After a busy weekend of fixtures against St. George's School, Weybridge, our boys have come away with lessons learnt and lessons to learn. All the while, the girls did brilliantly well against Holyport College and Licensed Victuallers School, Ascot.
Rugby
1st XV v St. George’s School
The game started with Shiplake pressing on the St. George's attack before the first try of the game came from St George’s. Shiplake soon hit back with an aggressive kick-off, which allowed our boys to put the pressure on St George’s. They were not able to keep up with the fast ball Shiplake were playing and soon gave away a penalty.
With the boys focusing on fast rugby, Callum Theodorou passed the ball wide for Matt Dalrymple to take the ball to the line to put a player through the gap and go round a defender, scoring under the posts. Shiplake now had the lead, 7 – 5. With this in mind, the boys started playing with confidence and it looked as though Matty Fitzgerald could be on his way to scoring a try, until he under committed and lost the opportunity. This soon led to a penalty to St. George’s, which allowed them to make ground and score a soft try in the corner. Shiplake defended for the rest of the half and managed to keep some good carries from the St George’s forward pack, crossing the try line.
By the time the second half came, the conditions suited St. George’s style of play. Shiplake had a momentum change and started to look very dangerous, with some pick-and-go around the rucks with Matt Davies at the front of this with some superb picks. Shiplake were now on the St. George’s try line where a try was questionably disallowed, leaving the score 7 - 12 to St George’s. Captain Robbie Cartwright is very proud of the team’s performance, with the boys showing guts, determination and most importantly, teamwork.
Next up are City of London Freemen’s School on Saturday 13th October KO 2.30pm at home.
2nd XV v St. George’s School
After a full week of training as a team, Shiplake took forward the messages from training into the game.
With a scrappy start, St. George’s capitalised on a lack of defensive discipline, scoring a penalty. Shortly after, Vice-Captain Tom Howlett drove over the line to score, following a fast break from the back line. The game then settled to a slower pace as the rain began to fall.
A strong halftime talk given by the Coaches and Captain Luke Tremayne, lifted the team to defend the small lead Shiplake had, knowing St. George’s would come out fighting.
Despite the intense rain and slippery ball, Shiplake had a dominant start to the half with the forwards running the ball into St. George’s 22. This led to a skillful individual try from fly half, Joe Ruffle, stepping the defence and ending with a hand off to dive into the corner. The try gave the team confidence to push on and take control of the game.
With excellent organisation of the pack by Luke Tremayne, multiple team tries followed from Jack Powell, Patrick Kenny and Josh O’Hare. The lead increased, giving Shiplake a comfortable cushion to play with.
Using this cushion, the team played with flare, using a wide range of technical skills showing how well they can play. However, this comfortable position led to a lapse in concentration as a loose pass was intercepted to concede a try in the final minute.
Final score 34-10 to Shiplake.
U16A v St. George’s School
After a long time without a match, the U16As were very eager to play again. With six injured players, some B team players were given the opportunity to play for the U16As. These included Joe Durcan, Ollie Rouse-Roberts and Sam O'Brien.
With a slow start and bad discipline Shiplake gave away an opportunity to score within the first 10 minutes. Straight from the kick-off, our boys were back under pressure, allowing them to score four more tries. Finally, the U16As got their hands on the ball and built up good phases, but unfortunately couldn’t score any tries.
Unfortunately, our boys began the second half the same way they finished the first, by putting themselves under pressure with poor tackling and bad discipline. St. George’s managed to score more tries by finding the holes in the Shiplake defence.
With lots of things to work on, the U16As look at City of London Freemen's on Saturday as a new challenge. Final score 60-0 St. George’s.
Well done to Ben Acton, Joe Durcan and Ollie Rouse-Roberts on playing very well.
U14A v St. George’s School
It was a very damp day at Shiplake, but the boys knew they had to get on with it. They knew as a team that this was going to be a forwards’ day.
The game started with Shiplake kicking to the opposition, but that wasn’t a problem as they went on to pressure their line, resulting in a powerful first try from Ollie Rouiller. It was 5-0 to Shiplake and with great resilience from St George’s they came back with a try. This did not matter though as Shiplake fought back with excellent tries from Mikey Aitken after a great pass from Lucas Ferrer, Charlie Moss and Reuben Logan. On the verge of half time, Sam Gillen box-kicked over their defensive line and Milo Griffiths, diving onto the ball, scored another try. The second half started very well with Flynn Wilson and Brody Burnett making some superb hits. Our boys were gaining so much ground in the opposing half as they were taking it through the phases. Great support play from Ned Floyd. The game ended with a thoughtful pick and go from Joe Rogers scoring the last try, making the final score 47-10. Another great day for the U14 A team- they can’t wait until next Saturday...
U14B v St. George's School
On Saturday, Shiplake U14Bs defeated St George's Weybridge at a home match on the Riverside pitches.
It was a miserable and windy day, but the U14Bs were optimistic going into the game. Our boys opened the game with outstanding tackles and were very strong when attacking and supporting. In the second half, Shiplake had some excellent plays but in the last minutes, they let a tackle slip and St. George’s got a lucky try. The whole team gave it their all and we played Excellently as a group. The final score was 19 - 5.
Girls’ Hockey
1st XI v Licensed Victuallers School, Ascot
After watching an excellent game from the Shiplake 2nd team, Shiplake were set to play a shorter game against LVS Ascot. With only one half of 30 minutes to play, Shiplake had to think tactically about this game. From the first centre pass from LVS, they knew they had a well matched game. With some excellent play from Hattie and Ellen in midfield, the ball was passed well up the field, and was utilised well by Georgie and Beattie in attack. The ball bounced back and forth from either half of the pitch; with the attacking play being dismissed by both sides of defence well. Despite contested defence from Katie and Lydia, LVS managed to score a goal with a lifted shot. Shiplake were not to give up now, with outstanding saves from Mary in goal, the ball was passed up to our midfielders. After hitting a LVS foot in their attacking D, Shiplake had a short corner attempt. With a great push out from Tory, Hattie received the ball well. Despite this, their defenders diffused play back into our defensive half. Whilst our defence was low, LVS scored their second goal. The game finished after only 30 minutes 2-0. Player of the match went to Mary Keswick. Well played to all.
Report provided by Rhian Edwards
2nd XI v Holyport College
Last Wednesday, Shiplake 2nd played a home match against Holyport school. Holyport started strong with the first centre pass, and managed to get the ball to their goal half. Through some quick passes, they made multiple attempts to score, with excellent defence from Katie and Izzie, Holyport managed to score only one goal through a short corner. The Shiplake girls were constantly fighting to push the ball up to their goal half, with great attacking skills from Georgia and Rosie. However, Holyport had a strong attacking team and managed to score a couple goals through short corners. The girls kept their spirit up constantly trying to get the ball to their half. The final score was 4-0. Player of the match went to Ella.
Thank you to Andy Fitzsimons for providing these photographs
