Early last month, our 1st VII, U16 VII and U13 VII traveled to the outskirts of London to compete in the prestigious Rosslyn Park 7s. Under the tutelage of Shiplake's own Director of Rugby, Mr Sam Beckett, our boys went in to the tournament with determination and motivation and showed true Shiplake spirit. Despite not winning, they came away feeling reflective but thrilled to have been involved.
Below is the report, provided by Mr Sam Beckett.
1st VII
The 1st VII went into Rosslyn Park 7s after winning the Society of Head’s 7s the week before, beating tournament favourites Llandovery College in the Cup Final. The 1st VII knew that all four matches at Rosslyn Park were “must win” if they were to make it out the pool into day 2 of the national competition. First up were Magdalen College, who we knew would be tricky customers. Shiplake got the first game nerves out the way winning 22-21 in a nail-biting encounter, with the lead changing hands a number of times. After a short break, Shiplake faced Rossall School from Blackpool and won fairly convincingly with a 47-7 result. The third match in the group was against Bedford Modern, with Shiplake winning 38-8. Played 3, won 3. We had been keeping a close eye on Arnold School who were the surprise team in the group, also winning 3 from 3. The group decider was a cagey affair with Arnold going into the break 7-12 up after a first half score by Captain, Harvey Hendry. Shiplake knew their whole season rested on the next 7 minutes of rugby. A missed tackle by Shiplake and Arnold showing some pace on the outside pushed the score to 7-17. The boys re-grouped, and two quick tries by Joe Booth and Harvey Hendry put the score at 17-17 with less than a minute to play. With the draw, Shiplake were through to day 2 on points difference, if they were able to hold out for 50 more seconds. Shiplake kicked off, over chased and Arnold collected the scrappy ball. In 7s, possession is key and Arnold showed patience on the ball against a tired looking Shiplake defence. A further missed tackle and Arnold managed to sneak through to score, winning the match in the final play of the game 17-22 and going through to day 2 as group winners.
Sport can be cruel at times, but this is why we as players, coaches, spectators and fans love it. The highs of winning, the lows of losing and the thrill of close matches make school boy 7s so attractive and this season will last long in the memories of the Y13 leavers for many years to come.
1st VII: R Cartwright, J Tucker (VC), M Fitzgerald, J Booth, L Ashcroft, H Hendry (C), J Acton, L Smyth, J Kerrison, B Stacey, M Dalrymple, R Diez-Harrison.
U16 VII
An U16 VIIs squad consisting of players from Y11 and Y10 had the opportunity to represent the College at Rosslyn Park National 7s on Tuesday. They did not qualify for Day 2, they may not even have won a game but they were never outclassed and did themselves justice, particularly as they had never played in a tournament before and had only had one training session. It was a steep learning curve for squad in the first, and for the coaches perhaps the most enjoyable, game. The team went down by 3 tries in the first half, giving the ball away too easily as they were still playing ‘XVs’, but scored 3 tries in the second, narrowly losing by a score to Wimbledon. Perhaps a lack of blood sugar did not help in the second loss to Oakham. The roles were reversed in the third game, with Shiplake going 3 tries up in the first half but unfortunately could not keep Loughborough out in the second, particularly when down to 6 players due to a yellow card, resulting in a 19-19 draw. The performance in the 4th and final game, against Hampton, perhaps showed a lack of 7s fitness. With more preparation, the squad could have of course performed better but, after asking them, it was obvious that they had enjoyed the experience which will be invaluable for most next year.
U16 VII: C Ambrose-McCormack, A Porter, C Creighton, O Frisby, A Buchanan, C Jones (VC), J Powell, H Allen, F Brown (C), A McArthur, J Burgess
U13 VII
The U13 VIIs side had an amazing learning experience at the famous Rosslyn Park Sevens in what was an opportunity to play against schools from all over the country. The first game for Shiplake was played in what can only be described as awful conditions with a layer of ice and slush on the surface making it a challenge to just stay warm. Our opposition in the first match was RGS Newcastle and they certainly seemed a little more used to the Baltic conditions and we started with a loss 0-30 despite showing glimpses that we could actually play some decent sevens. The second match was against Prince Henry’s Grammar School another strong team with a huge number of boys to select from and again although there were times when we showed our quality we lost this match 0-20 but with a much better performance than the first game. Our next game against Barry Comprehensive School from Wales was a real opportunity for us and the team scored their first try with the school level at half time but the Shiplake boys failed to capitalise all the chances and sadly narrowly lost this game 10-15. In our final match against The King John School we really put in a huge performance showing how much we had learnt from the experience and we played some scintillating rugby moving the ball beautifully and exploiting the open space showing tremendous skill. The team was delighted to win this match 25-15 and save the best to last.
Overall this was a really fun day out for the boys and despite the cold I am sure they will be hungry to return to this event in future years and put in an even stronger display.
U13 VII: L Ferrer de Arriba, M Grundy, O Lewis, C Moss, F Wilson, F Woods, J Macleod, O Roullier (C), A Smith, L Byca, J Sommerville
