Sports Report 10 December 2019

10 December 2019

Last week saw our pupils go in to the last round of fixtures before the Christmas break, going up against Churcher's College, Claires Court and local rivals The Oratory School. Our rowers were also in action at the Scullers Head in London, where we performed outstandingly.

1st XI Hockey v Claires Court School

On Wednesday, the girls' hockey team played against Claires Court in their last match of the season. The game began with a Claires Court push back. Shiplake pushed up and attacked well from the beginning with strong accurate passes towards the goal. Claires Court turned the ball around and managed to score the first goal. The girls were determined to even the score which led to good movement along the wings from L Pasmore and A Galpin which got the ball into the D and was tapped into the goal by L Stalder. This evened the score to 1-1. After half time, our defenders stepped up and great interceptions were made with movement towards the D however Claires Court defence were strong and handled the ball well leading them to score another 2 goals. Shiplake where very impressive and was a great game to finish the season on. Well done!

Report by E Hodson (Captain)

1st XV Rugby v Churcher's College

Having had our previous game against Emanuel School cancelled, we were looking to gain a positive result for the last game of the 1st XV season. The boys started fast, with some strong running lines from T Mythen and H Kunzig. After some strong initial pressure, Shiplake stole the ball then some good interplay from the forwards drew in a number of the Churchers' players. The ball was quickly moved to the backs, where J Angell was able to exploit the space and score Shiplake’s first try of the match. Churchers immediately responded with some strong running from their forwards, combined with weak tackling by Shiplake, allowing the opposition to score a converted try. This didn’t phase Shiplake as they continued to exert pressure on the away team. This was rewarded by Shiplake’s second try of the match, scored by J Angell. Half time result, 12-10 to Shiplake.

Shiplake started the second half with the intention of securing their final game of the season. After a quickly taken penalty by Churchers in Shiplake’s twenty-two, the opposition broke through Shiplake’s defence to score an early converted try. Shiplake’s heads still didn’t drop as they continued to try and break through Churchers’ defence. Shiplake’s persistence was rewarded as J Shortland collected a loose ball and ran half the pitch to score Shiplake’s third try of the match, which was converted by A Arnold. With two minutes to go, a dropped ball led to Churchers kicking forward and subsequently were awarded a penalty in front of the post. The conversion marked the final play of the match, making the final score 20-19 to Churchers.

Shiplake felt the final scoreline didn’t reflect their performance. They were bitterly disappointed not to get the win, however the standard of play was significantly better than previous games. They boys should be extremely proud of their efforts.

Report by J Walne (Captain)

U13A Rugby v The Oratory School

We were excited to start our final game as Lower School players but we were caught off guard by a fast starting Oratory, who sneaked an early try. This focused our minds and we had to adjust our style to counterattack our opposition's strength in the forwards. It would be fair to say that for the first 10 minutes we were quite scrappy and a few opportunities were missed due to not making the correct decisions. However, for the last few minutes of the first half we worked hard and scored 3 tries to go into half time leading 3-1. The half time team talk was intense with all agreeing to commit 100% in this last half of our time together as a team. Once again, Oratory started better and before we knew it was 3-3 and the game was in the balance. It was at this point that the team stepped up and took their opportunities, with tries scored from W Rider and S Mealing. It was a great way to finish the season from what has been an awesome team and I really look forward to watching them develop in their rugby careers as they move through the years at Shiplake.

Report by Mr P Jones

U12A Rugby v Holme Grange School

In the last match of the season for the Under 12 A Rugby team against Holme Grange, there was a great deal of motivation to put in a good performance and represent our values. The final score was a win for Shiplake 5-2.

TEAMWORK - Represented by the whole team working together and nobody was allowed to run more than 5 steps in the match before passing.

RESPECT - The game was played in a great spirit with all Shiplake boys listening well to the referee and thanking him for the match after the final whistle.

ENJOYMENT - Every player enjoyed the match; it was a played in great spirits and everyone supported each other and this created a fantastic atmosphere in which the players could express themselves.

DISCIPLINE - One of our targets was to support all the players no matter what happened even if a mistake was made and we achieved this by constantly supporting and encouraging each other and maintaining our discipline.

SPORTSMANSHIP - We have learnt that this value is the most important one and we aspire to uphold this throughout all our sporting opportunities at Shiplake.

Report by Mr N Brown

Scullers Head (Rowing)

On Saturday a select few braved one of the toughest single sculling races in the world "The Scullers Head" in London from Chiswick bridge to Putney. The event was graced with good racing conditions for all 454 competitors. The Championship course is the same distance the rowers will race over in their crew boats for the Schools Head of the River.

We had 6 scullers racing and all of them did exceptionally well. The stand out performances came from R.Ash who took the Junior 18 win and finished 6th in the whole event. His result is truly remarkable. He finished 1 second behind the best Under 23 sculler in the country. R.Humphris was the first Junior 17 athlete home and finished 18th in the whole event, which is another outstanding result for a lower 6th rower. Not to be outdone by the boys, N.Dunn raced extremely well and won Junior 17 girls singles and finished 3rd in Junior 18. This is the first time Nicole has raced on the tideway in a single scull so she must be congratulated for a top result. F .Focosi was 8th fastest Junior 18 and 50th overall. D.Hallsworth was 3rd in Junior 17 and 37th overall. D.Muligan was 6th Junior 17 and 74th overall. A great weekend racing and for all these athletes and now they look forward to warmer climates in Seville, when the boat club sets off on a training camp on Thursday 12 December.