Sports Report 28 January 2020

28 January 2020

This week saw a really promising start to the rowing season, with four medals and a Victor Ludorum for our boat club at the Quintin Head in London, as well as some great wins in netball, football and hockey. Well done to all our boys and girls who put in their all for some fantastic results.

Netball

Girls' U18A v Claires Court School

Shiplake’s Netball A team had a great start to the season on Wednesday in their first match against Claires Court. The game started with a Claires Court centre pass, this was quickly turned around by mid-court player A Tunnicliffe. Clean passes lead to movement up the court allowing the goal to be scored by M Arora. This was followed by some positive attacking plays through the court using A Galpin and successful shooting from M Simpson. This left the score at half time 13-7 to Shiplake. Claires Court came back fighting in the third quarter, however Shiplake's strong defence from H Austin, M Jobson and A Baker kept their score to a minimum with continuous movement towards Shiplake's end. Shiplake's attack worked hard in the last quarter and allowed the final score to be 26-19 to Shiplake. An amazing first match, with continuous positive attitudes and encouragement from all players.

Report by E Hodson (Captain)

Girls' U18B v Reddam House

On Wednesday 22 January the B team played their first match of the season against Reddam House. Shiplake started the match with great enthusiasm and strong defence from L Worthington and H Putner, the ball was passed down the court well, with A Selwyn and L Pasmore making some clean interceptions. By half time Reddam were up by 5 goals, however, with some quick drives and great shooting from S Joyce, E Guironnet and A Hallam, Shiplake began to close the gap and scored 4 goals by the end of the third quarter. Reddam kept up a strong attack right through to the end of the game, however, Shiplake maintained a high morale and managed to score one last goal before the whistle was blown. All the girls played extremely well and a particular congratulations to A Selwyn who got player of the match. The score was 5-13 to Reddam.

Report by A Hallam (Captain)

Rowing

Quintin Head

The Shiplake College Boat Club scooped the Victor Ludorum for best combined results after a fantastic start to the season at Quintin Head in London, last Saturday (18 January), winning four medals.

Quintin Head is raced from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge and is a good practice run for the Schools' Head of the River race in March.

Shiplake entered six teams of eights, with the three Junior 18 eights finishing in 1st, 6th and 16th places, the Junior 16s finishing 2nd, and the two matched Junior 15 crews finishing 1st and 2nd.

As a result of winning the Victor Ludorum, the College was awarded a £600 coxbox.

It was great to get out and race in eights for the first time this season. We are looking forward to building towards the major national rowing events of the year.

Report by Mr David Currie, Director of Rowing

Rowing photo credits: Mr Luke Theophilus

Football

2nd XI v The John Lyon School

Shiplake's second game of the season was against The John Lyon School. The match opened up with Shiplake getting some early chances putting John Lyon School under pressure. M Healy got Shiplake ahead, with a great header from a corner making it 1-0 Shiplake. Mr Geyton and Mr Cooper spoke at half time about keeping our head switched on going into the second half and how the opposition would come out harder after the break. At the start of the second half, Shiplake were sloppy, loosing the ball in dangerous parts of the field. This is where F Brown made some great saves keeping Shiplake ahead. With the game still in the balance, Shiplake started to turn the pressure on John Lyon School which lead to a own goal from a deflected A Arnold cross made it 2-0 to Shiplake at full time. Shiplake were delighted with this result but know we can play a lot better than that. Shiplake will be looking forward to training on Monday and prepare for a challenging match against RGS Guildford on Wednesday.

Man of the match: A Arnold

Goals: M Healy, own goal (A Arnold)

4th XI v The John Lyon School

Fantastic Fourths feed opponents to the Lyons!

Wednesday afternoon witnessed a sensational performance by the IV team as they mercilessly triumphed 6-2 with a performance that demonstrated skill, poise, teamwork and character.

Beginning with an out-of-this-world (and 100% intentional) goal by full-back B Wallace with a shot that arrowed into the net taken almost from the half way line, what followed was a rapid onslaught. A composed finish by the battling C Stewart made it 2-0, from a delectable pass laced through by W Kayll, who dominated proceedings throughout and capped it off with a spectacular long-range strike of his own. J Yulhanson-Hutchins added to the scoreline at a crucial time, thundering the ball into the back of the net after working some space, deservedly underlining a strong performance by him. And with the jaded blue shirted opponents already reeling in the face of the Shiplake red terror, and with S Green battling heroically in the middle to ensure dominance, H Batchelor then buried a brace with steel in his eyes and the cold of an assassin.

The entire performance was shielded by the towering, impervious defensive partnership of R Abery and worthy Captain C Ambrose-McCorkack, who fought like Spartans on the slopes of Thermopylae; not to mention a magnificent, stoic showing from new goalkeeper F Cherry. Foremost, the conduct of all the players was outstanding; exhibiting respect, professionalism and sportsmanship at all times. A pride to Shiplake College! Surely the first of many victories! The next victims to fall into their dreaded shadow are RCS in Guildford next Wednesday.

