The highlight of the Shiplake Rugby calendar, Friday Night Lights, happened last week, on an unfortunately cold and wet evening. This didn't dampen spirits however, as the Shiplake 1st XV played an incredible game against Lord Wandsworth College, securing an emphatic win! Earlier on the evening, the U13s and U12s played against Gillotts School. The U13s also walked away victorious after winning 5-1, while the U12s were unfortunate in losing 6-3.
1st XV v Lord Wandsworth College
This is the highlight of the rugby calendar for the players, who ran out to the pitch to a great reception from the stands. Lord Wandsworth kicked off but Shiplake found themselves defending early on. A poorly timed hit in the first few minutes of the game resulted in a yellow card and the home side going three points down. Shiplake, now a man down, were struggling to find ways through their defensive line. Both sides often knocked the ball on while the players got to grips with the greasy conditions. Shiplake’s line speed put pressure on the Wandsworth attack and it wasn’t long before they had a scrum inside their 22. A set play move led Louis Ashcroft to dive over the line for the first try of the game. Joe Booth converted. Shiplake were now 7-3 ahead, slowly gaining confidence and the back line were managing to gain serious yards in the wider channels of the field. However, the penalty count was high and it soon cost them again before the half time whistle sounded. Half time, Shiplake 7 – Wandsworth 6.
Wandsworth applied the pressure in the first few minutes of the second half but Shiplake managed to turn the ball over inside their 22. Shiplake launched the counter attack and quick ball down the short side meant Harvey Hendry could weave his way through the broken field. Ashcroft was in support and a pass back to Hendry resulted in a score, seven minutes into the second half. Booth converted the extras giving Shiplake a bit of breathing space. Now with a lot of confidence, Shiplake began their ascension and looked much livelier than their performance in the first half. Ben Stacey was next to cross the line in the corner after the forwards ran a zigzag and found themselves with an extra man on the blindside. Substitutions made, and they brought plenty of energy onto the field, keeping the squad going. Shiplake benefited from the wide pitch with the pace in the back 3, which was shown shortly after a loose ball was passed out wide for youngster Rory Diez-Harrison to dive over the line to add to the score line. The score was now 26-6 after Booth again added the extras. With just a few minutes left to play, tensions were high and another unneeded discipline issue lead to the second yellow card Shiplake saw. This added unnecessary pressure onto the Shiplake boys and Wandsworth capitalised on the extra man and managed to secure a try for themselves through a pick and go. The final score of the game was 26-11 to Shiplake. Thanks to all of the supporters who headed down to cheer on the boys.
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2nd XV v Lord Wandsworth College
On a wet and muddy day, the 2nd XV played with great control and patience to overcome a well drilled and dangerous opposition, who included their 1st XV bench from the Friday Night Lights game.
After dominating early exchanges Shiplake had to display great patience around the try line, with scrum half Callum Theodorou chipping through for Harry Holmes to collect and score in the corner. Marauding forward, Callum Brady soon added a second try to settle any nerves, with Joe Kerrison adding the conversion to make it 12-0. Holmes soon added his second after some fine link-up play between backs and forwards, with prop Brad Wilkins putting him over in the corner to make it 19-0 at half time.
Shiplake made four changes at half time and these fresh legs immediately made an impact by combining with Matt Dalrymple, who set up Joe Christie to score in the corner. However, Wandsworth fought back and Shiplake’s defence had to make tackle after tackle. Eventually pressure told with Lord Wandsworth pulling the score back to 24-14. However Harry Holmes completed his hat-trick with Dalrymple adding the conversion to seal a 31-14 win.
U15 B v Lord Wandsworth College
The U15 B team continued their excellent recent form with a narrow victory over Lord Wandsworth, stretching their winning run to three games. This was undoubtedly their best performance of the season against a well-drilled and powerful Lord Wandsworth side. Shiplake were aggressive in the tackle and at the breakdown, with particularly impressive performances from Ralph Burrows, Ben Acton and Harry Clark. With the ball in hand try scorers Josh Hazell and Josh Wombwell stood out and both will be pushing for starting places in the A team. Half backs Max Way and Luke Theodorou controlled the game well with a combination of accurate passing and varied kicking. Luke played a large part in our 21-19 victory by successful converting all three of our tries.
U12 A v Gillotts School
On a crisp Friday night, the excitement was high as the U12s made their way on the bus to their first ever Friday Night Lights, everyone was in good spirits and the singing on the bus built the excitement more. The team was focused, and after a short and sharp warm up the game kicked off. With Shiplake receiving, Gillotts defended well and unfortunately caused the turnover to score an early try, Shiplake received again and unfortunately, a similar situation happened. However, from there the Shiplake boys sparked in to life and with some fantastic offloading and carrying from the likes of Josh Hamer, Josh Greig-Bartram and Dan Coles to name a few, Shiplake made their way up the field to put pressure on the Gillotts try line. This payed off and our boys were rewarded with a try from Josh Hamer. Gilson came away with two more tries in the first half; though the score line did not reflect the teamwork, respect and pressure that Shiplake showed during the game.
The second half was very much end-to-end rugby with fantastic play from both teams, Gillotts scored a further 2 tries, which were answered by a superb team try setting up Louie Rouse-Roberts and a fine solo try from Finn Suter. Even though the game finished in Gillotts favour, the team played their best game all year; they showed enjoyment throughout and made the coaches, parents and supporters extremely proud. Special mentions to Harry Saker and Ewan Pratt making their A team debuts, as well as Harrison Richards who showed outstanding communication, teamwork and respect throughout the game.
Other Results:
- Shiplake 3rd XV v Leighton Park School: Won 17-5
- Shiplake U16 A v Lord Wandsworth College: Lost 12-10
- Shiplake U16 B v Lord Wandsworth College: Lost 49-7
- Shiplake U15 A v Lord Wandsworth College: Lost 31-7
- Shiplake U14 A v Lord Wandsworth College: Lost 49-7
- Shiplake U14 B v Lord Wandsworth College: Lost 17-12
- Shiplake U13 A v Gillotts School: Won 5-1