Sports Report 16 March 2021

Welcome to our first Sports Report of 2021! It's been great having the pupils back participating in sport and our own 'fixtures', until competitive matches against other schools can resume.

This week our Saturday Sport saw our Year 10 teams, The Bulls, The Braves, The Raiders and The Warriors come head to head in rugby, our Year 9 football teams play a competitive match as well as our eagerly anticipated College v Gilson annual netball match.

Y10 Rugby Saturday morning

A cold breeze did not deter a huge cohort of Year 10 players (and four cold staff) from enjoying the internal tournament on Saturday.

The games opened with The Raiders beating the The Braves in a very competitive and free scoring epic by 6 tries to 4 - an outstanding solo try by L Rouse-Roberts being the pick of many notable scores.

The second game was a tighter affair with two organised defences ensuring that a close encounter ensued and The Warriors, ably led by M Wallace, won it 2 tries to 1.

There was effort and endeavour in both opening games but of particular note were the performances of J Jones, C Kami-Hawkings, J Greig-Bartram, J Zhang, L Osborne and J Yates who all ensured their teams had plenty of energy and competitive spirit. D Coles and P White all regularly showed what great playmakers they are. 

The plate final saw The Bulls fall to The Braves 4 tries to 2 in an end to end match that had a few moments of both excitement and drama on the try lines.

All games were a great showcase for the rugby passions and abilities of this year group and especially in a high quality final between The Raiders and The Warriors. There were great scores in the final with a particularly evasive score from P White being the highlight but after some outstanding attack and defence played with competitive spirit throughout it came down to J Cooper to complete a brace of tries with the last play to ensure the The Warriors won the final 3 tries to 2.

Well done to all who took part and enjoyed the morning's sport.

Report by Mr Chris Lloyd

Year 9 Football   

Saturday saw the long awaited return of competitive football to Shiplake, with the two heavy weights of the game battling it out on Front Field. The much fancied yellow team took an early lead thanks to a perfectly weighted through-ball from L Cawdel, followed by a precise finish from J Morley. However, non-bibs were undeterred by going behind early, and it was not long before the impressive D Higgins found the back of the net. This set the tone for the rest of the match, with both teams taking it in turns to launch attack after attack.  

At full-time the scores were level at 5-5, and non-bibs went on to win 3-1 on penalties.   

Man of the match honours were shared between L Crerar and S Mealing. 

Report by Mr Duncan Miller

Gilson v College House Annual Netball Match

On Friday 12 March the annual College v Gilson netball match took place. Following last year’s match where there was only one point in the final score, it was all to play for. It was great to have a gathering of supporters on the side line and R Pandeva helping to score and time keep.

From the beginning the girls knew it was going to be a tough match. The boys were a lot taller than the girls and were already throwing long balls over into their scoring end to H Allan in quick succession. The girls did not let this affect their play and they carried on controlling the ball down the court and into the hands of their shooters.

College quickly began to build on their score and their height advantage was proving difficult for the Gilson defenders. The girls mid court play was well controlled and they used this to their advantage, working the ball well down court. However, the boys had worked a good system to allow their goals to build quickly and the final score was 24-12 to College House.

The whole evening was enjoyable for everyone involved and there was a great atmosphere on the astro. Well done to everyone who played; players of the match went to A Tunnicliffe and H Allen. Thank you to Mrs Settle for giving up her time to come and coach the boys through the netball rules and to Miss Mordue and Mrs Settle for umpiring the match.

Read by Kai O'Hare in Assembly this week