Despite the flying start to fixtures last week, this week was a mixed bag of results. Teams enjoyed another week of training together, but quickly realised that it would take a lot more hard work and dedication to enjoy a winning streak.
Rugby
1st XV 21 – 35 Reading Bluecoat
Pupil Charlie Sichel offers the following report:
‘The match started well, with Shiplake making good progress up the field and controlling the game both in the forwards and backwards. However, one slip in our defence caused Bluecoat to counter attack and get an easy try in the corner. Despite the setback, we refused to let heads drop, and we went back with the same fighting spirit as before. Through some good forward play and set up, we saw the opportunity for the backs to have a chance with two easy passes and scored our first try, with Charlie Sichel finishing it off.
We went into the second half with the score set at 8-7 to Bluecoat. A few silly errors however throughout the second half saw us begin to rack up the number of penalty conversions, and we let through another try. However, in the last 15 minutes we picked up the pace and began to keep ball in hand, with offloads from almost all players on the field. This lead to our second try going under the post and further one only a few minutes later from Zac Heppner-Logan. Leaving the final score 35-21 to Bluecoat, although a frustrating loss for the team, the players learnt from the mistakes we made and will take this into our future games.’
U15A 0 – 47 Reading Bluecoat
Mr Richard Curtis provides a story from the U15A match:
‘A really disappointing result ultimately reflecting several pretty poor passages of play. From the first kick-off the opposition turned over the ball and finished off under the sticks unopposed. However, Shiplake bounced back with some enterprising handling and good support work leaving the game fairly evenly balanced for the remainder of the first half. A well-worked try from Bluecoat and a 14-0 lead did not represent the equity in the contest at that point.
Another score early in the second half, however, killed off Shiplake’s spirit and we ended up conceding a further four tries to end up with a 47-0 drubbing. A thoroughly disappointing day at the office with many lessons to be learned.’
U15B 31 – 24 Reading Bluecoat
Mr Alex Duncan provides the report from this dynamic game:
‘‘A humdinger’ was how one onlooker described this game – and she was not wrong! Shiplake edged the game 31-24 on the scoreboard and certainly were the better attacking team. With one tried disallowed and another dropped over the line, the final score could have been more convincing. The Bluecoat team were a far better outfit than the one faced last Wednesday and it was great to see so many of the team tackling and defending with spirit and organisation. Shiplake looked comfortable in the first half but only led by three tries to one, and when the opposition fly half used the wind to his advantage, Shiplake looked shaky. Some poor clearances and sloppy play saw the game level with just a few minutes to play. However, some great positive running by Joe Kerrison, Ben Dinsdale, Sam Hargreaves and Morgan Taylor opened some gaps and eventually, Man of the Match Lucas Brooks sprinted through from 15 metres to seal the victory in a spirited local derby.’
U14A XV 41 - 12 Reading Bluecoat
Director of Sport, Mr James Gaunt, offers the following match write-up:
‘Given that this was our second game of the week the boys made a very sprightly start and put together a number of long passages of play to score two lovely early tries through Jerome Rocks and Adam Porter. A dominant scrummage and some advanced breakdown skills meant that Bluecoat got very little ball on the front foot. This enabled Shiplake to be offensive in their tackling and this resulted in many unforced errors from the Bluecoat team. Some excellent work in the tackle area by Seb Hjortland Marks and Max Smith meant that turnover ball was frequent and Shiplake capitalised on this to go into half time 17-0 up. Unfortunately our concentration slipped after half time and the team became too slow to support the ball carrier into contact. This meant our rucks were too slow and that we frequently conceded penalties for holding on to the ball on the ground. Once we regained composure and upped our work rate further tries followed with both Rory Diez Harrison and Jerome Rocks bagging two each. This was another promising display but there is much evidence to suggest that we must strive to improve in almost all areas of our game.’
