With the first Exeat weekend of the year now behind us we look forward to this Sunday's Shiplake Rugby 7s Tournament. With 192 players from 16 schools, it's sure to be a battle like none other for the prestigious Cracknell Cup! Last week however, we had some great results coming from our 1st XI and Under 13s Hockey team. With any luck, the exeat weekend will have given all of our players enough rest and relaxation to recharge their batteries ahead of the rest of the season.
Hockey
1st XI v Leighton Park School
Last Wednesday, Shiplake’s 1st XI hockey team travelled to Leighton Park to play their second fixture of the season. The heavy rain did not reflect the team’s mood as a pre-match talk from Mr Walter and some Cadbury mini rolls cheered the team up.
Shiplake had the push back at the start and used this to their advantage. They played heavily down both sides of the wing, and started to attack the Leighton Park defence. After a shot at the goal from Louis Ashcroft, the ball ricocheted and hit an opposition player in the face. This resulted in a break of play and their free hit. This was the first time Leighton Park had held the ball in their own half. Their defender went to hit the ball upfield but was stopped by Jack Rees in the midfield who attempted a shot on the goal but was held back by their defenders. It was clear that the majority of the game would be played in their half. At the half time whistle, the score was 4-0 to Shiplake. Brandon Tan in particular was impressing with a first half hat trick.
After a very short team talk from Mr Walter and assistant coach Mr Johnston about how well the team were doing and where to improve, they went back out and continued to play better and better hockey. Shiplake were passing it around the field very well, even when there were a few opportunities to dribble. After a stick tackle in the Shiplake D resulted in a short corner, everyone's hearts dropped, until Jamie Gibbs cleared the ball upfield to Ollie Brown, then to Dom Deakin into the D and finished by Ollie. In the dying moments of the game, Louis Ashcroft, from the top of their D, took a shot and it went flying past the keeper into the back of the net.
Despite being comfortably ahead, Shiplake continued to play a simple passing game, working the ball through the lines with unseen before accuracy and pace. It really was a show of fantastic hockey, demonstrating how far the team has come in the last 3 years. Even without the ball, Shiplake worked tirelessly and pressed effectively to deny Leighton Park any opportunity to attack.
The final score was 11-0 Shiplake. With hat tricks coming from Brandon Tan and Ollie Brown, two from Calum Creighton, One from Louis Ashcroft, Arthur Langeler and Jack Rees. Well done to everyone that played, man of the match goes to Ollie Brown for a hat trick from defence and goal of the match goes to Callum Creighton following his amazing run and quick shot. Many thanks to Mrs Tan for supplying chocolatey snacks post game!
Report provided by Brandon Tan
U13A v Cokethorpe
Shiplake’s Under 13s had not had a training session since the last game so they had no time to practice. The team was ready to play though, against a school that they knew would be highly skilled. So, off they went to Cokethorpe for a good game of hockey.
Shiplake started slowly and conceded in the first few minutes but moments of brilliance from Archie Smith resulted in a goal to Shiplake. Our boys then scored three quick goals and conceded another goal before half time, making the score 4 - 2 to Shiplake.
After half time, the team started strong but it wasn’t before long that they’d broken through the Shiplake defence and scored. Our boys then scored four more, often set up by Louis Poundall. Unfortunately, the opponents went on to score three more; meaning the final score was 8-6 to Shiplake! Brilliant play by Matthew Grundy and Lucas Ferrer De Arriba. The squad need to increase the pace and intensity in their next match but there was some fine hockey on display, Thanks to Mr Dix for taking the team.
Rowing
Quintin Head
On Saturday of Exeat weekend, the Boat Club took to the Tideway for the first race of the New Year. Quintin Head is raced from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge and serves as good practice for the School's Head. The conditions were good for the racing, despite fears of high winds making the running of the event tricky. Shiplake College had three crews entered, two Senior eight's and a Junior 16 eight. The J16 eight has only been training together for three weeks and put in a great performance finishing 3rd fastest out of 11 crews. This is a great start to the season and we are looking forward to seeing how they progress over the coming months.
The Senior eights are not yet selected into the 1st and 2nd eight, so Quintin and Wycliffe Head are used to try out some combinations and see how the crews perform. The crew of Jacob Kirby, Alastair Holbrough, Fred Peck, Oli Newton, Dom Brown, Marcus Brown, Richard Adams, James Haskins and Fergus Howard-Jones performed well winning the Junior 18 category out of 12 crews just ahead of Abingdon School by 0.5 seconds. The second crew had a less pleasing race finishing 12th but came away with some valuable experience on the Tideway and things to work on in the coming weeks.
Netball
U18A v Ranelagh School
Last Wednesday, the A team played Ranelagh School away. The girls were optimistic from their win the week before, with girls feeling quite positive for the match. The match was played indoors which meant it got very hot very quickly, which affected Shiplake’s play hugely.
Watching the opposition warm up brought on the nerves as they showed off their impressive skill. The match began very quickly with Ranelagh scoring goal after goal. The Shiplake defence was doing an amazing job at pushing the attackers away and providing opportunities for Charley Burgess and Lydia Lyons to shoot. Lydia Lyons provided some amazing shots, helping the team keep up with Ranelagh’s high score. By half time, Ranelagh had a huge lead and our girls were starting to feel beaten, but their determination and team motivation helped them to bring the game back.
Shiplake’s defence greatly improved, with Brooke pushing herself to the limit against her very skilled opponents. Weazy Harman did an excellent job at feeding in to the D, allowing the team’s new goal attacker, Liv Bartlett, to help set up more goals for Lydia Lyons. Sadly, The A team lost 41 – 25 but the coached are very impressed with how well the girls brought it all around. Well done to all that girls that played, especially Brooke Creighton for getting player of the match.
U18B v Claires Court School
The Shiplake Bs started the first quarter with a steady pace, getting the ball down to their own goal end on several occasions. Unbeknownst to the girls, they were playing against Claires Court's first team, which was evident when beginning the first quarter. However, Shiplake continued to play to the same intensity as they have done in previous matches.
Due to Claires Courts quick and accurate play, the pressure was on and led the Shiplake girls to rush some of their passes. After the first quarter, they changed a few positions to ensure that they were using the whole to the best of their abilities and during the second quarter, despite everyone being eager to defend the ball, the game was hard.
Shiplake demonstrated some great attacking by Hannah Burnett and Sadie Foster, which allowed them to gain some control back with the ball. The defensive team worked hard to defend the ball at all times, especially Hannah Simmonds-Gooding, who made a great effort to defend the goal. Unfortunately, through all the girls’ best efforts, the final score was 40-10 to Claires Court.
Despite the final score, this does not reflect on the team’s play, as everyone played even better than the previous weeks! Captain Emma Renwick is proud of all of the team and how much effort was put into the game. Player of the match goes to Hannah Simmonds-Gooding.
Emma Renwick, B Team Netball Captain