Man of the Match: W Kayll.

Honourable mentions: S Green, H Batchelor, R Abery

Report by Mr J Player

Hockey

1st XI v Leighton Park

Shiplake went into the game hoping to build on their impressive draw against Lord Wandsworth last week. The squad had been putting the hours in on the training ground, working hard on attacking plays that would make them more clinical in the D. So intense had the training been that M Bromell, the first choice keeper, was injured by a S Gillen rocket during a shooting exercise and had to sit out the match. As a result, veteran fourth choice keeper and die hard Spice Girls fan C Creighton had to deputise.

The game started well for Shiplake, who showed composure on the ball and quickly moved up the right flank with D Deakin firing a ball across the D, which O Rouse Roberts flicked on to the back post for I Beasley to volley, baseball style, into the net. He wheeled away in celebration and taking in the rapturous applause from the spectators. There may even have been a tear of jubilation. Not a bad way to open his goal scoring account and his market value will certainly have risen, with plenty of time still left in the January transfer window.

The rest of the first half was largely dominated by the Shiplake team, with H Kunzig, H Watts, J Underwood and Z Tilley comfortably controlling the pace of the game at the back, although C Creighton was losing his patience with his centre backs leaving Leighton Park's number 9 unmarked 'for the 2 millionth time'. Nonetheless, the opposition counter attacks were quickly snuffed out and S Gillen, O Rouse Roberts and A Langeler provided a solid base from which attacks were launched. Some have compared A Langeler to the famous Harry Potter, such is the magic and wizardry which comes from the wand he uses.

Half time arrived with the score still at 1-0 and after an inspired team talk, the squad knew the expectations. No complacency. No drop in work rate. No prisoners.

Shortly after the whistle for the start of the second half, Shiplake's Development Squad (Lower School) arrived to show their support and they were given an absolute feast of hockey. O Rouse Roberts was the first to benefit, after his younger, quicker brother L Rouse Roberts worked hard to win the ball back on the left wing. S Gillen shipped the ball out wide, putting his pass onto a postage stamp and O Rouse Roberts beat his man before unleashing a thunderbolt in the bottom left corner. Next up, full time danger man I Beasley, who had been hungry for more since his first goal, was fed the ball and slapped home from close range. I thought his first celebration was passionate, but the second shows just how much the club means to him as he raced away, planting a kiss on the badge.

There was still time for 2 more goals, with D Deakin getting his name on the score sheet with a cheeky dinked effort into the corner, giving the keeper no chance. O Rouse Roberts gave the home support one more moment of brilliance as he turned a defender, turned to the final page of 'Hockey - Completed It', and tomahawked a reverse stick effort into the roof of the net. Safe to say that the Lower School were impressed and rumours are that O Rouse Roberts had to hang behind for 20 minutes signing autographs at the end of the game.

An excellent all round performance by the squad and they will be hoping to carry this momentum into next week, away at Radley College.

Man of the Match: O Rouse Roberts

Report by Mr T Walter

Junior As v Cokethorpe School

It was a long drive to Cokethorpe but the astroturf looked amazing when we arrived. The juniors only had enough time for a quick comfort break before the fixture started. Shiplake had the first push back and L Poundall and M Noakes attacked down the right immediately. It looked like it was going to be an exciting game. The first half was very much a midfield battle with a few Cokethorpe players getting through to the D. M Walker was debuting in goal and made some crucial saves early on to keep Shiplake in the game. F Heggie found himself in a great position in front of goal and was unlucky not to come away with a goal. The half ended 0-0.

Half-time saw Shiplake regroup and shift a few players around which gave them more support in the midfield. M Grundy was commanding in defence and proved crucial in clearing up the waves of attack. Finally, Shiplake were awarded a penalty corner and they were able to launch some significant shots on goal. One was saved on the line with a foot and F Heggie stepped forward to take the penalty stroke, putting it top right. 1-0.

The next 10 minutes saw Shiplake relentless in their attack and they were awarded numerous penalty corners with one of them finding the net, F Heggie again. The last three minutes saw Shiplake lose focus and Cokethorpe were able to get in the D and just beat the keeper. Final score 2-1 to Shiplake.

U13s v Sir William Borlase

We started off strong by making some good tackles from the amazing defence and great saves by L Wilson. After some great runs we finally scored the first goal of the match by S Mealing, but the other team was getting stronger and made some good tackles and saves from their goalkeeper. Before we knew it, it was half time and we were 1-0 up. After a team talk from our coach Mr Curtis we made a few substitutions and in the first few minutes of the second half H Benton scored to make the score 2-0 to Shiplake, the game was looking good. The teams were very even until the last few minutes when J Coe scored the last goal of the game. At full time the score was 3-0 to Shiplake. It was a great game to captain and I look forward to playing with this team again. Well done to everyone who played.

Report by H Benton (Captain)