Burr Earn First Bragging Rights

The first inter-house bragging rights of the school year belong to Burr House, who last weekend emerged victorious in the Junior House Rugby competition. Almost every boy in Years 9 and 10 took part in the event, with many enjoying the honour of representing their House for the very first time.

The event is traditionally held after the September Open Morning, but this year saw the introduction of a brand new format. After dominating the inter-house scene over the last few years, our two largest houses (Orchard and Skipwith) have been split in half to establish a fairer level of competition across all events. Already, this appears to have worked, as all five houses featured in the top 3 spots in either the A or B team competition.

On a scorching day, both competitions were closely fought, but it was Burr House who showed the greatest consistency to claim the A competition title. Key players Zeb Hjaltun-Rayner and Joachim Ridley-Barker gave the following account of their team’s efforts on the day:

“We headed out to the New Field to meet Sixth Formers Fili Savou, Jonnie Reed and Rob Downing who warmed us up with basic drills. We started strongly from the kick off in our first match against Orchard (Lapping) with Zeb scoring the first try after great play from Tom Ibbotson. After this, we started to pull away and secured a comfortable win.

We went in to the second match against Welsh with high hopes. The sides were pretty even until an intense spell of Burr pressure paid off, as Hugo Oglina broke through for the first try. This lifted Burr spirits but a defensive blip let Welsh in to equalise. The entire match was very even but Burr managed two further tries from Joachim and Zeb, edging out Welsh who only managed one more try. The entire squad was pumped for the next match against Skipwith (Eggar). Smooth phases and direct running from Tom Ibbitson gave Burr the first try. Skipwith responded immediately, as Ryan Jones’s pace on the wing proved too hot to handle. With time running out, the Burr crowd pushed the team one which led to two more tries leaving the score at 3-1 to Burr.

At this point, we were on a roll and we were not going to lose it. After a motivational speech from Fili Savou, we had strong hopes that we could win the tournament. A powerful run from Sunny Pong allowed Joachim to opening the scoring, before Will Parton responded for Orchard (Bevan) to level the scores. Burr kept their heads up and dug deep with tries from Aelfric Philliskirk, Alfie Marsden and Dom Hance enough for a 4-1 win.

We could now sense victory but had one last challenge against Skipwith (Wells-Furby). The match was very physical with big hits coming from both teams but in the end, the Burr attack was too strong. Tries from Aelfric, Alfie and Dom were enough to secure victory in the match, and the tournament as a whole.”

Skipwith (Eggar) finished in second place, with Welsh House finishing third. Welsh Housemaster Mr Howorth commented: “The boys played very well, winning four matches and losing two. The 3-2 defeat to eventual winners Burr was the deciding factor.”

All in all, it was a very good day for Welsh House as they finished first in the B team competition. They were worthy winners, remaining unbeaten throughout thanks to superb performances from Ben Atkin (5 tries) and Ethan Magala-Oruna. Everett came second with Orchard (Bevan) in third.