes to go, we broke their line and Zac Heppner-Logan made the try. This made the final score 19-7. This result, although disappointing, has thrown light on tactics that need work during training, as well as how to approach different opponents.’U15C 25-15 St Edward’s
Mr Chris Alcock gives the report from this victorious match:
‘The U15C team triumphed over the Teddies, who started the match slowly. The Shiplake boys took advantage of the pitch, making wide passes that caught the opposition by surprise. Although St Edward’s managed to score, the Shiplake boys worked well together and closed the match with a respectable final score of 25 to 15. They now set their sights on to their next match against local rivals Pangbourne.’
U14A XV 33 v St Edward’s 0
Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt offers the following report from this well-played match:
‘Playing away at St Edward’s is never an easy task, but the team settled brilliantly scoring off a well worked slice pattern from the kick off. After this positive start the game began to get scrappy, as we started to force offloads that were not on to give. Sometimes we just needed to re-set play with a ruck, and then look to play with width. Despite this we did score a second try through Jerome Rocks, and we went into half time 12-0 up.
At half time we decided that we would offload less frequently which we set about doing well. However, the realignment from rucks was not good enough, meaning that we never had the depth to pass the ball beyond two passes from the breakdown. Teddies’ line speed was good and forced us to rush our play. However, our superior fitness and skill set meant that we scored more late tries through Jerome Rocks and Rory Harrison Diez. Jerome Rock’s contribution was excellent, meaning he was awarded Man of the Match. We are now setting our sights towards next week’s derby against Pangbourne.’
U12A 32-0 Caldicott Preparatory School
Captain of the U12A team Milo Connolly provides this report:
‘On Wednesday 7 October the Shiplake team went over to Caldicott. We started the game with a nice high kick. Ten minutes into the match, Shiplake’s Henry Poustie got the ball over the line. Shiplake’s rucking was effective, and we managed to get the ball out wide with Archie Arnold running half the pitch and scoring under the posts. We struggled a little with the tackling. However, Jamie Seddon gave a great pass to Archie on the blind side and managed to get the score 15-0. The whistle went for half time.
Caldicott kicked off for the second half. The next try for Shiplake made the score 22-0. Jamie Seddon scored the next try, and a further two tries made the final score of 32-0. We were very much in control throughout the match, and this gave us a chance to experiment with different positions.’
